Planning and Test Shoots

1) Use male instead of female as victim: Theo
2) Appearance: 1950's- strange: very formal, shirt, tie, greased back hair?
1950's- Italian/American male: vest, greased back hair, chewing on toothpick, towel around neck?
WILL CONDUCT TEST SHOOTS OF BOTH OF THE ABOVE

3) Setting: My house- Georgian building...will need to style as appropriate...remove certain
props & add others.
WILL CONDUCT LIGHTING TEST SHOOTS OF ALL SETTINGS

4) Sound: Visit Sound FX websites/ make studio recordings of sounds needed. Will need to get old news recordings or murders. Huey Lewis and the News track to make reference to American Psycho.

Opening sequence of Peeping Tom (Powell, 1960)

Film 2

I want to try and use film 2 as part of my final major project (FMP). For my FMP I am planning on having a short film playing on loop on a small television set as part of my instillation. My FMP is themed around the exploration of the line between reality and the imaginary, where I am using the 1991 novel American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis) as a key source of inspiration and starting point.

My proposal for film 2 is that of a short film based on the idea of having a stalker in your house- watching your every move. Ultimately this stalker figure is completely ambiguous; therefore we do not know if it is even human. I believe this idea connects to my theme in the way that it encompasses themes of the un-known and fear which are key responses to someone stuck in between reality and the imaginary- someone in an unstable, confusing and fearful environment and state of mind.

As long as technically I make good choices to produce a piece that esthetically has and emits all of the above feelings and I create the piece to a high standard; then I am sure film 2 will be appropriate for my FMP and will add to the projects overall effect and success.

Reflection on group film

We made our group film in the first couple of weeks of beginning the course. We were put into groups and had about 30mins to think of a concept and draft a rough storyboard. We then had an hour to go away with a video camera and make the film, which we did using the college as our setting. Our film was of the horror genre, the synopsis:- a girl stays behind late at college to catch up on work. As she goes to leave she finds the door is locked, she helplessly attempts to open it as she sees a dark figure on the opposite side of the door holding it shut. The door flys open and the figure is gone. As she makes her escape she is discovers she is being followed and finally chased. It is left of a cliff hanger as to whether she escapes or not. ...however we didn't want to take it seriously so it became a sort of mock horror film- using all the typical elements of a cheesy horror to make a more humorous narrative.

We used technical elements such as hand held camera and tracking shots to create tension and to build up to the climax of the film. We did not have the option to edit the film so we had to film each shot in order- rewinding and re-shooting where necessary.

I enjoyed working with the group as although we didn't really know each other it was a good way of getting to know everyone and we had a lot of fun making the film.

Group film

Proposal & Storyboard for Film 2#

Film 1#

Contextual References for Film 2

I want to shoot film 2 in a point of view style from a 'stalker'; similarly to the opening sequences of Peeping Tom (Powell, 1960) and Halloween (Carpenter, 1978).

End of Film 1

I have finally chosen a soundtrack for my film- deciding to simply use the sound of rain falling through out. The track fades in and is steady through out until about half way through where I gradually increase the volume to a point of climax at the end where the sound then pans from left to right an finally fades out.

I am very happy with the finished product and feel the soundtrack suits the surrealist genre of the film appropriately and effectively.

Progress

Taking photographs for film 1 was very successful in terms of adhering to my original storyboard. It became apparent that I would have to change one or two frames due to problems with props or unforeseen circumstances, however these were easy to replace. I have now had time to upload my images into FCP and edit them adding transition effects and colour to the 'surreal frames' to indicate a change in mood and to signify a difference between what is real and what isn't.