Initial Idea 1

In the first film idea, we took inspiration from film openings such as 'A Clockwork Orange' (Stanley Kubrick), 'Lost River' (Ryan Gosling) and the author of 'Requiem For a Dream' Hubert Selby Jr. These films are of a drama genre, from the tension and enigma created in these film openings.

We had some inspiration with the type of lighting and colour pallet used in 'Lost River', which includes pink/red neon type lighting. This could connote a sense of danger and perhaps desire, contrasting to the fact the protagonist is alone. The opening shot will have warm colours including yellows and browns, but then descending down the stairs to a room partially filled with red light. 

The opening scene will begin with symmetrical framing, and a tracking movement through the inside of a house, which is filled with strange and random objects, similar to an antique shop. The lighting will change from an artificial white/yellow light to neon pink/red and darker as the camera descends down a flight of stairs to what seems like a basement. Through all of this, the diegetic sound  of a radio being attempted to be tuned will be heard, different sounds of static and types of music will be heard, increasing in volume as the camera tracks through the building. Once in the basement, close up or mid shots will be shown of certain objects in the room with credits added to the shot during post production. A calendar is shown with what is presumably that days date with 'Phase 1' written on it. At some point the sound of tuning ceases as someone finds a radio station playing 1920's music. A man appears from behind the staircase, who is in his around middle age and looks like he has seen better days. This man starts to dance to the music, but not in time and in a jerky and unusual fashion, giving the atmosphere that something is not right and this man is perhaps not in the right mindset.

We were inspired by mise en scene and set design, shown in the 'A Clockwork Orange' opening, where the audience are easily introduced to the surrounding location, immediately giving a sense of a dystopian time and the strange yet stark portrayal of sexuality, Along with the sound and the portrayal of the characters, the opening gives a ominous atmosphere, which is something we are aiming to achieve with this idea.

Moodboard for film openings

MOODBOARD

Preliminary Task

STORYBOARD

When creating our storyboard, we did not consider using any tracking or panning movements, as only had a tripod and we felt that by trying to achieve a movement whilst filming would result in shakiness with the film which wouldn't run smoothly. We decided on using many close up and mid shots as these are used to create tension (especially close up shots) which is a common convention used in crime films, which we based out preliminary task off of. We also had to redraw our storyboard as we were told the sketches were not detailed enough, so we completed our storyboard with more detail.

FILMING

During the filming of our preliminary task, we ran into some difficulties regarding lighting, continuity and differences in the script. Whilst filming, it was noticed that the lighting in the room did not have any contrast and we decided to turn the lights at the front of the room off and film the shots we had again, so we achieved high-key lighting where Tom was sitting to draw focus on him, making him the dominant in that shot. We also had to make sure we were filming shots near the door when no one was walking past, as the contrast in lighting in the room and outside created shadows from other students and teachers passing the classroom. 

We also had to ensure that the actions of the actors were continuous, such as Archie picking up the piece of paper in frame 9, and him getting up in the same position from the floor as he approached the table. When he rose from the floor, his hands had to be in the same position as they were in the previous shot, but I feel we managed to accomplish that well.Tom's hands and posture had to remain the same throughout the task, which was fairly easy as he was sitting still at the table. We also managed to keep the 180 degree rule whilst they engaged in conversation with shot reverse shot.

There were a few differences between the script and the final result. A line was not said in the preliminary that we included in the script. For example, we did not include the line "these have been chosen especially for you", and instead of Archie walking towards the table, he rolled across the floor to add a bit of humour. Some camera angles and positioning of the actors were different, such as the angle in frame 3 where Archie is facing Tom. In the storyboard the camera was positioned on the left side of Archie, but when filming we placed it on the right hand side, as Tom and the table was clearer to see within that frame than if we had positioned the camera on the other side. In frame 2, the shot was meant to be a front view of close up shot of Archie walking into the room, but we decided on filming from the side with a slightly high angle. 

EDITING

One problem we had whilst editing was the sound. A lot of the shots where Archie was speaking we used close ups or mid shots, so his voice was a lot louder than Tom's, especially when he said "Agent", as the shot was a close up of the back of Archie's head, who was across the room from Tom, so his voice appeared a lot quieter than Archie's. We managed to fix this issue by detaching and raising the audio when Tom spoke. The very last frame we had planned in the storyboard we decided to edit out, as whilst filming, students were walking past the door due to the lesson ending, which meant the continuity of the shot was ruined. So we chose to extend the length of frame 15 until the door had shut, so it did include the last frame of the close up of the door shutting, except it was a mid/long shot.

A strength we had was to change the colour gradient to a blue tint, as we felt the colour saturation was too warm, and did not match the tense or distant atmosphere in the video. This resulted in the video looking a little colder and something that one would see in a crime or spy film.