REAL MOTHER CASTED!!

 We had a lot of rejections, we email Karen Barter the day before the shoot. She said yes and gave us the time she was free. Which lucky fit into our the shoot day perfectly.

shoot table/ communcation with cast

 

Genre research

Psychological Thriller 

What are psychological thrillers?

Thrillers are a diverse type of fiction and share many key features and characteristics of a mystery fiction. Then is an issue/ conflict that often arises from a crime or suspicious act eg. murder, robbery, disappearance or sometimes supernatural. The plot drivers towards solving this conflict as a result, thriller are suspense-filled, makes viewers at the edge-of-your-seat. 
Psychological thriller explore darker ideas and thought, normally on human behaviour or the mind. There tends to be an issue with reality, mind. The narrative is normally told from a mentally ill/psychologically stress character or an unreliable narrator. They feature antagonists and protagonists driven by violence/ on obession. 

Types of psychological thriller 

Domestic - which are the most popular psychological thriller. The setting is of everyday type of person then something happens to the main characters.
Dark - Antagonists is often a serial killer or a creepy disturbed individual who has found them selves trapped in a deadly situation. 
Workplace - is set in a professional/ work environment, the characters often risk their lives/work to solve a mystery. 
Supernatural - the paranormal of the world such as ghosts are involved in the narrative, haunting a character.
Adaptions - The plot twist and cruel dark portraits of humanity, they tend to have flawed characters with gripping narratives.

Origins

Texts from Middle Eastern Folks such as One Thousand and One Night. which contains tales of mysterious murders, courtroom drama and haunted houses. The old tales are the first view/idea of a psychological thriller.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is viewed as a father to psychological thrillers. His poems and short stories invite the experience of terror and anxieties the are told though secrets and characters trauma.
Sigmund Freud's Psychological research is a key role to nowadays psychological thrillers. Freuds thoughts on the spilt into different states of conscious. The discomfort and stress we experience is Freud's idea, he helped reach a deeper psychological meaning in modern day films. 

Information found from https://celadonbooks.com/what-is-a-psychological-thriller/

Test shoot

We wanted to work on the transition of the flashback, we film couple of different shot's and then cut them together.

Groupmeeting |4 lessons before shoot

 No confirmed cast for the role of the real mother

We had emailed Stephanie who was our first choice, sadly she did not email back. We then emailed Daniella who said it wasn't possible for her to do the role. We then emailed 5 people who we thought could play the role and are waiting for them to answer. 

 Rest of the cast 

Annie who is playing younger Jules has confirmed she is free for the whole day and so is Haley who is playing older Jules. Bethan who is playing the false mum has confirmed. 

We will send emails for when/where they will be needed, and what they need to wear. 

 Set

Adam is sorting out the hurtwood inn to see if we can get a discount on the room for filming. And we are then are filming in turrets for the flashback. 

To bring to hurtwood inn: fairylights, posters, school bag to empty on the desk to make her look like she works. 

Costume 

Haley in school uniform, Annie???

Bethan in jeans and smart jumper 

Same with whoever is the real mum

Shooting day schedule

 

Storyboard

location hunting

Car set up 

With our idea we where originally we where in going to need to be inside a car, well two cars. And one of the car would need to be smashed up. We found that this would be rather difficult to film, as one the space in the car would be limited and would make it more difficult to get shots. As well as finding the car plus a smash up car that looks like its been in a car crash. When we discovered this we developed our idea. 

Older Jules's Bedroom

We then needed to have teenage bedroom, we talked about having a one of the boarding room as the room. The issue was that we need the bedroom connected to the bedroom, and has the family she is with is wealthy the room would need to look grand and less like a boarding room. We then look at hurtwood inn, we picked a room there as the rooms looks elegant and clean. We will add decor such as fairy lights, school books and posters.

Flashback 

We decided to have in turrets, as changes the setting to an apartment setting. Turret seen to suit the flashback and it's not meant to be as elegant. 

Editing 2nd (Audio)

 We focus on audio editing. 

The graphic on the timeline is an audio track which is called 'Waveform'. There is around two wave forms per recording due to one being the focused sound dialogue from the shotgun mic, and then the one underneath is just the sound picked up silents. You then unlink the sound, then cut the underneath random sound. This is more for cleanest on the timeline. 

Crossfade is my best friend, on audio cuts it can sound harsh and not a smooth transition. You drag and drop constant power effect into the audio cut, and it smooth the sound. It can change the sound so you shorten the effect. 

Editing can change the hold film, it changes who is in power. We tried editing different people in power, i try editing one time with Iside in power and another with Caitlin. 

Practise filming for sound.

Audio filming 

Today in class, we were got put into a group. We film three sections. The focus was audio, we film 3 conversations. The shotgun microphone was aimed at the person who was speaking. We put the mic into a mount as it's easier to hold. This also helps as we aren't directly touching the mic which if we were touching can cause interference. 

Cast list update

We are currently sending out emails to our potential cast 

Our date of filming is 3rd of March, so we have roughly around 11 lesson till the shot. One of our potential Aveline, our real mother is currently pregnant. This was initial a negative to what our sequence  but then we thought we could slightly change the storyline of the plot of the main character. To the plot being something about the main character finding out they have a sibling and finding out where their sibling is. 

We decided that it was too difficult to get an actually child, as they would have to miss school. So we picked people who were slimly build and small to play a younger role. 

Also by editing the plot and storyline we have cut the fathers out of the opening so there is less people to cast and sort out. 

First Editing Workshop

Our first workshop on Editing on Premier Pro.

The folders are "Bins" because when there was actual film then were stored in bins together. 

The unedited footage is called "Rushes" and in America its called "dailies' as the turn over for the footage need to be done in a day or as quick as possible. 

The LOG Bin, is where all the footage that has been watch could be used should go. Once the film has been added to the log bin, you change the name to what it is. For example 'close up right hand'

Now when you want to use a clip, you double on the icon of the film. Then it will appear on the left screen. Where you can watch the film. Then you would find a part you would like stop at the moment, press I then that part is highlighted. You double click and hold on the film and drag it the the Editing bar on the right side and drop.

 Then you add more clips together to make the scene. If the clip has something you don't want in you either click C or the icon that like a razor. You would then click on the part you want the clip to end at then the two clip are separated.  Then press V or the arrow to continue. 

A tip i learn is to 'cut on action', it makes the scene constantly flow. E.g if in mid shot a person lifted a glass of water to their mouth you would cut as soon as it reaches there lips to a close up and then when their done drinking cut to mid or wide. 

+ - zoom in and out on how big the editing bars are and it's easier to get finer cuts.

Cast list ideas (Iside)

 Julia: she is 16, brunette and has blue/grey eyes. Relatively tall, 1.68-1.75m, has scars from the car accident that we can always add on the actress. Vision impairment, wears glasses. 

Cast list for Julia: Lauren Bos, Sienna Friend, Gracie Lupton

Lauren: she is the fake mother, around 46 - 48, has blonde/light brown hair and blue or brown eyes. She is the average height, 1.64 - 1.70m. 

Cast list for Lauren: Beth Greenhalhg, Nikie (english teacher), Lottie. 

Aveline: she is the real mother, around 36-40, has brown/light hair and brown or blue eyes, her heigh is around 1.65-1.72 she has a messy bun. 

Cast list for Aveline: Stephanie glide, Danielle (carriers department teacher) 

Action List (Vita edited)

• blurred POV of the girl waking up (vision impairment)
• static mid shot of her seating up
• close-up to her hand reaching out to the bedside table to take the glasses
• static mid shot+ change the angle (e.g. from the table's perspective) of the girl putting her glasses on
• following close-up shot of the girl fixing her hair/yawning 
• static mid shot of the girl starting to stand up from bed 
• long shot of her standing beside her bed and stretching for a second
• "over-the-shoulder" shot (through the books on her shelf) + rack focus to draw attention to the object
• close-up on the girl turning the radio/playlist on (through her phone) 
• following shot (from the back) of the girl walking to the bathroom
• mirror shot with the camera moving away from ECU to the mirror to a mid shot (creates an illusion in the beginning, that there is no mirror, but as the camera moves away, the audiences see it was a mirror after all)
• close-up to her turning the tab on
• "over-the-shoulder" shot (through the objects in the bathroom, like numerous pills), while the girl is washing her face
• static mid shot (profile) of the girl drying her face with a towel
• following close-up shot of her reaching out to a box of certain pills
• mid shot from the mirror's POV, as she can't get a single pill out
• close-up to her trying to get a pill out
• low angle "over-the-shoulder" (through the bin) shot of the girl approaching the bin and throwing the box away
• following shot of the girl walking out of the bathroom (the camera captures her from the front)
• match on action (she approaches the wardrobe) 
• close-ups to the objects in her room (posters, photos, neat clothes etc.) x4
• POV of her tying her shoes (while seating down on the bed) +she is already wearing the school uniform
• floor-level static shot of her standing up and walking away to apply her perfume
• "over-the-shoulder" (through the perfume on a shelf - the perfume should be expensive) shot+following shot when she takes the bottle
• close-up of her spraying the perfume 
• static long shot (door's POV) of her putting the perfume back and approaching the bed to take something underneath it
• following mid shot of her sitting down on the carpet and reaching under the bed (the camera moves along the girl's hand)
• over-the-shoulder shot of her taking out a box
• close-up on the box+ her opening it
• mid-shot of her trying to find something in the box while sitting on the carpet 
• long shot from the door's POV (she found the piece of jewellery she was looking for)
• close-up on her looking at the object
• mid-shot of the girl from the front (she started paying attention to the music, seems confused) + the song on the radio changes 
• a following shot (from behind) of the fake mother walking towards the room
• a close-up to the girl getting even more anxious (she heard this song before, but can't remember when)
• back to the following shot of the fake mother approaching the room
• mid shot dolly zoom on the girl 
• the camera comes closer to the girl (a close-up)
• from that position: a following shot, as the camera moves around the girl and captures her from the back
• during that movement - transition to the other location and the younger version of the girl sitting on the carpet
• mid-shot of the real mother walking in
• long shot from behind of the girl, as the mother walks towards the little daughter, disturbed
• POV of the girl looking at her mother (the mom keeps saying "we have to go, we have to go now")
• back to the long shot from behind the girl
• following shot: the camera moves from behind the girl, closer to her clothes and back to the front (this is the transition back to real time)
• close-up on the eyes of the main character (terrified)
• POV of her looking at the fake mother (the mom keeps saying "Juls, are you okay, we have to go now, we'll be late for school)
• mid-shot of the two females next to each other 
• back to the POV + rack focus: from Juls looking at her mom to the door
• close-up on Julia's eyes again
• black screen with the name of the movie

Change of Plan

 The logistics of our car crash flashback was not working, due to shooting in the cars and idea of the girl having a flashback in the car and how the scene would end. We then changed the idea to the girl being in the room the whole time, and having the flashback changed to hearing an arugment as a child and her real mother opens the door to say "run, you need to run". Then the flashback ends and her fake mum saying" we got to run to school". This save us alot of time by only shooting in two rooms and not cars as well as it cuts the cast size down to 4, and the little girl doesn't have to look super young just small as we only see the back of her.