Preliminary Task - Initial Ideas

Storyboard - A storyboard is a comic strip of specific scenes that layout how the scene will look and what's included within the scenes. Things like sound, editing and time would be recorded on a storyboard.

Quick Plan - Police Interrogation

The investigation of a murder is taking place. Two investigators begin to interrogate a suspect of a brutal murder that took place on a college campus.

Sets

·      Dark, Dimly lit room

·      Alleyway

Camera Angles

·      NEEDED – Shot Reverse Shot

·      Close-Up Shots

·      Medium Shots

·      Establishing Shots

Content

·      One person being interrogated. Intense, angry interrogation.

·      Two investigators.

·      A Murder.

·      Narration – The main investigator.

Scene opens with a close up shot of the victim lying dead on the floor of an alleyway. Camera slowly pans out to reveal more of the crime scene to which the camera fades into black. A shot of a suspect cuts into frame where the interrogation of the murder begins.

Dialogue would Include questions such as "Did you kill him?' 'What was your motive?' The basic police interrogations questions. Answers of denial and panic would be used as a response. 

Datenapped

Cast:

Tim - Date Person 1 -Brad /Villain -Gas mask /Director (After Kia left, Editor)

Rebecca - Waitress -Shelly /Kidnapper

Ryan - Date Person 2 -Jack /Kidnappe 

Kia - Camera Girl/Director/Editor (Could not fulfil this role due to leaving)

Script

BLACKOUT

VOICE-OVER - JACK

"It was a normal day, at first. Thought I finally got a chance at love. That was about to Change"

FADE INTO TITLE SCREEN

"DATENAPPED"

FADE IN.

INT. / DAYTIME / RESTAURANT.

A brightly lit restaurant with an open window view in the centre of town. Two males, known as Brad and Jack, are having a blind date. Brad is a dark, nerdy character who seems to have a mysterious aura about him. The other, Jack, has a very innocent appearance: light hair and bright blue eyes. He seems like a genuine, loving young man. 

JACK

"So, do you come here often?"

BRAD

"Yeah I come here.. probably every weekend? Roughly." 

JACK

"Oh? Why's that?"

BRAD

"I come here to do a couple of shifts here and there. Just some extra work."

JACK
"Oh right."

BRAD
"Excuse me! Waitress!"
*Waitress walks over to the table*
"Could we have a glass of bourbon, and a glass of wine please?"

SHELLY
"Of course! I'll be right back."
*Waitress walks over to the bar*

CAMERA FOLLOWS WAITRESS USING A TRACKING SHOT.

The bar is a very simplistic bar. The waitress stands over the bar with her back to the rest of the restaurant. Shelly makes two drinks and slips a mysterious powder into right glass. She collects the drinks and walks back over to the table.

JACK and BRAD

"Thank you!"

SHELLY

"Is there anything else I can get for you two?"

BRAD
"No thank you."
*Waitress leaves*

*Both JACK and BRAD pick up their drinks*

CAMERA CUT TO THE WAITRESS FOLLOWED BY A EYE-LINE SHOT OF THE DOOR. 

Shelly looks over to the couple sitting at the table then looks back to the door. She then flips the sign over from open to closed. Waitress walks away and the CAMERA ZOOMS INTO THE SIGN SLIGHTLY. CAMERA CUTS BACK TO TABLE.

BRAD

"Cheers!"

*Couple bash drinks. JACK takes a sip*

"So, how's your evening going so far?"

JACK

"It's going.. okay.. T-thank.. you."

BRAD

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

*Audio sounds to dilate as BRAD speaks*

*Waitress walks behind JACK and covers his head with a sack*

SCREEN SUDDENLY CUTS TO BLACK.

FADE IN.

INT. / NIGHTTIME / DARK ROOM.

The scene begins with a CLOSE-UP SHOT of Jack's face which has been covered with a sack. CAMERA ZOOMS OUT to become a MEDIUM SHOT. The sack is viciously ripped off Jack's head to reveal a slightly beat, tired-looking Jack. CAMERA CONTINUES TO ZOOM OUT to become a LONG SHOT. We now see that Jack is tied up on a chair in a dark room with a single spotlight poised onto his face and upper body.

CAMERA CUTS to a TRACKING SHOT of the kidnapper's lower leg and feet, slowly walking towards the light emitting from the spotlight. 

The kidnapper is in fully dark clothing. Mainly leather clothes with black shoes and a dark gas mask. 

KIDNAPPER

*Ominously circles the chair as JACK tries to escape from rope*

*Calming tone*

"Don't try to escape. It'll only end badly for you."

JACK

*Nervous voice*

"Wha-Wha-What do you Wa-Want from me?"

KIDNAPPER

*Snaps to action, throws hand to JACK's neck and begins to threaten in a more aggressive voice*

"You only speak when I tell you to!"

*Pulls away slowly and continues to walk in circles around JACK*

CAMERA CUTS to another kidnapper standing up against the wall who is also wearing all black. 

KIDNAPPER 2
*Speaks in a calm yet enthusiastic manor*
"So, what're we going to do with him?"

KIDNAPPER
"Not sure yet, we'll have to wait and see what he says."
*JACK continues to struggle and attempts to break out of the rope*
"Do you know why you've been brought here? Any thoughts?"

JACK
"N-no.. Of course not!"

KIDNAPPER
"Hmm, thought as much. That's a shame."

KIDNAPPER 2
"Guess we'll have to enlighten him.."

KIDNAPPER
"I guess we shall. Your family destroyed ours, we want revenge. Simple." 

JACK
"Who are you? What does what my family have done have to do with me? They're the ones you should be after!"

KIDNAPPER
"Who I am is none of your concern yet. What your family has done has everything to do with you. You're the one they did it for, to give you an even better life than you would have already got. Spiteful if you ask me, selfish. The rich always want more."

JACK
"Are... Are you going to kill me? Oh god, please don't, please"

KIDNAPPER
"Of course not. How vulgar. And anyway, where's the fun in that?"

KIDNAPPER 2
"I'm getting bored now.. Let's kill him!"

Storyboards

Evaluation - https://youtu.be/9P22OX9AscY

I believe that the final outcome of the video task was a success. There were both positives and negatives to the filming and editing process that may have hindered or improved the outcome of the overall film. Our film 'Datenapped' links to the thriller genre. This is because it features many thrilling aspects such as the use of suspense and also intense scenes. 

There were may positives to the filming process that improved the outcome of the final film. Some of these included the filming itself and also the planning. As all of the group knew how to use the equipment provided before hand, we didn't have too much trouble when recording the scenes. 

Because we planned every aspect of the production before we began recording, we knew what we had to bring into college for recording. This included the props and costumes which increased the verisimilitude of the production. The costumes of the characters played a large role in the establishing of the characters from the audience's prospective. For example: The antagonist wore all dark clothing and a gas mask which brung out his character as a dark, mysterious figure and was also to highlight what role he played in the film. The props, such as the ropes and the cups, added to the verisimilitude of the film because of how they were used. All of these features added intensity to the atmosphere. Also, when filming, we has storyboards at hand to know how the scenes should look. Despite having storyboards, we didn't stick to them 100%. Finally, We had a script at hand so that we knew what we had to say and when we needed to say it. Despite the positives, we also has a few negatives. One of these was that we didn't stick to the script like we should have. This was mainly due to the amount of time that we had to film. Despite this, the miss-en-scene of the film was successful. 

The technical elements of the production, that were extremely important to the electrical aspect of the proaction, were as follows: A Sony 1080p Recording camera - This piece of equipment made it possible to film the scenes. A Tripod - This kept the camera stationary whilst recording. It wasn't used 100% of the time however. A H1 Recorder - As the camera didn't have a sufficient camera built in, we used a H1 Recorder to capture the audio of the film to a huh quality. 

We used a range of lighting within the production which allowed us to control the atmosphere within the scenes. We used bright, natural lighting for the first scene to add to the verisimilitude of the dining scene as it was set in a restaurant during the daytime. Furthermore, we used low-key lighting within the interrogation scene to add suspense and to give a sense of threat to the audience. There were also a range of camera shots which added to the atmosphere of the film. Shots such as close-up shots were used to show character's facial expressions and to also establish what is happening to the audience. Other shots such as establishing shots were used to establish where the scenes were set to the audience. During filming, we had issues with the H1 Recorder as it wasn't picking up sound like it should have been. This hindered the amount of time that we had to film.

As one of our group members decided to leave the College after filming, I took the role of head editor. During editing, with the help of my other group members here and there, I used a range of techniques and editing methods to place all of the scenes together. I used techniques such as fading to transition into title screens and back into the film. This was used so that the film ran smoothly. Whilst editing the audio, I muted the entire audio from the camera's recorder and used the H1 Recorder's audio. Finally, I had the idea of using a video camera overlay on the interrogation scene so that the audience felt more included in the film as it is as if they are watching the interrogation themselves and not just watching a scene within a film. This allows the audience to escape and links to the theory of escapism by Blumler and McQuail. As it was very difficult to line up the audio with the video, there was a very small section of the film where the audio doesn't match up perfectly. 

Overall, the production was a success. However, there are still things that we could've improved on. We could've added more aspects of thriller films to our film so that the audience realises the genre quicker. We could've also practiced our lines beforehand so that we knew what we were saying and when to say it without the need of a script.