Risk Assessment

For our filming there may be some risks on location, however these are minimal risks, there are several tripping hazards as for the most part the room will be very dark, however as the film is inside one room without any overhead hazards or anything on the floor, minus the wire for the camera and the spotlight, there are few risks in the room and when we aren't filming the main lights in the room will be on to avoid any possible hazards in the room.

Shot List and Planning

Props and equipment

Equipment we'll need include:
HDV1000, this is a HD filming camera that we used last year for our individual media projects. We will also be using a uni directional microphone for the recording of the conversation in the hospital room as the rest of the audio will be recorded in the pro-tools studios at our college so they will be of higher quality and we will have a wider range of effects to use on them to make them sound distant and echoed.

Props we'll need include;
A candle lamp, with a separate spotlight to illuminate the room without showing off too much of the walls or floors etc. and we'll also need two, almost identical notes but with different text on them for one of the shots. As well as a hospital bed and a "get-well-soon" card with "Mind Over Matter" written on it and some flowers for the bedside.

Lighting

This is a video of our different attempts at various lighting techniques. We tried using different coloured lights to find the best light for detail in low visibility without loosing too much area.
  From our experimenting we've decided to use natural coloured strong-focused lights to give a clear detail without loosing too much area.
Our lighting is now focused around using the reflective ceiling of the room we are filming in and the non-reflective floor to create enough light without focusing it onto the subject, to make it appear as though its coming from the candle, this worked quite well  in our film although some brightening was necessary in Post.

Possible production companies for our film.

As it's a short film some larger companies, such as the BBC and its short films pages, would give the film a dedicated page if submitted to them via http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/submit/  however! for production companies we would probably have to use small independent companies such as warped films or gain funding from our college or from people funding the film cause they want to see the product.
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/funding  -  The UK film council give a lottery style of funding to film makers with successful applications and this funding can be used for the production, advertisement or alternatively, can be used with an innovation fund which is for cinemas which give new films a chance by using digital show technology rather than the film reels which are expensive.

http://www.coffeefilms.com/filmog.html  - Coffee Films, are a British independent film company who make short films and produce them, they may be willing to produce the film after filming

Lighting for the dark room

Due to our film requiring a dark scene without any real lights or surface reflections We've been looking up ways to film in a dark room without loosing quality or contrast of colours and detail of costume etc. Some suggestions We've found is to film in quite a bright room using mainly spotlights and then edit the setting and the lighting in post production, however other suggestions have been to use a low wattage bulb and focus it just on the characters, however this may prove difficult as the lamp/torch would have to be moving, remain out of shot and no visible stream of light should be seen.
We are going to try the lighting techniques to see which will work better without loosing quality in the film.
Dual Stage Lights (Red) this has a nice effect but shows less detail then other lighting and thus would not be a good effect for the film.
Dual Stage Lights (Blue) this has a similar effect to the red lighting but it cooler and shows more detail in the camera.
Singular (mini) Stage Light (Clear) this allows for details in a warm colour, however the lighting does not show up as well as it could on the camera, this could be corrected with a change to the camera settings.

Here are some examples of light sources we are going to make use of in our short film. The stage lights are very useful as they are able to change colour, this can create some very interesting and different visual effects. To fully utilize these lights we are filming in a large pitch black room. The torch will be used by the character to look around and also, the titles and opening credits will be shown in a torch's single beam of light theme. This fits with the setting and plot of the film. The lamp will be used as the main prop on the set. The lamp will be able to increase in brightness. This allows us to create a blinding effect when teaming the brightness of the lamp with the light sensativity of the camera and then the editing effects we are able to utilize after filming.

Whilst practising and experimenting with some lighting techniques and effects in the pitch black room we are going to try and incorporate the use of shadow effects as the light pans accross the set. This we found created a sinister and unsettling environment, maybe adding a bit of horror to our film. We found it very effective so are aiming to include it somehow.

Title sequence idea

Titles shown by a flashlight shining around the screen. After all the title are shown the light shines on the lamp featured on the film and then zooms in slowly. The shot goes bright white and then cuts to first shot. The lamp in center screen could be pulsing slightly during the titles.

Our Viral Advert

Our viral advert would involve games, for example a maze to the light, to show the difficulty the character has in reaching the light in the room, or perhaps something like a dark website page where the mouse is a light that illuminates the room to find links to pages and trailers etc.

This would be an effective way in raising interest in the film. It succeeds in giving the user an idea of what the short film is about as well as creating a fun task for the user. During searching through the maze with the torch/mouse the user could come across little mini tasks or short trailers or little bits of info about the film. This creates an awarding scenario for the user which gives them a reason to keep searching and using the website. We feel this is a clever way of raising interest in the film.

Viral Advertising Campaign Research

Viral movie content are a good way to advertise your films as the advertising is essentially free after the cost of the production of the ad as you don't have to pay for distribution thanks to websites such as youtube, twitter and facebook. Some films make good use of these websites such as Batman - The dark knight and Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes using facebook games and Batman using a website called whysoserious.com which was essentially a normal website
with joker influence, all of the news articles in the weblinks were crossed out in the jokers signature red writing and replaced with other words. eg. the screen leading to the trailer has a few notes over it.
The Sherlock Holmes game as seen below was a facebook viral game which had a link to their advertising website made for the film, where in order to log in you had to do a bit of detective work to get in the mood for Sherlock. You had to find the name of Irene Adler, the character whom Sherlock loves to be able to access the site.

An Example of a poor viral campaign is the viral campaign used for the film "Wanted"where the campaign itself WOULD have been very successful, however the viral video they used, which had several videos from different users and re-uploads which easily add to over a million views, on not one video did they reference the film, add a link to the film or show any of the characters etc. Making it a failure as an advertising campaign.

(Above: the "Wanted" advertising viral video)
Interactive Viral content, such as games or the Batman website/Sherlock Holmes websites give more information than the viral videos and give links to the actual trailers etc. which although they give more away, they are associated and therefore advertise the movies.

Research into Genre

We researched into our genre by watching pieces with similar conceptual styles to ours eg. Tick tock by Len-Chi which has a similar style to ours focusing on one character and focusing very little on dialogue. Also it keeps the main idea of the story quite a secret until most of the way through the film when it then replays the events the right way around and lets you know exactly whats going on with the story, ours is similar as what has happened to the character and why he is where he is does not become clear until after he wakes up in the hospital room.

Poster Research

For our film poster we want a simplistic design which shows one of the subjects or objects which is the centre of the film, for example a poster similar to the one created for Mirrors which shows an image from the film but doesn't give away too much of the story or really show any specific element of the film and is a generic horror film poster. For our film we would focus on an image which is featured in the film, however we would have to follow a basic theme such as a simple black backdrop with contrasting images and simplistic writing styles. The poster for 2012 is also quite similar in style to the Mirrors poster in simplicity and basic design, however it is not based on the horror genre it is an action/thriller/drama film. Our film poster will most likely feature either an image of the main character crossing over the road or an image of the lamp which will be used to symbolize the characters consciousness and life. Our credits on the bottom of the poster will be similar in style to the Mirrors poster and the image below which was taken from google and is from a random poster.

Audience Feedback Questionnaire

From our audience feedback we've realised that though our film may not be a majorly popular genre (sci-fi & drama) it does appeal to  a larger audience. though people seem to misunderstand the genre and story, however they think its unique and every member of our sample would like to see the film, based from the idea they have read and the script.

Another thing from our feedback is that we've learned is that people find it hard to place what genre our film falls into from just the idea, hopefully this will clear up when we've finished the film. Since this however we have changed our treatment slightly to accommodate opinions and slight changes such as extending the plot to make it easier to understand and to follow.

Character Profile - Sid

Full Name:
Sid


Age:
Around 18


Appearance
Scruffy, brown, moderately long hair.
Black shirt
Black Jeans
Boots

Personality
Imaginative
Brave
Moderate Intelligence
Striving

Audience Questionnaire

Written questionnaire

Personal

1. Name?

2. Age?

3. Gender?

Films

4. What is your favourite genre of film?

5. Favourite film?

6. Have you seen any short films?

    If yes, where?

7. Where do you usually watch films? - eg. Cinema, TV, Internet

8. How often do you watch films?

"Have a look at this, this is a synopsis of our film and answer the questions following."

  Treatment for Idea 3 "Mind Over Matter"

9. What genre do you think the film is?

10. Where would you expect to see the film?

11. Do you think the plot is unique, interesting?

12. Do you like the idea of the film?

13. Are there any other films you have seen with similarities to ours?

Script for "Mind Over Matter"

Target Audience

After meetings and decisions we have decided that our target audience will be male and females between 18 and 40 years of age. We feel this is appropriate as the film has a slightly complicated plot which younger audiences may not understand and has effects and settings that older audiences may not fully appreciate.

18 - 40 years is a valid range for our film as it it large enough to attract a large number of people and yet small enough to appeal to members of the designated age range.

Treatment for Idea 3 "Mind Over Matter"

Title:  Mind over Matter
Target Audience: 15 to 25, this film contains a lot of concepts which may be difficult to understand for a younger audience and so our audience has been focused on to an age range of viewers who would be able to understand the concepts within the film as well as enjoy it.
Rating: PG - Generally suitable for all, however parental guidance is advised.
Genre: Drama
Synopsis: 
 - A man with dark hair, dark jacket, dark jeans and boots wakes up face down on the floor, the film starts with a extreme close up on the man's eye. As he slowly awakes, his eye twitches and is brought to life. There are voices in the room echoing around talking about an accident and discussing the operation. He looks around and we are then shown a wide angle shot to establish the setting. It is a small dark room with one small table lamp in the centre of the room which is desperately failing at illuminating the room. A new voice asks the amount of medication already administered to the patient. The man is shown to hold his head as he stumbles and stands up. As he walks away from the light his headache begins to clear. He stares at the light, which then begins to burn on his eyes, he looks away and shields his eyes as the voices begin talking about an operation. He turns away completely and is able to compose himself after stumbling on a stool. He sits on the stool only to find he tumbles. He quickly stands and frantically looks around. The stool has gone. As he calms down slightly his attention returns to the light. It has become brighter. Whilst shielding his eyes he examines the light from his position, the voices continue to resonate discussing the operation. As he wants to see it closer he begins to walk towards it only to find the headache returns. Even worse this time. He makes it half way towards the light before he is reduced to the state of being on his knees, clutching his head. He crawls on his knees backwards and kicks the stool over which has appeared behind him. As he looks around and notices the stool a scrap piece of paper falls from above him and drifts in front of him. He picks it up from the floor and unravels it. It has a single line of writing on it. It says "Mnid oevr matetr" He stares at this for a second and then looks away, the camera cuts to a close up of him rubbing his eyes. The camera then cuts back as he looks at the paper again. This time it says "Mind over matter" As we are shown the paper, it brightens as the light behind him turns brighter once more. He drops the paper and stands staring straight at the light. He slowly begins walking towards the light. With determination he grimaces as he falls to his knees about halfway to the light. He makes it another quarter of the way until he is reduced to a crawl. He is shaking as he desperately makes his way towards the light. He reaches out to it as he gets close enough. He touches the light and it turns off all the while voices continue around the room getting more frantic talking about flatlining. The shot is all in darkness. He then wakes up with a bright light in his face and a silhouette over his face talking to him asking him if he's okay and if he's awake. He asks whats happened and they tell him that he was in an accident and he suffered some head trauma and they were operating on his head as well as his legs which were both broken. He turns and sees flowers next to his bed, with a card saying "mind over matter".

A change of plan.

Whilst trying to get permission to film in a bakery and permissions from the council to perform in a public area we hit a wall and we cant carry out our initial plan of a film. Because of this were beginning work on one of the other ideas starting today, were going to use "idea 3" as it will be easier to acquire permissions for a room for use and the entire scene is set in one room.

So "Hungry Busking" is not our film that we are going to produce, we are going to create and produce a different short film based on "idea 3." It will be called "Mind Over Matter"

Script

hungry Busking scene 1

EXT. Bakery

Sid walks up the street past the bakery, he passes it and then steps back looking into the window of the bakery. He turns and walks towards the window, mouth wide open.

Sid walks towards the window of the bakery and leans down to look at the sausage roll he has seen.

Joseph walks into shot and stands next to Sid with the same idea, staring intently at the sausage roll. They Turn.

They pull out their pockets searching for money for the sausage roll, Sid has a look of excitement as he finds a button mistaking it for a coin.

Sid & Joseph:

      (miming) Ah, crap..

They each look at each other as they both once again think up the same idea. They walk to opposite sides of the street and Sid begins playing a song on his guitar.

Joseph stares at Sid for a few seconds and then begins playing along with the song.

Sid sings:

We're going down in the city, down in mexico, gonna face it tomorrow, long lost city of rock n roll, well it's one last day, tear up this place...

Joseph sings:

Waste away, waste away

Sid sings:

I'm gonna have you say your outta your ways..

JOSEPH SINGS:

Waste away, waste away

SID & JOSEPH:

Waste away, yeah, waste away, waste away yeah

During this short verse and chorus a few people place coins in front of each of the musicians. They both stop and crouch, looking at the coins. They both then quickly pick the money up and rush over to the bakery. However, as they look through the window at the sausage roll they are disappointed to find another person is buying it.

- dialogue below is faint as the conversation is happening behind the bakery's window.

Baker:

Can I help you?

Buyer:

Can I have the sausage roll please?

Baker:

You sure can, that will be 68p please!

BUYER:

Thankyou, bye!

Sid and Joseph share a quick glance with each other.

Sid:

I don't even like sausage rolls anyway...

joseph:

-grunts-

The characters walk away with their heads down.

Logo Idea 1

A basic logo has been created and uploaded. This is our first draft.

Props

For our film we'll be needing some obvious props.

We wil need:

A Sausage Roll

Money (Coins to be placed in Sid and Joe's collection).

Ibanez Talman TCM50E

Hohner HG-731

As well as these props we will also need certain permissions to carry out the filming of our short film. We will need to acquire permission from one of the four Greggs stores in Barnsley to be able to include their store in our film and also to be able to film inside it. This will require the store to go out of its way to help us. 

We also need to apply for busking licences. We are not legally allowed to go and perform any type of music on the streets without an official license. The fact we are doing it for a media project and not for real life is irrelevant to the law.

Another thing we have to think about is the songs we will play in the streets once we actually get out there. We will have to play our own composed music as we will have to ask permission to cover other songs from other musicians as we will be violating copyright protection laws if we play them without permission from the original owner(s).

Short film Analysis - Thomas Whitehead

Mise en scene:
The film is set in the present world. Based on students living in accommodation. The set takes place in 2 different flats and the outside world between the two locations. The actors are dressed very basically as they are portrayed as financially poor students. The main props are clocks, the box the main character apparently stole from his girlfriend, and also the pills the main character took at the beginning of the story but the end of the short film.

Sound:
The sound is diegetic, it is from the actual characters and along with the image it is reversed. However subtitles are provided. There is also non diegetic music in the background.

Narrative:
This is a very imaginative and I imagine difficult to film. As it involves only one camera that shoots the entire film. The film will have had to have been very well rehearsed and edited so that it works appropriately. The entire film is backwards. Meaning everything happens backwards. They have filmed the sequenced and then reversed it. However subtitles have been provided the correct way so we can tell what is happening and being said. I also like the idea that the main character is called "Emit" which is "Time" backwards.

Cinematography:
The film uses only one camera shot for the entire film. This is very well done, however we cannot try to use the technique as it isn't very cinematographic.

Titles/credits:
As the films starts, the credits are shown first which is very unusual however based on the backwards style of the film it is very suitable. As the film ends / begins a quote from Steve Jobs and the title "Tick Tock" is presented in front of a clock face.

This is obviously a film with a clear meaning, as shown by the usage of the quote from Steve Jobs.

Joseph Tomkins film analysis

Futuristic technology and a faux world make the scene seem in the future and under a controlled environment. Set inside a jail-like cell and then seemingly in the outside world, but it's another test in the facility. The portal gun is the main prop in the film, some minor props include the bed and the mirrors. The Portal gun allows the plot to develop as it helps the main character to "escape" from her cell.
Most of the film is dark, based in her cell giving the feeling of suppression until she "escapes" her cell and the setting is as the outside world with a blue sky and sun. Most of the sound is non-diegetic, there is no dialogue however there are sounds from the props, eg. the glass of the mirror shattering when she hits it and the movement of the bed and the sound of the portal gun firing. This film uses shot reverse shots, match on action (excessively with the CGI used in making the actual portals) It also uses wide-angle shots such as when she ejects through the portal across the city. There are also close ups to show her emotions and confusion when she wakes up in the cell and finds she has been tagged.
There are no opening titles on the film, and the ending credits are simplistic but effective as they use the final shot to fade into the film.

Treatment

Opening credits follow Sid as he walks through Barnsley with his guitar over his shoulder until they stop and he turns towards Greggs out of hunger and the Camera shows a view form the inside of Greggs focusing on his face then focusing on Sid and pans to the right to show Joseph also staring into the window.
The camera goes to the other side of the street and shows them turning out their pockets searching in desperation for money for the last sausage roll. They notice each other doing the same thing and realise its a competition for the sausage roll. They begin busking with their guitars begging for money on the streets to see who can get the sausage roll first. Whilst they are busking Sid and Joseph start playing the same song and both get money from the same people. Another person goes into the shop after walking past both of them and buys the sausage roll he then leaves and gives them both money as he walks past. They both stop playing and turn towards him as he walks past. Then look at each other and Sid says "I dont like sausage rolls anyway"

Character - Joseph

Joseph: - Played by Joseph Tomkins
Joseph is a college dropout, having failed his AS level projects his parents have given up on him and stopped his flow of income from them. He left the house with some of his main possessions such as clothing and his guitar to try and find some income.


Costume
Ginger Hair
Military Jacket
Black Jeans
Boots
Jewellery

Personality
Competitive
Short tempered
Pessimistic

Character - Sid

Sid: - played by Thomas Whitehead
Sid is a musician on the failing end of the music industry, he has just been kicked out of his band for stealing ideas for his solo project. Since he has been kicked out of his band he has lost his main source of income. In order to gain enough money to eat and survive he has been reduced to having to busk on the streets.

Costume
Brown hair
Leather Jacket
Skinny Jeans
Boots
Jewellery

Personality
Competitive
Sore Looser
Happy-go-Lucky

Group short film analysis

Mise en scene:
Because of the costumes and the location the short animation seems to be based Italy. We estimate that the film is based in the 15th century due to the costumes and the style of the instruments. The main props in this film are the instruments and the penny.

Sound:
the sound is all diegetic and there is no dialogue in the film.

Narrative:
The narrative is simple and is a competition between the two musicians for the child's penny, the plot changes when the child looses her money and begins to put on a show herself where, in an ironic twist, she earns more money than the other two musicians combined.

Cinematography:
The film uses close ups and tracking shots on the penny as well as shot reverse shot between the musicians and the little girl. It opens with a wide angle long shot of the first musician opening his act.

Titles/credits:
The titles follow the theme of the short film, they use instruments in the text and the ending titles are the only source of non-diegetic sound.

Idea 3

A man with dark hair, dark jacket, dark jeans and boots wakes up face down on the floor, the film starts with a extreme close up on the man's eye. As he slowly awakes, his eye twitches and is brought to life. He looks around and we are then shown a wide angle shot to establish the setting. It is a small dark room with one small table lamp in the centre of the room which is desperately failing at illuminating the room. The man is shown to hold his head as he stumbles and stands up. As he walks away from the light his headache begins to clear. He stares at the light, which then begins to burn on his eyes, he looks away and shields his eyes. He turns away completely and is able to compose himself after stumbling on a stool. He sits on the stool only to find he tumbles. He quickly stands and frantically looks around. The stool has gone. As he calms down slightly his attention returns to the light. It has become brighter. Whilst shielding his eyes he examines the light from his position. As he wants to see it closer he begins to walk towards it only to find the headache returns. Even worse this time. He makes it half way towards the light before he is reduced to the state of being on his knees, clutching his head. He crawls on his knees backwards and kicks the stool over which has appeared behind him. As he around and notices the stool a scrap piece of paper falls from above him and drifts in front of him. He picks it up from the floor and unravels it. It has a single line of writing on it. It says "Mnid oevr matetr"He stares at this for a second and then looks away, the camera cuts to a close up of him rubbing his eyes. The camera then cuts back as he looks at the paper again. This time it says "Mind over matter" As we are shown the paper, it brightens as the light behind him turns brighter once more. He drops the paper and stands staring straight at the light. He slowly begins walking towards the light. With determination he grimaces as he falls to his knees about halfway to the light. He makes it another quarter of the way until he is reduced to a crawl. He is shaking as he desperately makes his way towards the light. He reaches out to it as he gets close enough. He touches the light and it turns off. The shot is all in darkness. He then wakes up in his room, leant against a wall with his arm resting on a stool. (The one from the room) He stands and looks around, stretches and then is stopped dead when he sees his light turned on in the corner of the room. He rubs his eyes once more and looks back. The light is turned off. He sighs and walks out of the room. Turning the main light of the room off as he leaves. The shot is darkness and a quote is faded into the picture. Something related to the saying "Mind over matter"

Idea 2

Sid and Joseph are rival musicians in Barnsley busking for money, next to Greggs. Sid hasn't been well nourished for days and is staring with his mouth watering at a sausage roll. He turns and sees Joseph doing the same. It's the last sausage roll and neither has the money, but they both have guitars and start busking for peoples money, when they reach 30p each they begin fighting for the rest of the money through busking on both sides of a street. Sid's string snaps and Joseph starts laughing at him, neither of them have realised that another busker has appeared outside Greggs and is busking and is going into buy their sausage roll. He walks out with it and gets halfway down the street before giving them both money and walking away.

Idea 1

We follow a detective as he wakes up, we see him taking medication and complaining about a headache before is phone rings and he leaves to investigate a crime scene, saying that he knows the address. He knows the person who has died and he investigates around the house, notices there's alcohol on the table and has a flashback, remembering his hangover is because he was at the party and left early for the very reason that he had to work the next morning. The scene flashes to the night before and then comes back to real time. He starts to look at the body and establishes there was a struggle. There's blood under her nails and her hair has been pulled. He rolls back his sleeve and we see scratches on his arm from her nails and then we see the party again where he had stopped a fight between the deceased and a friend. He begins to think the friend may be guilty. She's standing outside of the house asking to be allowed in to see her friend. He interviews her and she gives a contradicting story, that she stopped him when he was fighting her. He considers the scratches on his face and considers the possibility he was wrong. He goes back to the body and then flashes back to the party, we see the scene in total with the fight where he had argued with the deceased and she had scratched him, leaving behind evidence that could insinuate him in the murder, though he believes himself to be innocent. He begins to slowly remove the rest of the skin and blood to the sample pot for his disposal when he sees himself standing over the body. asking himself what he thinks happened, does he really think he's innocent? He shouts at the illusion and it disappears to the other side of the room, is sat in a chair with a bottle of wine examining the label whilst he talks himself through what really happened. We find out his medication is to control his unstable mind and he shouldn't have been drinking as it affects his medication leading to it having the effect of amplifying his split personality disorder to the point of having entirely separate personas and memories. His personalities are leaking into each other and he is seeing what happened from his own point of view as he approaches her with a spiked glass of wine and a knife hidden under his shirt. she drinks the wine and notices something wrong with it and asks him. he then pulls the knife on her and begins to threaten her, shouting at her and we see blood splatter across the curtains to the location it is in the current scene and he knows what happened, we then see the detective being escorted away.