Planning: New Film Storyboard

For the last storyboard, i felt I didn't do enough frames, which meant I wasn't as prepared when it came to filming. So with this storyboard I wanted to try and draw a still for every single shot I could think off,and if I think of anymore when it comes to the filming I will incorporate that into the film too.

Note: This blog would not allow me to upload the scanned images of the sheets that were in in Microsoft Word, so these images are taken from photos of the sheets leading to a decrease in quality.

Planning: Target Audience

The rating I would give to this film would be a 15. This allows me to target a much broader audience as that rating indicates that it is accessible for teenagers and also adults. Ofcourse due to the nature of the genre it is not suitable for younger children. I imagine based upon typical audiences for thrillers, the main audience would be 18-25 year olds. As the plot of the movie seems to be more focused on the intrigue of finding the killer rather than just out and out action scenes, this would open the genre up to a female fanbase who typically do not enjoy action thrillers as much as a male audience.

Planning: New Film Casting, Costume and Props

I will use the same main two actors to play the detectives in this film who played the scientists in the previous film as I found it easy to work with them and again their attendance of drama lessons makes them ideal choices. The third actor, the one who gets chased and murdered, will be a girl as it is stereotypical in the genre for female characters to be more vulnerable to attack.

In terms of costume, as they play detectives, the two main actors will have to wear similar costumes to connote they work together, notably including a white shirt and black tie combination, black trousers and a black coat. The antagonist who chases and kills the girls costume will be dark and very concealing to create a mystery around their identity and also a sense of fear as his face can not be seen. For this he will wear dark trousers, a dark hooded top and a balaclava over his face which will create the fear as no human emotions can be seen from him. The girl's clothes will be light coloured and not concealing to create a contrast between the evil antagonist and he innocent girl he kills.

The props I will need are the lotus necklace which I already have possession of and a packet of gum so if the scene with the gum being spit out doesn't work first time, we can re-film it.

Planning: Filming Location

I have decided to film in the woods near one of my actors houses as this means everyone knows how to get to the location, so no delays are caused, and we can also go back to his house to recharge the camera if necessary.

For the opening scene I need a long stretch of woodland so the victim can get chased down by the attacker. This stretch of woodland below is very good as it is reltaively clear, but also has a few obstacles the victim has to avoid whilst being chased to make it seem more frightening for her. The first picture is where the victim will begin running and the second picture is where she will end. The log at the bottom of the 2nd picture also is a good prop as that could be the thing that causes her to trip and be caught by the attacker.

After the log there is also a clearing which is where the two detectives can stand and discuss the murder

Planning: Plot for New Film

The new plot for my film once again falls within the thriller genre. It will revolve around the discovery of a dead body by a detective and his partner and the beginning of the investigation that follows it aiming to find a serial killer who leaves a unique calling card of a lotus flower necklace. The film will be a hybrid of a crime thriller and an action thriller, with elements of psychological thrillers too.

The scene starts with calm shots of the surrounding forest where it is being set. These shots will cut with flashback sequences of the victim's point of view as she is chased through the forest and eventually cornered by her attacker. It then changes to the present time with the dead body and the two detectives discussing the murder. When one of them spits his gum away, he notices the lotus flower necklace calling card on the ground and recognises it from a previous similar murder. They then realise they are dealing with a serial killer and need to stop him before he kills again.

I feel this is a good opening to the movie as it contains a lot of action and establishes some of the plot and characters but still leaves some enigma codes to intrigue the audience to watch on.

Filming Mid-Point Evaluation

After the initial filming of the opening of my movie, I have decided to make a number of significant changes to the way I shoot next time and also the plot of the movie. I feel as though my initial filming did not work out the way I wanted it to for a number of reasons. Firstly I feel the plot of the movie was too unrealistic in terms of it was always going to be difficult to find somewhere that resembled a laboratory, and the substitute location I chose was not convincing enough to be used. Secondly, the way I filmed the shots were not up to scratch as I did not consider enough some aspects such as lighting, variety of camera angles and mise-en-scene. When I finished editing the shots together I also found that it was about 20 seconds under the 2 minute mark, so I also need to add some more dialogue to the movie.

For the next time I film, I will have to consider the things I previously did not pay enough attention to, a lot more than I did before. I will also have to re-write the script to better fit the resources I have available to me. I will keep with the thriller genre for my movie so that my previous research is still relevant for me.

Rough Film

Note: This is not the preliminary video, but the rough attempt at the film.