Anne's Media Blog

Wednesday, 6 January 2016

Test shoot pre-production

On: 03:07

Comments: 0

By: Anne Braatz Media

Next up, after developing our idea we wanted to see what it would look like on screen, so we planned out a test shot.

We roughly planned what we needed, in terms of:

location
props
actors
filming and editing equipment

Luckily all of these things where easily accessible.

We planned to film in the upstairs area of the common room, borrow the cups and spoons from the canteen and use an i phone to film in combination with i movie to edit it.

We also decided who will do what job on the shoot day:

Jon will Film (Cameraman)
Roberto will take behind the scenes videos and pictures for the blogs.
Coco will act (old man)
I will act (old woman)

We then started to discuss our ideas of what camera angles and shot types we should use. To help visualize our ideas and agree on a final draft we created a shot outline .

From the shot outline we then created a rough story board, to follow on the shoot day.

Examples

On: 02:43

Comments: 0

By: Anne Braatz Media

The scene where the old ladies hearing aid is turned of reminded me of this scene of the 'Orphan', published in 2009. I think that it conveys the helplessness of the character quite well once that vital instinct is taken from her and disorientation kicks in.

Also in the scene of our thriller, I would like to have the sound effects building up. For example once the hearing aid is turned of the entier sound could be muffled and underline with a ringing/ tinnitus like sound, gently building up and making the view feel uncomfortable.

Further development discussions

On: 02:31

Comments: 0

By: Anne Braatz Media

Working on our idea, with fresh minds allowed us to view things more rational and we all agreed that we don't think that the idea has enough thriller elements in it (iconography). This was a tough dicishion since we all prefer the psychological thriller to action thrillers, however we have a tendency to adapt horror iconography into the idea. After having a discussion on what we could add to make it more easily identified asa thriller, and having different opinions on the options we decided to refer back to our manta of "Less is More". We agreed pitch our idea first, so we could then base our further development on the feedback.

Presentation on psychological thriller iconography (not my own)

Developing our idea

On: 02:22

Comments: 0

By: Anne Braatz Media

Idea summary:

The opening sequence idea consist of an elderly couple (60+) spending a regular, calm evening in front of the TV. Until the husband turns of the women's hearing aid in the movement of hugging her good night, making her completely unaware and vulnerable. He then walks into the basement, revealing his victim of torture.

Inspiration/Mood borad:

A similar shot will be used when the husband turns of the hearing aid.

The only light source in the living room is the TV.

Creating our Group Idea

On: 01:30

Comments: 0

By: Anne Braatz Media

Last lesson we were assigned into our groups. I was happy to hear that I get to work with Coco, Roberto and Jon. I have previously worked with roberto on the preliminary task and outside of class with Coco with a good atmosphere and pleasing outcome, so I am positive that we will be able to produce good team work.

As we got together we quickly decided that we would like to combine our ideas and form a new one, so we would all have the feeling of it being our idea rather than going with one persons previously developed idea.

We started by picking out our favorite elements from the thriller ideas, for example both Roberto and I had the idea of something being 'followed' (a suitcase in Roberto's and a box in my idea). Also, all our ideas were simple, since we thought these ideas would allow us to be more creative in the filming process. Another thing which reflected in our initial ideas, is that we all like the use of non linear chronology, especially the idea of the opening sequence also being the end to the film. We therefor all agreed, that we don't want a predictable story line. We want something original.

We then started to brainstorm:

Pitch Feedback

On: 15:53

Comments: 0

By: Anne Braatz Media

As I pitched my idea to the class, I revived predominantly positive feedback, however I also receved improvement suggestions:

I took the constructive cretique serious and thought of a more detailed description of the characters.

The doctor:

widowed in his early years and hasn't remarried ever since.
his wife died while giving birth and he gave the baby free for adoption, since he couldn't stand looking into his face.
he started of his career as a surgeon
he is 57 years old.
visits his father regularly after his mother died recently.

The journalist:

just recently married
his wife is pregnet
he is aproximately 28-31 years old
His family is happy although they are tight on cash
saving up so they can move from their flat to a house on the outskirts of the city.
he regularly visits his mother in the old peoples home, although she doesn't recognize him any more - 'since her husband died she is hard to get to.'
The reporter is afraid that his child might inherit this tendency towards the illness.
both of his parents are victims of Alzheimer, and he is at high risk too.

Facts like the once listed above could be introduced using the mise-en-scene in the shots, e.g. wedding rings, small photographs (in purse or back pocket).