Monday 31 January 2011

Location Research

In our film treatment and opening scene description, the first part of the movie ends with Damien going  back to help the struggling youth in the alley way. So we need to find a convinient area which would be quiet in the day so our filming will not get distrupted and so we dont have to ask the council for permission to close the area because that may take months and could cost us money as we would have to pay businesses in that area the money that they would ussually earn for that period of closure. Also, because our opening scene involves a group of youths confronting a young teenager, people may become startled by this and may intervine in the situation or they may call the police. So a few filming in progress signs so the public do not become frightened by this event and we would have to research or possibly ask the council about rules of filming in our local area.

Conviniently, the members of our group all live pretty close together in Croydon and we cannot pick a location which involves travelling far, for example, in Central London because first of all theres many people there so our filming might be distrupted and if mistakes are made then it would be very costly and time consuming to keep having to go there again. Also, we would have to ask permission because there are many cameras in London and the camera operators may not be aware of the filming going on and Police may be callled.

A possible location is near my house which is located on Swain Road in Thornton Heath and one road away, there is an alley way which is ussualy very quiet.
















This is the route that our group has decided for our actor Damien to take, and it was also chosen to match the shooting script. So the initial planned route is that Damien starts in the middle of Marion Road, crosses the road to Bensham Manor road, sees the group of youths confronting the younger teenager in the alley way and then decides to carry on, and then turns back. The alley way cannot be seen on google maps, but it's litterally just in front of Swain road.

Thornton Heath doesn't have the greatest reputation and isn't the most safest area in London, so we will need to take care of our equipment. Also, it would be wise to film very early in the morning, just after sunrise so there's less chance of our filming being distrupted by the public, and also our group needs to keep an eye of the weather so we don't miss any good filming opportunities as we dont have artificial lighting for the dark and also so we don't get caught up in the rain.

Filming in progress sign

It is essential that we create a sign to make the public aware that our film is taking place. Because we are filming very early in the morning, we are less likely to encounter people trying to cross the alley way. However, incase there are a few people, a sign is there to ensure that they don't become alarmed by what is happening. Our group doesn't have priority of the area because it would take too long to phone the council and ask for permission, so priority is given to any public member who decides to walk across the bridge.

This is a sign i created on microsoft publisher to be printed out in A3 so it is easily viewed by anyone deciding to cross the bridge which leads to the alley way.






These were pictures that I had taken on my phone of the location we were going to use for our film. The images are taken in a typical South London borough. It was a sunny day so the original pictures came out very bright which is not the image that we want for our movie. This is because the genre is going to be a thriller type gangster movie, and bright colours would not set the mood for the movie. Next to every ordinary picture I have put an edited photo to see the difference of what it would look like in our movie. Many films have to have a coulor correction layer over them to give them that aesthetic "movie look" which makes it look much different to the original footage.

To create the edits, all I done was reduce the brightness, increase contrast and reduce saturation in each of the pictures. For our movie we would have to insert a colour correction layer over the original footage so it gives it a more professional look.

MOOD BOARD

The Shooting Script

Original Shooting script

NOTE: shooting script may change depending on location
“Filming in progress” sign needs to be made and placed before the alley way so people don’t think its actually real.


This was our original shooting scrip, however during production the bike was no longer available so we had to shoot the footage but with Damien walking hence the reason the storyboard is different. 
 

It’s a cloudy day with little sun. Damien is about to leave his house but is making sure his bike is good and running just outside. Currently, his bike is upside down while he makes some adjustments.

PICTURE
TIME (aprox)
AUDIO
Low angle shot of back bicycle wheel turning. Camera is facing upwards at an angle of approximately 45 degrees.
0.02
Pleonastic sound of clicking of bottom bracket in back wheel
Cut to: Damien picking up bike so that it is the right way up. Camera starts from low angle shot from handle bars and slowly tilts up

0.04

Natural Diagetic
Cut to: Back wheel of bike falling on the floor, (possibly in slow motion)
0.01
Pleonastic sound of tire hitting ground
Low angle shot of Damiens hand testing brakes. His hand and brakes are at bottom left corner of screen and at first camera is focused on his hands but with manual focus we loose focus of his hand and can see his face at which we see him give a nod of satisfaction to his work.

0.03
Pleonastic sound of brakes tightening.
Damien then gets onto his bike. Shown with Low angle shot 1 foot away from rear of bike, highest point in the frame that is visible of Damiens body is his waist and lowest point is the ground. Damiens hand reaches into his pocket.


Diagetic
Cut to: Close up match on action shot of Damiens hand getting his phone out.
Cut to: Damien using phone, low angle shot, phone is close to camera but we can see Damiens face and body above.
Cut to: Back to Match on action close up of phone in Damiens hand as he chooses the song he wants to play.
0.01

0.01


0.02
Pleonastic




Music turns on in sync as he presses play. The audio soundtrack is all we can hear at the moment.
Damien puts his phone back into his pocket and rides off. Low angle shot from waist as Damien rides past camera

0.02
Soundtrack
Damien starts riding his bike on the pavement.
Tracking shot can be done by using a bmx with stunt pegs on back (one person riding bike and camera man standing on pegs on back of bike)


Soundtrack
Cut to tracking shot: Camera tracking shot is on road filming Damien as he’s riding his bike.
0.03
Soundtrack
Cut to: Over the shoulder shot from Damien looking at a group of youths on other side of road.
Cut to: low angle shot from group of youths talking, camera rises upwards until we see the youth notice Damien and turns head towards him. In the shot we see Damien riding past in the background but two youths are in the frame.
Cut to: Close up of Damien’s face, staring at the youths (remember to use rule of third) and Damien then looks away and continues riding.

0.02

0.04



0.02
Soundtrack
Damien approaches the end of the road and stops, ready to cross and is looking for traffic both ways.


Tracking long shot going past Damien as he is at the end of the road.
0.03
Soundtrack
Damien crosses the road, and starts riding on road 2 (Bensham Manor road)

Tracking shot on road showing Damien riding his bike on pavement.
0.5

As Damien reaches the alley way he realises his shoe lace is undone and stops to do it up and as he goes to do his shoe lace he sees a group of youths bullying a girl.

Over the shoulder shot of Damien as he’s riding bike, camera tilts downwards to show his undone shoelace.

Cut to:  low angle shot of Damien looking downwards at his laces.

Cut to: Match on action of Damien stopping the bike with the brakes.

Cut to: Mid shot of Damien getting off bike and kneeling down to the floor and gets his phone out to stop music

Cut to: Match on action shot close up of phone in hand showing him pressing stop

Cut back to: Mid shot of Damien about to do shoe laces but looks up

Cut to: over the shoulder shot of Damien looking up to see the 3 youths bullying the younger youth halfway 
down the alley way.

Cut to: Wide shot (a quarter way up the alley way) showing Damien looking at the youths.






0.04

0.02


0.01


0.05

0.03

0.04


0.03


0.04





Soundtrack





Diagetic






Voices of youths and younger youth
Damien gets back onto his bike but keeps glancing down the alley way.


Medium close up shot from his head height as he gets up to go on his bike and rides away it turns into a mid shot.
0.06
Diagetic
As Damien is riding away from the alley way he has a sudden change of mind and pauses while his conscience battles with his feelings whether he should go back and help or not.


Mid shot of Damien riding bike, camera is slightly tilted upwards and his face is very clear.
Cut to: Match on action close up of hand pulling brakes
Cut to: Match on action of back tire skidding
Cut to: Close up shot to extreme close up shot of Damiens face as he gets closer to the camera.
Sudden pause of around 5 seconds as he decides what to do.
0.05

0.01

0.01
0.06
Diagetic



Pleonastic sound of tire skidding
Damien turns around and starts riding the other way,
As he does so the camera tilts upwards and the name of the movie is revealed through editing.
0.03
Soundtrack



STORYBOARD


Damien leaving his house in his council estate

Damien (mid shot) outside his house getting ready to walk out

(Match on action shot) Damien presses play on his phone which is synchronized with the non diagetic music

Damien is walking through his town roads

Damien sees two youths trying to rob a person

Damien walks away but he stops for a moment and has second thoughts on whether he should help or not

Damien is about to intervene with the confrontation and this is where the opening scene cuts and we see the title of the movie

I used an electronic smartboard to create these images as they would has stood out much better than pen and paper when put on the computer.