Pre-filming Plan

Props needed:

• Map of Gaol
• Hand held camera for Michelle
• Prison sign for Geoff to hold for the photograph of him that appears at the end.

These are photographs of the props!

Characters/Actors:

• Student filmmaker - Michelle Aloe
• Cinema worker/ Ghost smuggler - Geoff Arnold 
• Real cinema worker - Member of staff who works there
• Locals who are interviewed - Becky Gliddon /Laura Johnson 

Locations:

• Inside Michelle's bedroom for opening scene
• Cinema (Inside and outside)
• Forest - closing scene 

Script and Storyboard.

We are filming on Saturday and Sunday so a copy of the script and storyboard has been sent out to our actors to familiarise themselves. However because it is a documentary we have told them not to learn it line by line and they should feel free to add any bits to their script to make it sound more realistic.

Below is a copy of the script:

Script

Storyboard 2

 Frame 4:

Newsreader (Claire?): It is the 21^st May 2002. Reporting live at Dover Silver screen cinema where there has been an unexpected fire which broke out early hours of the morning. Police are now investigating.

Frame 6:

Newsreader (Rob? Becky?): 21^st May, 2012, I’m Becky...here with cinema owner John Harrow. John could you just explain what’s happening with your cinema right now?

Cinema Owner:  Well, there’s going to be no films shown here today. First thing this morning the power just went. To be completely honest I don’t understand.

Storyboard 3 (Michelle in her room talking about the documentary)

Frame 2:

Michelle: Hello, my name is Michelle, I’m 17 years old and I’m investigating the occurrences on the 21^st May at Dover Silver Screen cinema. Year after year these unexplained events keep happening at that cinema, on THAT date. (Speaks faster) I mean, fires, power cuts, missing people, it’s crazy.

So, I’ve got a contact. I found this guy on the internet called Mr Arnold who is more than happy to show me around the cinema, but get this, he used to work there back in 1953 and he was there the night the group of 15 disappeared. Well, went missing. He’s going to meet me at the cinema in a few days. So, maybe I’ll finally find out more and create an amazing documentary, I hope so! People might think I’m crazy for investigating this, but I’m a film maker and there’s always a story behind everything.  You just have to look deep enough. The 21^st May is no ordinary date, here in Dover and I’m not going to accept that it is just a coincidence. I know it’s not. (smirks) so here it goes! (moves closer to the camera and switches it off.)

Frame 6: (Outside the cinema waiting for Mr Arnold to arrive)

Michelle: (sigh) Where is he?

(Pans camera left to right then turns around and Geoff is standing there.)

Michelle: (Shocked) Ahh, you scared me. Sorry about that. (laughs) Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Michelle. (Shakes hand)

Geoff: (Shakes hand) Hello Michelle, shall we go in?

(Michelle follows Geoff into the cinema)

Storyboard 4

Frame 4,5,6: (Inside the cinema)

Michelle: Thank you so much for coming down here. Let me introduce myself properly. So, I’m a student film maker and I have a fascination with this cinema and the date, 21^st May. I’m creating a documentary because I believe that since the 1900’s, unusual, dangerous things keep happening here (quick pause) on THAT date, nearly every year. And you, you worked were here when that group of 15 went missing during the viewing, back in 1953 (pause) on the 21^st May, so, I really want to know more?

Geoff: I understand. Yes that date was quite the talk when I worked here. And yes, I was here when that viewing went missing. (Sigh) It was an unusual time.

Michelle: I can imagine. Well today I want to find out more and get your account of the whole situation, if that’s okay?

Geoff: Ask what you like Michelle.

(Geoff begins to walk over to the ticket booth and stands behind the counter.)

Geoff: I’ve missed this place. (laughs)

Michelle: (confused as to what Geoff is doing) Huh, yeah, well it is a lovely cinema?
 (Rhetorical question)

Storyboard 5 (Inside the viewing part)

Frame 2,3

Michelle:  So, where were you the night the people went missing? I’d like to know everything.

Geoff: It was 7 in the evening. (Says quite loudly) Things were normal; I took their tickets, showed them to their seats, made sure that everyone was happy, I did my job. Shortly after, Ron, went up to the projector room and started running the film, I was outside, like normal. It was about 10 minutes when I started to notice the smell of burning. A very intense smell. Hard to forget actually... I was worried, I didn’t know what I was going to see, perhaps a fire blazing, so I ran quickly in to the cinema. I wanted to see Ron there smiling away as usual, enjoying himself, despite the fact how much he hated where he was. His job. But I burst through the doors and there was no fire (pause) but there were also no people. They were gone, missing I suppose. I didn’t understand. I don’t understand. (Puts hand on head looking distressed)

Cuts to people in the town being interviewed.

Storyboard 6

Frames 1-3

Geoff: It seemed like the 21st May always brought sadness here at Silver Screen.

Michelle: Yeah, wow, that’s a lot to take in, yeah. (Nodding pleased, as he is confirming her suspicions of how unusual things happen on that date.)

Geoff: How about a tour?

Frames 4-6

Michelle: So how far does this cinema go back? (Points camera around)

Geoff: Did you know?

Michelle: (startled) What?

Geoff: 1818 21st May..(slowly)

Michelle: Go on..

Geoff: This cinema wasn’t always a cinema. It was once the old town Gaol.

Michelle: A gaol?

Geoff: yeah a Gaol. 15 smugglers were captured on that date, 21^st May and dragged here. Their loved ones were enraged. Angered. They couldn’t believe that their husbands, their dads, brothers, sons were locked away. Do you know what they did?

Michelle: (croaky voice) what?

Geoff: They formed a mob; they smashed into the Gaol to break their loved ones out. They started with the door, the smugglers were moved to the most secure cells, but that didn’t stop them, did it? The mob literally pulled the prison apart. Fire,Tiles, stones were pelted at the troops, all to free their loved ones. (Nods in agreement and then pauses) Eventually some of the smugglers were released (pause) but others were caught in the riot and weren’t so lucky, (looks away) so I hear. Many were killed and they never got to unite with their loved ones again.

Michelle: What happened next?

(Michelle slowly walks nearer to him, intrigued by the conversation.)

Storyboard 7

Frames 1-6.

Geoff: The mob continued to rampage into the night,(begins to get louder, passionate) smashing windows, fighting for the Smugglers freedom.

Michelle: Are you okay? (long pause)

 Geoff: (exhales) it must have been a horrific 21st May.

Michelle: I never knew any of this. It’s perfect; I mean, it’s true, true that that date has always been here, lingering…Waiting for something to happen.

Geoff: But anyway, I don’t like to talk about it. You never know who is listening. (Walks off a little bit)

(Michelle stands there wondering what he meant)

(Suddenly a fire alarm goes off)

(Geoff stops walking) (Michelle moves camera down)

Michelle: What is that? (concerned)

(Points camera back up)

Geoff: (professional) Sorry, I need to go and deal with this, wait here please.

(Cuts to black screen)

Interview:

Michelle: What have the staff been like in the cinema throughout the years?

Jean: The staff have always been fine. The rumours about the cinema are simply that. Rumours.

Storyboard 8

Frames 4-6

(Outside the projector room)

Michelle: Mr Arnold, If I may , why do YOU believe that these terrible things keep happening on the 21^st May ? I mean every year there’s always something that happens, fires, floods, people going missing…But why?

Geoff, Stares blankly at her.

Geoff: follow me Michelle

(Enter projector room)

(Geoff reaches into the drawer and pulls out a plan of the Gaol)

Michelle: What is this? (Zooms in on plan)

Storyboard 9

Frames 1-4

Geoff: This is a plan of the gaol, (pause) where I think everything started. This place has never been the same since. See, (points) look at the cells, the halls, imagine the feel of being there. The foul atmosphere. It must still linger in these walls here today.

Michelle: what do you mean?

Geoff: (abrupt) what I mean, is that, I bet before 1818, the 21st May was just another day at this site. Nothing bad would happen. Nothing.  

(Michelle starts zooming in on the tattoo)

Michelle: What makes you think that?

(Silence. Geoff realises she is looking at his tattoo)

Geoff: Excuse me?

(Michelle jumps and then returns the camera to his face)

Michelle: Sorry, I, just noticed that, ‘Liberty Forever’ on your hand, what does it mean?

(Geoff walks out and shuts the door)

(Michelle pulls out a chair and sits down)

(Michelle starts talking to her camera)

Frames 5-6

Michelle: there’s something very strange going on here. I’m feeling slightly out of my depth, the way he gets so mad. Why? Why did he react that way to such a simple question? I think I need to get out of here; this is way too intense for me.

(Walks over to door, tries opening the door, door won’t open)

Michelle: what the hell, he’s locked the door! (panicked) Hello? Mr Arnold?

(Starts shouting and banging on the door, sits on the floor distressed)

(Suddenly hears banging)

(Stands up to open the door again, this time it opens)

(Heads towards the cinema entrance. There is a man standing at the door, she opens it)

Storyboard 10

Frames 1-3

(Man)  Sorry I’m late, I’m Andy, I’ve come to give you the tour…wait… how did you get in?

Michelle: Tour? I’ve just had the tour with Mr Arnold

Andy: I am mr Arnold

Michelle: No, I’ve just been shown around by Mr Arnold!

(lowers camera as she is looking around for him)

Michelle: (to self) where are you? You were just here!

Andy: Look I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just calm down.

(Michelle faces wall)

Andy: Are you ok?

Michelle, crying and confused staring at the wall.

(Cuts to STORYBOARD 10 BOX 5)              

Storyboard 11 (back in her room after discovering the photograph of Mr Arnold as a smuggler)

Frames 3-5

Michelle: it’s been three days since I visited the cinema. I’m confused, unsure, scared (pause) at what I have found. It’s him, it was him in that picture, but it was him who gave me the tour. But he died, he died in 1818 and I saw him, I know I saw him!

Pause

(Calms herself) But I’ve been doing some more research, it’s all I could do, I haven’t been able to eat, sleep… it’s just  all I’ve been thinking about. All what he told me about the Smugglers and how some were killed and the riot? It’s all true. Every bit of it, I have books to prove it. I believe, (choke up a bit) I believe that… he was one of the smugglers. One of the unlucky ones. ‘Liberty forever’ it was on him…(the writing from the book appears on the screen fading across her face) And it was also in this book. It all was.

Maybe I broke the cycle for that horrible horrible date and things will finally rest at Silver Screen. Or maybe I didn’t and maybe it wont. but what I do know is that it happened, he came to me. He showed me everything. (Puts her head down) But some things. (Sigh) Theyr’e better left Unanswered…

UNANSWERED TITLE APPEARS.

(Eerie song starts playing whilst the credits roll)           THE END.

Below are the storyboards/shot list: 

Typical conventions!

Common Conventions!

Michelle did a very good bit of research into common conventions. We now have a very clear idea of how we're going to film our short film. Below is what Michelle researched and what we then discussed.

When researching and looking into different Documentary/Mockumentary films I have found that most of them included the following conventions:

• Hand-held/Shaky Camera is almost always used, shots can sometimes be out of focus and framed badly. It's common for the film to include shots to with different types of camera resolutions e.g. it may look like the footage is from a CCTV camera or a computer webcam etc.
• The lighting is often quite poor and I've found it's common that the scenes are very dark. Torch light is a very common way of lighting very dark scenes that keep the film looking realistic.
• The sound is sometimes also quite poor and sometimes in inaudible resulting in subtitles being used. The actor dialogue doesn't sound like it has been scripted and learnt by the people in the film.

I have also found that the films often have a specific kind of editing. I found that it is common for the editing to be jumpy and disjointed, This makes it look like the person filming is not actually a professional film maker with a big budget. It also makes it look like what they are filming isn't pre planned and makes it look like they have just picked up their camera and catching what they are filming by chance/luck.
It is common for the films to include text, weather it be dates, times etc. or explaining the story line. The text is included to make the film look factual or confirm important information. It's also common for a voiceover to be used to create the same factual type feel.
Another convention that makes the film look factual is interviews with people. The interviews do not look rehearsed and are often uncomfortable and can often include the people saying controversial things (that are made to look like they can't be edited out).
It isn't common for music to be played over the scenes however if music is included it usually comes from a source/prop used within the scene such as a radio, television etc.

The following film (Grave Encounters) is a great example of a Found footage/ Mockumentary film as it includes almost all of these common conventions.

After watching the video I found a few more typical conventions that will help us when producing our own film.

Script/Dialogue- 0:01:53 The actor at the beginning speaks very slowly and his script is very realistic.You wouldn't know he is an actor, the way he speaks and his long pauses makes what he is saying appear real and truthful. This type of script is typical for this genre and I think this clip demonstrates how well it can work if delivered properly by the actor. When it comes to our script, we will brief the actors to learn their lines but not word for word so that when they say their lines it comes across as organic and as real as possible to create this same effect.

Unstable camera footage: 0:04:13- During this part the camera is very unstable and repeatedly zooms in and out on the actors face. This is also another typical convention and it is to represent to the viewer that the person behind the camera is in fact an amateur and is ac'normal' person filming. Therefore when the unexpected things happen later on it is more shocking for the viewer as we think that this is all happening to a normal person with their hand held cam. It also adds tension to the scene and makes the viewer feel uncomfortable, setting them up for the scary parts later to come in the film. 

Plan Update

Plan

Date	Task	Completed
8th-12th August	Complete Storyboard	Yes
12th-16th August	Complete Script	In Progress
1st-6th September	Complete Film Poster	Research underway
9th-13th September	Complete Magazine article
14th-15th September	Complete filming
16th-October	Complete editing
November-onwards	Distribute film and evaluation

Creating a Hype.

I decided to write an article about our new exciting film and contact my local newspaper to see if they would print it. The Newspaper was very supportive and printed it for us last week!! The community now know about our film and how it focuses around the paranormal and history of the site. This will hopefully get them talking and asking questions. The good thing about a paper is that it has a very wide audience, therefore our film has now been advertised to a large demographic.

Most of our film is based around truth anyway, so we didn't have to make anything up about our film in the Newspaper. It seems completely realistic, which is good because when our film is now shown they will think that everything is true and even start believing the paranormal aspect to our film, which is our aim! As this is what will scare our audience and make our film a successful thriller film.

Now when we release posters, locals will recognise the film idea from the paper and this all enhances the 'believability factor' I think we are on our way to creating a very good buzz for the film, similar to a 'Blair Witch styled' hype.

Below is a photo of the article in the paper:

Poster Research.

Whilst I was creating the storyboards, Michelle decided to do some research into different film posters. After visiting her blog, I saw that she had found some very interesting facts about the style of Mocumetary film posters. Below is an image of the posters she analysed...

The points that Michelle made are very true. The 'Unaware' poster is very mysterious and doesn't give too much away. This is the type of style that we need to create. Even the name of the movie is very cryptic and intrigues the audience. Our own film is going to be called, ‘Unanswered' so it holds a very similar mood and curiosity. Having a simple, sometimes even confusing film title makes people think deeper about the film and is engaging, as all of the answers aren't given to them straight away. Even if they leave your film still with questions 'Unanswered' it doesn't matter, as this is what creates talk around your film and the thriller/horror genre typically leave people asking for more. This is one of the reasons we decided to name our film 'Unanswered.'

 

I also like the way that the background to the poster could be interpreted in many different ways, the more you stare at it the more you see. I think that our own poster should also use dark colours to convey a thriller aspect to the film and automatically set the mood. It is always good to make it clear to your audience what type of genre your film is and also keep consistency throughout your film, from keeping the colours of your poster similar to the shooting style of the film. This all helps to make the tone of the movie realistic by keeping it consistent. Michelle also noticed that the font they have used looks very factual, almost like a type writer reporting news. A similar font will work really well on our poster and also at the start of our film. This will keep the sense of realism consistent.

You can definitely see the difference between the big Blockbuster film poster compared to the Mocumentary styled one. The colours and Mise en Scene are very different from one another and tell completely different stories. The 'Ocean's 13' film poster uses a much brighter colour scheme, well-known actors to draw in their target audience and large typical fonts. This may work to promote their type of film but it wouldn't work for our thriller/documentary film that we are promoting as it doesn't hold any mystery or darkness. It is clear that by using darker colours, unknown actors, unusual fonts and mysterious film names helps set the mood and builds mystery for a horror/thriller film successfully.  Now that we have identified these differences we can create our own poster that sends the right message to our audience and most importantly makes them want to come and view our film!

We will start creating our poster between the 1st-6th September, this may take longer but this is our guideline to start the process of producing it. The most important thing is that we have it completed before the film is released to create a hype.

Postmodern Style Filming

The filming style we want to create is typical for Thriller films but we also aim to make it very unique at the same time. We are challenging many aspects of the typical handheld footage genre of films.

We are filming the majority of our film with a handheld camera used by one of the actors involved, therefore they have little camera skills, giving the impression that the film is in fact filmed by an amateur student filmmaker. Below is a quote I found from a website about the Blair Witch project that explains how our film will be shot and what effect this creates...

"It was important to make sure this film did not look like there was a third party involved," says Myrick. "We gave the cast a 16mm film cameraand an RCA Hi-8 video camera only. All the lighting at night comes from ENGlights on the video camera. All the audio comes from the camcorder'smicrophone or the DAT recorder. That is the production value we wanted."

Indeed, many of the film scenes are grainy and poorly lit, many of thevideo scenes shake wildly and are hard to follow, and audio quality variesfrom scene to scene. Still, such work is impressive when one considers thatit was shot by non-professionals-the three cast members themselves. "Our DPtaught them how to load the cameras, get exposure and focus, and how tocare for the cameras, while our sound guy taught one of them how to run theDAT machine," says Sanchez. "We didn't want it shot too slick or anything.In the film, they are supposed to be student filmmakers, and we wanted thefootage to look like student footage."

http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/dcp/news/behind-blair-witch-project/44043 

However our filming style will be even more unique as we are bringing in a 'third party' and having an extra steady-cam filming Michelle, appearing as a fly on the wall watching the events taking place. There are two reasons why we have decided to go against conventions...

1. We want to showcase to the examiner our camera skills, including framing, lighting etc and we felt that through a hand-held cam we wouldn't be able to do this as effectively as we would have liked. Therefore using both types of filming, it will be clear that our hand held footage is deliberately shaky, bad composition and lighting to create a tense, uneasy feel in contrast to the steady cam which offers an easy way to watch the film and demonstrates typical, good quality camera shots. It also gives the viewer a break from the constant uneasy hand held footage that could potentially put off our target audience from watching the film. Essentially our film will have the best of both worlds. 
2. We want to create a completely unique film. The main aim of the steady camera is to further confuse our audience when watching the film. They will think they understand how a young girl is creating her own documentary but the idea that there is another camera observing will constantly make them question and feel uneasy from never knowing the complete truth of whether 'is this real or not?'  After doing some research into different TV series etc one being 'Supernatural' that have experimented with this style, we found that it actually does work extremely well and also allows the audience an overall view of what is happening. An objective view, looking in on the situation but also a subjective view from the student filmmaker, building an emotional attachment to the character.  It also adds another sense of tension as to who the person filming the filmmaker is, perhaps the ghost himself?

Overall, we are very keen to try this new way of filming. It is a challenge but we think it can be extremely effective. The contrast of deliberate bad filming and deliberate steady filming will compliment each other effectively and create something that is very tense, confusing but engaging for our audience.