Questions before filming

8 Key Questions to answer before you start filming your coursework


1. The action that happens in our film opening is a girl is walking home late at night and starts to feel dizzy, while this is happening a diagetic sound of something wispering her name will be going on. She gets to the house and looks for her pills, Antipsychotic - which is the medication for people with schizophernia. She will enter the house and using an over the shoulder shot we will have an over the shoulder shot of the imaginary friend watching her. The girl is then sick and has flashes of her killing something with flashing images of the imaginary friend making her do it. This then leads to her going crazy in her kicthen, leading to the cliff hanger of her possibly killing her mother.

2. The theme of our film opening is horror, so we aim to scare our audience while raising awearness about schizophrenia and the symptoms behind it. In a way there is also a sence of obsession in our opening, as the imaginary girl is obsessed with the girl she's controll, as she doesnt leave her alone and also the girl is obsessed with not seeing her imaginary friend. Victemisation is also a key theme in our opening, as the girl is being victemised and pushed into doing the things that the imaginary friend wants her to do.

3. The way that our opening is stuctured is that its set in present time but we use flash forwards to her seeing herself killing something. There will be no dialogue here but there will be both diegetic and non-diegetic. The diegetic sound we'll use will be of her panting and stabbing something, while over lapping with the tension thrilling non-diegetic sound of music.

4. There are two characters in our film opening, the main character doesn't have a name but is played by Abbi Stilgoe. The girl suffers from schizophernia. The reason i wanted to use Abbi is because she (in the nicest way) doesn't stand out in the crowd as being ill, like her character therefore i wanted to show that anyone can suffer with schizophernia. 

The other character is Abbi's characters imaginary friend, played by Chloe Smith. Chloe's appearance on the other hand is very harsh and scary in our film. She's playing a girl of the same age as Abbi of around 17 years, but is dressed in a blood and mud stained while top which is ripped all over along with ripped legins. Chloe's make up is going to be pale and bruised, kind of like Samara off "The Ring" her hair is also going to cover her face as i think this will add tension onto Chloe's character.

5. The choice of location is my house. This is because it's easily accessable from school. But also because we dont want the location to tell the horror/thriller plot of our film opening, as we want the action to tell the story. Therefore we want the audience to relate to the character, doing this by them having the same kind of living life style as our main character. 

Planning Questions On Film

8 Planning Questions for your film

1. Is it practical?
Yes. Our practical idea will easily be done as we are not adding any highly technical effects. Also we are doing the costume and makeup for our actors our self, so we wont have to spend loads of money on making our characters look realistic. Our location is also very practical as its where everyone can easily get to, both actors and us filming. This will also lower any costs and hassle of everyone getting to the location on time. Also having the actors as close friends who live close to the location will make it easier, also saving valuable time.

2. Is it an idea that works to the strengths of the group?
Something which I found has straightened the group is that we all gave our own ideas about the film, which made us all understand what the other one was thinking, this then led to us feeling comfortable with each other about how we felt and we knew that the others wouldn't laugh about that idea. Also relying on each other to show up and be ready to give ideas and put them to action makes the group stronger, as it shows that we're all willing to work. The individual qualities which we all bring make our group stronger, Rob does this by being motivational every lesson - coming in wanting to get something done in every lesson and not to waste time. Becky strength i think is making our story simpler, she did this by when we were planning our opening Rob and I wanted to do really adventurous things, but Becky dragged us back down telling us to think about what is easily accessible. I think the strengths that i bring into the group is that I'm very artistic, as i drew pictures of the costumes and took photos of the locations, this makes the group stronger as it creates a picture for the rest of the group and anyone who wants to see what we're aiming to do.

3. Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course?
I think this practical exercise will show of the the skills i have learnt so far on the course, because we're using a variety of different camera shots while filming and using effective editing skills when editing. Therefore, it will show how much i have learnt but also expanding new ideas and adapting them to make a effective film opening. As we do want to show what we had learnt we are putting in match on action, 180 degree rule and a whole range of shots.

4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?
Yes. We have already started planning the maxi um time we can spend on filming while leaving enough time for editing. Also as the location is only a 5 minute walk from school, it wont waste time on getting there, giving us more time to film. The opening however, as we want her to be walking home in the dark we will have to do in the evening, this could be difficult if not everyone can get there due to the lack of transport.

5. Can you get access/ permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?
Yes, as it's going to be filmed in my house, and with permission from my parents (who are fine about us filming in the house as long as we don't make too much mess). This is very useful as we don't have to schedule a time to film as my house is always open, it will just be a case of when everyone is free at the same time. As the location, as i said, is close by the access of the location will be very easy, again not letting us waste time on getting there.

6. Can you organise lighting to use in that location?
This is the only thing that we might not be able to use effectively, as we only have the basic lighting in my house, however, as most of it is filmed in the kitchen, where there are many different lights scattered around the room, which will either make the room brighter or more dull, depending on what lighting we're wanting to achieve.

7. Have you included dialogue? If so, will it work to shoot conversation in that location?
As we are doing a horror opening, and we want it to look as professional as possible, we thought that we should use the least amount of dialogue as possible, the only when her mother enters the kicthen and says "whats wrong darling?" This only dialogue in the opening will work in the location as we aim to make our location look as scary as possible with low lighting adding tension, so this line (which ends our film) will add more tension, ending the opening on a cliff hanger.

8. Do you have guaranteed high quality reliable actors to play the characters?
As both Becky and I do drama and know all of the actors in the drama classes and are close friend with the actors we have chosen, we know the qualities of these people, therefore we know that they're reliable and also are very good at acting. As they live close by there should be no problem with transport to the location and from the location.

Audience Feed Back

Audeince Feed Back

Story Board

Location

This i think would be a good point of view shot to do for the "normal" girl, and we could have her imaginary friend at the bottom of the garden to build up tension for the audience, as she's getting closer and closer.

Location

This is just a photo of my window, i don't think it would be an effective camera angle to use, as it doesn't show much, even though we can easily see in, it just doesn't give enough tension away. 

Location

This is taken from the outside looking in. Which will be used when doing an over the shoulder shot of the imaginary friend when she's watching the "normal girl". It will all be in the dark, so we wont need to worry about the reflection on the window.

(Can see my doggie too :) )