Day one of filming

We have completed day one of filming. Our plan for this day was to film all the shots in London that we required and because it was the beginning of half term we managed to find a day that the actors we needed for these shots were available. It was quite difficult to find a time that all four of us were free due to school and work commitments so we knew that we had to use this time wisely as it would be quite difficult to go to London to film. We arrived at the train Station at 10:30 at started making our way to Greenwich, whilst on the train I decided to film some shots of Mia and Rasharn as I started to think of ideas that would fit nicely into our story line, as some shots during the day were unplanned and quite spontaneous we ended up with more shots that we had originally planned to take that we will then filter through when we start editing, but this allowed us to play around with what we wanted rather than being restrained because our new ideas where not originally in our storyboard.

Our first stop was Greenwich park to film the shots using the bandstand, we took out the tripod and set up the camera, we both felt that this scene was probably the the easiest to film because we both knew exactly what we wanted and our actors understood our directions almost instantly, the only problem that we seemed to encounter was making sure the framing of our shot was how we had imagined because there was a football game taking place in the background and we didn't want anyone running into shot. After a few takes and managing to get Mia and Rasharn to stay central we were happy with what we had so were reading to move on to the next location. We took a short walk to the foot tunnel where we wanted to film Mia, These shots were quite difficult as although we had planned to go at a time where the foot tunnel was the least busy there was still quite a lot of people walking about,  we knew that we would not get a shot of Mia alone in the tunnel which we had ideally wanted so we waited until the people walking past where in the distance and then filmed. We managed to avoid people walking into shot or blocking the pathway but we didn't manage to get as many takes as we originally wanted as it started to get busy.

After this we arrived at Greenwich Navel College where we needed to get our final shots. Unfortunately this was a busier location full of tourists so took more patience waiting for people to move out of the frame but luckily we had plenty of time as we were well ahead of schedule. We were really pleased with this location especially as it looked really pretty and grand which was a great setting for our location, exploring the location we managed to find the best spots to start filming where we would not be interrupted by passers by.

Overall we both feel that the day was a success, we were really lucky as the weather and lighting was on our side. By working as a pair, taking turns to direct the actors and film we managed to make the most out of the day getting plenty of footage that we can use. Our actors were great to work with as they listened to what we wanted and took on board what we were saying which made it easier to get the footage we wanted without having to take loads of shots.


-Sam

Risk Assesment

Before filming we thought about the risks that may occur and a lot of them were very minimal and simply being sensible would mean these were low risks. Therefore we compiled a list of possible risks and how to overcome these.

-Samantha

Title Animation

I have created the title for our film and have animated the word Others so that it will have an outer glow of purple.

I created this using Serif DrawPlusX6 using a sample template and then editing it to how I wanted, I used the background of a dark blue and brown colour.

I then thought about adding the film title, this was something that I found quite difficult at first because the font used for the title of the film is key to attracting the audience's attention.

After finding a font that Emma and I both felt that we wanted to make the word Others stand out the most, therefore we separated the title into 'We are the' and 'Others' and then enlarged the word others to make it more prominent.

When animating the title, we wanted to give a sense of the genre and the themes of the film
We chose quite a classic and simplistic font


-Sam

Updated Shot List

We used our initial shot list to create an updated version after we had discussed what shots we wanted, exactly where we wanted them. Creating an updated version allows us to feel more ready to film as we know the details that we need.

-Sam and Emma

Shot list

This is the draft of our shot list that we came up with whilst having our initial discussion about the general locations for filming, breaking each down shot by shot so that we could try and work out how much filming we had to do in each location and therefore plan a day for filming.

We have currently established two main locations Croydon and London for where we want filming to take place. Looking at each of the locations we have planned that each location will be easy to reach and can hopefully be done within two days and then we will allow time for re filming if required, however we wish to film in a variety of ways to allow us to have lots of footage to work with.

We will go over this again soon and create a more detailed shot list that includes more information that we will then use during filming.

 - Sam

Storyboarding

Here is the storyboard for our trailer

-Sam

Script

During the opening and the closing of our trailer, we have decided that we want to have a voice over that sounds like a voicemail. The voicemail will be left by Alexia and it is unclear who it is to. We decided that we will not give too much information about Alexia's situation during the voicemail but will present her feeling lost and alone with the idea that her life has changed.

I have written a draft script for the voice over that I will then discuss with Mia  what emotions I want her to express and record her and see how it sounds.

In the voiceover, we want Alexia to sound quite exhausted and scared, as if she has left on an impulse ((dispense))) and is unsure of what to do next.

- Sam

Film Titles

Deciding on the name for our film was quite a long process as we felt that we had to decide the right name for the film as the title would be one of the first things that the audience would see in the poster and also what should stick in the audiences mind after watching the trailer.

 The name of the film should be intriguing for the audience as some of our audience may decide to either watch the film or not solely based on their opinion on the name of the film.

Therefore when choosing the name of our film, we wanted to make sure we had asked a selection of our target audience to obtain their opinion.

Film Names

This is a brainstorm of ideas for names that we came up with for our film:

These were some of the names we came up with, however we found that some of these names had already been used (highlighted) for other films using IMDB (source:http://www.imdb.com/) therefore we couldn't use these for our film. This narrowed our choice to three:

• Alexia - the name of our protagonist
• Trial - introduces the idea of the fact that they were an experiment
• We are the Others - highlights some of the characters and the idea of unity 

As we didn't mind using any one of these names we decided to ask a sample of our target audience to see which they preferred.

This is a bar graph based on our results. We asked 20 people altogether and the most liked name was 'We are the Others' therefore we decided to use this for our film.

-Emma

'The Others'

"The Others" are genetically engineered characters in our film. I have created a mind map to explain these characters further as they are a key element to our storyline and genre as well as our protagonist being classified as one of them also.

-Emma

Consent from the Actors

Change of actors

We had encountered a problem with one of our actors playing Charlie. Daniel Hows has mentioned that now he is working he feels that he will be unable to commit to filming dates and as he attends a different school from the rest of the cast we think it would be extremely difficult to work around this.

To overcome this issue, Emma and I had a discussion about other potential actors, we needed someone who could act and be at ease in front of the camera and with Mia. We thought of some ideas and we discussed the potential of using Rasharn as the love interest. However Rasharn we had already cast as the attacker, Emma then suggested that these could be the same people to present a plot twist for the audience, having Alexia's love interest be someone that is trying to hunt her down but unexpectedly falling in love with her.

For these reasons we have decided to change actors and use Rasharn as Alexia's love interest and use the name Arby.

Here is Arby's new character profile:

Name: Arby
Age:13
Occupation: Student
Job: Works at a bookshop whilst undercover

Age: 18

The charachter of Arby is the love interest of Alexia. Arby is intelligent and brave. When we first meet Arby we see that he cares for Alexia and is concerned for her, wanting to protect her. Arby is working undercover for an organisation that is trying to hunt down the Others, but he gets to know Alexia, falling in love with her and is driven to protect her. There love is quite complicated as Arby is torn between doing his job and his feelings for Alexia. Arby is caring and sensitive, but it it takes Alexia to bring this side out of him.

We chose Rasharn as our actor as he takes Drama as an A-level so will be able to perform the role well, Rasharn is good friends with the other actors and me and Emma so will have no problem being directed and making sure he can attend shoot dates.

 -Sam

Researching into Female characters

In the film Industry there has been a rise is the number of strong female characters that now inspire younger generations. We have decided that in our film, we would like to present a strong female character as the protagonist, therefore I think some research into female characters in modern films will help our decisions for our character's personality.



Katniss Everdeen-The Hunger Games

Katniss in 'The Hunger Games'is a strong female character because she does everything in her power to protect her family. She is independent and prefers to be alone and not have to rely on others. Despite romantic interest from other characters Katniss is adamant that she has no time to think about herself only about her sister and mother. Katniss is seen as a symbol of hope for people to look up to when protesting about their treatment from the authorities. From a young age she had to put her family first and take care of her family since her father's death and her mother's decline.


Kathy- Never Let Me Go

Kathy is a strong female because she has had to learn to deal with her situation of being a clone who's purpose in life is to donate organs. Even with her short life that has already been planned out for her, she manages to find the strength to care for others as they donate and are at the end of their lives. Kathy is strong minded and stands up for what is right.





Skeeter - The Help

Skeeter in 'The Help' is a strong woman as even as she is born into privilege she starts a project writing about black maids and their unfair treatment from the majority of the white community, Skeeter defying social norms of the time, is isolated from the community because of her views on the civil rights movement.




Looking at these examples of strong female characters I would like to have a combination of these characteristics in my character. I would like to portray my character mainly being similar to Kathy from Never Let Me Go, being strong enough to accept her differences but not letting herself be overwhelmed by her life being so far from normal, and also Katniss' ability to put others before herself. I think by taking inspiration from these characters, my protagonist will be interesting and likable.

-Samantha

Further research into locations

View of the Skyline on rooftop carpark

After thinking of ideas for possible locations we went to look at one of the locations, the rooftop, originally we had thought of using a nearby car park. After having a look we found out that we would need to gain permission to film here.This may be a problem if we are not granted permission, so we are thinking of a similar location that suits our needs.

The carpark

Greenwich foot tunnel

 We wanted to show a dark gritty location, so after looking at many places, we liked the look of Greenwich foot tunnel. We wanted to give a sense of the urban London locations within the film. With the lighting in the tunnel we wanted to show the sense of isolation and fear that Alexia experiences.

The Attic

We wanted to have the location of a cluttered attic where Alexia finds the documents and information about her past and her identity. The attic location and a dusty hidden files will show that her identity has been concealed from her and this is now a new discovery. We are going to use my the attic at my house, because it is quite cluttered like things have been not touched for ages but has enough room to be able to film and move around.

Clinical lighting

We wanted to use the ceiling of what we wanted to be a hospital room, however we do not have assess to this location. Therefore we have decided to use blurred clinical lighting. We found a location within our school,where the ceiling looks as though it could be a hospital due to the intense white lights and white ceiling.











-Sam

Locations

After discussing potential scenes and shots with Emma we have come up with an idea of locations as a trailer would need quite a few locations to show the progression of the story. Coming up with ideas of locations was quite hard as because filming an opening sequence last year we only had to use a couple of locations. We also had to think of mise-en-scene and about how some locations would not be ideal as the mise-en-scene would be out of our control.

Here is a mind map created during our discussion:

The locations that we are considering are either in places that we live or in public areas so we would not need permission to film in these areas. The only problem that I feel we may encounter is trying to film in a bookshop/Library because we would need to ask permission to film there and try not to disturb others which may make it harder to film there.

-Samantha

Storyline/Plot

This is the initial plan of our story line / plot.

Alexia Hastings (our female protagonist) was genetically engineered by a non-government run organisation. She was adopted at the age of five and does not remember much from before this time apart from fragmented images and memories in her dreams. Alexia has always felt different growing up as she can do things that other people can't as she has heightened senses - she's stronger, faster and smarter compared to other humans and can sometimes hear voices in her head which are the 'Others'.

The story of our film follows the journey of Alexia to find the 'Others' to find a place where she belongs. As we wanted to create an element of danger and tension within the film, the 'Others' are being hunted as they are a supposed threat, however as we thought this may lead more into the action genre, we decided to follow the journey of Alexia finding the 'Others' as this narrative sticks to the drama genre however the film could be left on a cliffhanger which would leave it open for a sequel.

Throughout her journey, Alexia also meets Charlie, whom becomes her love interest in the film. He is quite introverted yet intelligent however her meeting him, she realises puts him also in danger. This creates another struggle for the character internally as she loves him but he is safer without her therefore this is another conflict she faces. For the character development of Charlie, we wanted to portray him as shy and fairly 'geeky' to begin with and develop this throughout the film so he becomes brave and 'hero' like to surprise the audience as you wouldn't expect this.

The way in which Alexia finds out about the 'Others' is through Kaya, a waitress she meets who is like her. Kaya is slightly older and knows much more about their background and informs Alexia of the danger they are now in. This is another cause of her internal conflict as she wants to try and be normal and find her identity, protect Charlie as well as find the 'Others' in the hope it will allow her to find herself.




-Samantha + Emma

Character Profile - Arby (Attacker)

Name: Arby 

Age: 19

Job: Unemployed

Characteristics: Aggressive, physically strong

Arby is the person that tries to attack Alexia in the alleyway, but Alexia unknowing of her own strength manages to hurt Arby, making her realise she is stronger than she thinks.

This character will be hooded wearing dark clothing, most likely a hoodie and sweatpants, Arby's face will only be revealed as he falls to the floor hurt

-Samantha

Character Profile - Koby

Name: Koby
Age :19

Koby is a minor charachter, who is only present in one scene of our trailer, but his storyline will be more in the actual film. We decided to show Koby as another on of 'The Others' who plays a role in Alexia discovering who she is and then uniting together.

However we wanted Kaya as the main friend of Alexia who is predominantly introducing Alexia to the people she has met on her journey.

Koby is a strong character, who has been through a lot in his life and will be a great support for Alexia, however he is only hinted as a character in the trailer as we want to focus mainly of Alexia and Arby.

Brainstorming Scenes/Shots

After discussing with Emma our story line, we came up with an initial plan of scenes and shots that we feel would be effective in our trailer. This discussion was to get ideas on to paper so they are not forgotten and then can be filtered out or developed in further discussions. By writing down our ideas for potential scenes it gave us the ability to think about locations and what mise-en-scene would help to enforce the mood and messages we wanted to convey in each scene.

Also by brainstorming ideas we put thought into how we would like our editing to be and the pace of the scenes. We feel that this discussion has helped greatly because we have a clearer idea of how we can use the conventions of a trailer to portray our genre and show the story line effectively without giving to much away.

-Samantha

Character Profile - Alexia

Name: Alexia Hastings
Age:17
Nationality: British
Home town: London
Occupation: Student
Birthday: 19th May
Home life: Adopted as a young child

Height: 5ft 2"
Race: Caucasian
Eye Colour: Purple
Hair Colour: Blonde
Distinguishing Features: Eyes
Style: Edgy, urban, modern, simple
Hobbies: Reading, drawing




Our film is following the journey of our female protagonist, Alexia Hastings who has been genetically engineered by a non-government institution. She knows she is different as she has heightened senses compared to a human; she is smarter, faster and stronger than a normal human being and can sense when danger is near. She was adopted at a young age therefore remembers little about her life before. She is introverted and prefers to keep to herself as she finds it difficult to fit into a world where she struggles to understand her identity.

We chose Mia as our actor as we felt she looks right for the part because of her style and she does her make-up well as we wanted someone who looked slightly edgy. She is also petite and her facial features are quite dainty so it gives her a sense of innocence and vulnerability. As she does drama A-Level also we know she can act therefore making her character more realistic and believable.

-Emma

Character Profile - Kaya (The Other)

Name: Kaya Montgomery
Age:19
Nationality: British
Home town: London
Occupation: Waitress
Birthday: 1st November
Home life: Lives alone, adopted as a teenager

Height: 5ft 7"
Race: Caucasian
Eye Colour: Purple
Hair Colour: Brown
Distinguishing Features: Eyes
Style: Simple, classic, basic
Hobbies: Dance, Music




Kaya Montgomery, classed as one of 'the others', is like Alexia as she too has been genetically engineered. She went through the "changing" earlier than Alexia; this is when they begin hearing the voices of "the others", their eye colour changes and their sense become heightened. She tends to keep to herself but can be very outspoken and strong willed in challenging situations.

We chose Beth to play Kaya as she is taller and has the appearance of being wise and we wanted a young character but slightly older than our protagonist. Beth also does A Level drama so will be able to act well in the trailer so her character can be more relatable.

-Emma

Character Profile - Charlie (Love Interest)

Charlie :

Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Occupation: Part time bookshop
Interests: Reading books,
Nationality: British
Hometown: London
Birthday: 15th December
Home life: Lives with his parents and younger brother
Height: 5ft 8"
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Brown

The character Charlie is the love interest of Alexia. Charlie is intelligent and brave, he is a caring guy who feels the need to protect Alexia even though he does not fully understand the scale of the situation. Charlie is hard worker who is outgoing and loves socializing with his friends. We wanted Charlie to be perceived as strong but would allow his emotional side to be shown as Charlie struggles to make Alexia understand that he wants to support her and doesn't want her to feel like she has to keep secrets from him.

We chose Daniel as our actor as he knows the other actors well so there will already be comfortable with acting as the love interest of Alexia (Mia). We have spoken to Daniel and he understands the need for commitment and how important this task is for our coursework. Daniel is a good actor so will be able to convey the emotions we want effectively.



-Samantha

Plot Discussion

Film Research

To get a better idea of the audience who would watch our film as well as to establish a definitive genre and storyline for our film, I did some research into other films with a similar genre and narrative for inspiration.

As we wanted to primarily focus on the drama genre however add elements of sci-fi to make our film stand out, I looked at other films that combined these two. Similarly to our idea, a lot of these films combine the dystopia/utopian element which is the plot we were following.

1. Never Let Me Go (2010)
- Drama / Sci-fi / Romance
- 12A
- Budget: $15,000,000
- Gross Box Office : £1,473,603 (UK)

	Votes	Average
Males	53718	7.1
Females	36825	7.3
Aged under 18	783	7.6
Males under 18	209	7.5
Females under 18	558	7.7
Aged 18-29	52474	7.3
Males Aged 18-29	26489	7.2
Females Aged 18-29	25475	7.4
Aged 30-44	29385	7.0
Males Aged 30-44	20842	7.0
Females Aged 30-44	8150	7.1
Aged 45+	6583	7.1
Males Aged 45+	4922	7.1
Females Aged 45+	1563	7.3
IMDb staff	11	7.1
Top 1000 voters	470	6.3
US users	13572	7.2
Non-US users	61734	7.1
IMDb users	101767	7.2

The diagram to right is taken from IMDB and shows the user ratings for the film. The film score a weighted mean of 7.2/10 and the data shows that the best response was from females aged under 18.

2. The Host 

- Adventure / Romance / Sci-fi

- 12A

Budget: $40,000,000

Gross: $26,616,999 (USA)

           

	Votes	Average
Males	42043	5.6
Females	29724	6.5
Aged under 18	2139	7.0
Males under 18	511	6.0
Females under 18	1596	7.5
Aged 18-29	37937	6.1
Males Aged 18-29	18800	5.7
Females Aged 18-29	18745	6.6
Aged 30-44	22433	5.5
Males Aged 30-44	16388	5.4
Females Aged 30-44	5722	6.1
Aged 45+	4908	5.7
Males Aged 45+	3795	5.6
Females Aged 45+	1041	6.3
IMDb staff	8	4.6
Top 1000 voters	372	4.8
US users	11563	5.8
Non-US users	38896	5.7
IMDb users	85513	5.9

The IMDB user report for The Host shows that the best response for this film was once again females under 18. The next best response was then from females aged 18-29.

From this we can see that the typical audience for these types of films seem to be females aged under 18. Therefore I was able to gather a better understanding of the target audience for our film; we will be aiming our product at, generally, a young female audience from the ages of 14-20.

-Emma