Problems we faced during our production

Although overall we thought the production was a success, we did face a few problems along the way.
The main problem was the fact it was night time when we were filming, and we chose to do this on purpose because it set the scene and allowed us to incorporate the idea of pathetic fallacy within out production.
To overcome the fact it was dark we did bring torches but we mainly focused on getting our production in the natural light. We feel this showed in our production as the lighting changes quite dramatically throughout.

 On the picture to the left, the lighting appears to be natural light and appears to be early evening.

 But by the time we were filming the section to the left, the lighting had changed so we had to edit the scene so the audience could fully see what was going on at the time. 





To overcome the factor of light affecting our production, we had to film on consecutive nights at the same time each night in order for the lighting to be reasonably to same. 

Another problem we spotted once we'd actually finished editing our production was a continuity edit fault. Although extremely minor, we did spot it. Luckily it wasn't a key feature throughout our piece. 
 

 Here it shows us that 30 seconds in, his drink is nearly empty.

When we go another 3 seconds into the production he has a full glass.












 

This shows that the editing has gone faulty here. Thankfully though it was only a minor part of our production and wouldn't be spotted normally if it was watched leisurely and that only when you look in depth, that this fault can actually be seen.

Updated Script for our production

Once we began filming we decided that instead of having dialogue in our production (in the second scene), the ambiguity and mystery would be heightened if instead we blocked that out and had louder music with eerie sounds able to be heard in the background. We also changed to order of what happens when editing arrived, changing the end of the script completely.

UPDATED SCRIPT:

Scene one - train tracks Molly Diegetic sound: *heavy breathing*
Breathing continues to become heavier as she runs down the track and slowly fades quieter as she runs away from camera diegetic sound: *gasp* As she turns around and sees someone in the distance she gasps with fear. 
Diegetic sound: *falling against the floor* The sound created as she hits the floor

Cuts to flashback - loud music running throughout- diegetic and coming from the pub they're in of 'Sweet Caroline'. As she exits the bar, we hear louder music that is more demanding and louder (non diegetic), suggesting something bad is going to happen.

Graphic match to the next scene with the whole of the diegetic music from the bar being cancelled out and replaced with the non-diegetic loud, siren-sounding music. The scene plays out and at the end we hear the diegetic sound of the axe cutting through the girl followed by a diegetic *scream*. 

Story Board for our production!

Prop List for our production

Axe- the axe was used as our final prop and we thought instead of using a gun as the murder weapon, an axe is more mysterious and proves to be more of a dangerous, more gruesome weapon. 

Torches- we needed torches in order to actually film our production. Although they arent shown in the film, they were a necessity due to the face we were filming in the dark. They also proved to look like car headlights in the background of our opening scene. 

Shoes/bag/clutch- these three props were needed for the 'damsel in distress' in our production. These were used as extras to help make it a more realistic scene. When she's running away we allowed the fact that she was holding her coat and her shoes in the other hand to prove she was a girl running away and was scared.

Make up- we used make-up as a prop to ensure that it looked like the girl in our production was upset and had been drugged. We applied her make-up normally and then smudged it across her face to allow the idea that she was being chased to be represented in what she was wearing and looked like. 

Wine glass- the wine glass simply allowed us an opportunity for her to get drugged, and was therefore a necessity in our production.

Pills(tic tacs)- again, these were a necessity in our production as it's a key part when she does get drugged. Obviously we didn't have real drugs, so we used small mints in their place, which still looked effective. 

Pint of beer - having a pint of beer was only to enhance the atmosphere that we were in a pub. This created more of a realistic feel and we thought it was necessary as an alibi because otherwise he would have looked odd within the production if the man was sat there doing nothing. 

Mobile phone - the mobile phone was used to get the other girl away from the scene. 

Ketchup - we also used ketchup for the final scene to mirror fake blood. We spread it on the walls, but unfortunately it was hard to see due to the lighting as we had to film at night time. 

 

 

Original Script for our production

Scene one - train tracks Molly Diegetic sound: *heavy breathing*
Breathing continues to become heavier as she runs down the track and slowly fades quieter as she runs away from camera diegetic sound: *gasp* As she turns around and sees someone in the distance she gasps with fear. 
Diegetic sound: *falling against the floor* The sound created as she hits the floor

Cuts to flashback - the bar diegetic sound: Molly ‘ so are we going for some food then’ Friend ‘yes that would be great’ ... *phone rings* ‘oh! Just one moment’ *friend gets up and walks out* Hustle and bustle of bar and ‘sweet Caroline’ playing in the background

Cuts back to molly running down the track diegetic sound: Continuous diegetic noises of her running down the track and heavy breathing.

Costumes for our production

 WOMAN - In the bar

• Nice, classy, black dress
• High Heels

• Neat and tidy hair, up in a bun
• Red Lipstick
• Clutch Bag

Our reasoning for the girls outfit shows that we wanted her to be in normal clothes with a normal atmosphere because if we went too over the top then a sense of realism would be drawn out of the production we created. This allowed us to create a more realistic approach to our opening of the thriller which consequently connects with the audience because a relateable feel. 

 MAN  - in the bar and throughout

• Black jumper

• Black pants - maybe paint or something on them to suggest a regular, normal person.

•  Face (blurry throughout to ensure the mystery is constant and so we never find out who he really is)

We decided that the man would be dressed in black, with his face never shown to allow the mystery to be heightened to ensure we never find out who he is. Our choice for doing this was mirrored by a lot of thriller films where, in the beginning, the killer is never actually revealed. 

Planning days

Because we had a large group of four of us, we needed to find days where all of us were available to attend.
To ensure this happened we had a group chat on Facebook so it was convenient to plan our days and get in touch with each other easily.

Weather Forecast

In order to decide what day we would do our filming on, we had to check to weather because part of our production takes part outside. Obviously we had to plan ahead in order to avoid rain or severe weather. According to the weather forecast, Wednesday seemed like the most appropriate day to film.

Location of our production

Primary location: unused train tracks for the girl to run on. (Holly’s garden)

                -Setting: Dark lighting, at night-time to film it- connotes something bad and encourages the whole scene to feel more ominous and dangerous. Whole of this scene is in the same lighting.

Secondary location: (flashback- black and white) in a pub, (molly’s grandma’s pub).

               -Setting: Light lighting, flickering light above to foreshadow that something bad may   happen. Colourful lights will make it seem happy but the flickering light suggests otherwise

Back to Primary Location: Back to original scene reinforces that before was a flashback and we see contact between the killer and the girl

             -Setting: Dark lighting again, with strong flashing lights throughout the scene e.g., the car lights, the man’s torch light

The Day After:  This scene is the day after and we have a body bag and crime scene investigation

            -Setting: The day will be gloomy and overcast, suggesting that something bad has happened.

Opening Synopsis

When a girl gets spiked on a night out with friends, her evening takes a dramatic toll when she finds herself running for her life on an abandoned railway track. Trying to make sense of the events that have happened. A fall may prove fatal in an attempt to escape from a deranged ex-boyfriend who cannot seem to get to grips that their relationship has ended. When local authorities are alerted of the girl’s disappearance, a frantic search party set out to find her in hoping that they aren’t too late.

Shot List for our own production

1.      First shot is a high angled shot from behind a girl of her running. She’s holding her heels in her hand and her dress seems scruffy and ripped

2.      Cut to a close-up of her face (mascara running down etc.), looking left and right with heavy panting to show she’s scared

3.      We cut to her legs running from the side as there’s a tracking shot

4.      Cut back to the behind of her, this time a panning shot for a few seconds but she will be getting further away

5.      Close-up shot of the girls face gasping and looking left

6.      Here there’s a long shot (she’s still looking left) but she stops completely

7.      She drops her shoes and we cut to a close up tracking shot of them falling to the floor (slow motion)

8.      Point of view shot of the girl (as she’s just looked sideways)

9.      The point of view shows the green bushes and they’re rustling – diegetic sounds of her crying and gasping heavier and heavier

10.  Jump cuts of her dropping her shoes with a close up of her as she hits the floor

11.  Extreme close-up of her eyes as they shut

12.  Cut to flashback of what she saw before

13.  Black and white scene

14.  Long shot of two people sat at the bar

15.  Close-up on girls face, this time she has no make-up running down it etc.

16.  Tracking shot of girl drinking

17.  Extreme close up on drink as she puts it back on the counter

18.  Cut back to longshot

19.  Over the shoulder shot of the guy standing up

20.  *Start montage of Jump cuts* Close up of guy ‘accidentally’ knocking the girls bag off the counter

21.  *Close up of the bag on the floor as the contents spill

22.  *Cut to close-up of the guys hand taking something out his pocket

23.  *Jump cuts of his hand going to put it in the drink of the girl

24.  *Close up of the drink with the pill fizzing in it

25.  *Close-up of girl drinking the drink

26. Then ellipses edit to her leaving the bar

27: Cut to the same shot but the male character leaving the bar – following her

28. Cut back to present time with a graphic match from the door he left from, to another door – this time shabby, dark and scary

29. Match on action as the ‘killer’ walks through the door and we cut to the interior

30. Close up on his feet as he walks through the room

31. Close up of the shadow of his weapon on the stone wall

32. Tracking shot as he walks through a gate, toward the young girl. – shot sped up slightly to create an intense effect with the audio

33. Extreme longshot of the man slowly dragging the weapon above the head of the young girl

34. This shot is sustained, then it cuts to a shadow on the wall of the weapon hitting the girl

35. Immediately cut to black with the intense music

36. From this cut to a panning shot of the outside

37. Sustained panning shot with overlay titles coming on in turn

38. After extended overlay titles cut to the ‘Sweet Caroline’ titles