StoryBoard..

This is our storyboard for our film to help us when filming. Hopefully, it will make our lives a lot easier, as it will help us with what comes next in our film.

Filming - Our first day!

Last night, we all met up and began our film. We were all both excited and nervous as we did not know what to expect. We headed for Enfield Town park as night fell (around 17:45) and began to set up. Our actors were all in costume and rearing to go! We filmed all of the outside scenes including the park where the rapist first See's the 'ballerina' and also the last scene where he will begin his process (stalking) again with a new girl. I think the only hard part about filming in the night is the lighting.. as as it got later, it also got a lot darker, resulting into us changing the scene slightly, to me (the ballerina) walking past Billy (the rapist) in a pathway where there was limited but effective light source. We took pictures of our costumes to keep the continuity each day we filmed.

Me - "The Ballerina"

- Black jazz shoes, with black leggings and black leg warmers. Crop top with a lace over layer, and a coat for her outdoor scenes.

We had a slight problem with trying to find the exact costume the music box ballerina wore, and so improvised with what we already had and made the dancer into a more contemporary dancer for later scenes in the dance studio.
hair - curly.

make up - natural.

Billy Jarvis - "The Killer"

-Jeans with black shoes and a black coat. He will only wear dull colours to fit in with the darkness of the sky as a typical "stalker" in horror films would do.
-He also has a bag around him, which he may be hiding possible things to attack her with.
-He also will be wearing black gloves when winding up the music box in other scenes.

The first scene we filmed was actually our last scene, as it was only just getting dark and so we wanted to change the scene a little instead of Sophie walking past at around the same kind of time. This scene was Sophie walking past the "killer" as if she is his next victim. We filmed this from all the different angles by the river in town park. The different shots we used was wide shot, a shot from behind and in front, and an extreme close up on the "killers" eyes and mouth.

As we was shooting at night, we turned the camera onto 'night mode' as when we looked it looked a lot scarier, more realistic, and a lot clearer to see. We just hope that it comes out as effective as we want when we edit it in iMovie.


Night was fast approaching and within an hour it seemed to dark to film the first scene (the main actress) walking past Billy. We decided to maybe come back and film it another day, when as we was walking to the next location, we saw a pathway with limited but effective light source. This old alleyway lamp gave off an orange effect making the scene feel wiry and scary. This worked like a treat as we were able to see our faces a lot clearer and it also made the film seem m0re effective as we were not just shooting in the same places.


We could see the moon so clearly in the sky so we thought we might as well film a weather shot and slot it into our film somehow. This shot of the moon was amazing and looked really effective as you could see the moon from a tree with branches sticking out. We also then thought about panning it down and seeing the reflection of the moon in the water ripples which we thought looked really effective.


After this we went into Esporta Leisure Centre and asked them if we could film the outside of their building as the steps looked like it could belong to a ballet studio. To our great luck they allowed us to film the outside, so we got cracking and started filming myself walking out and down the steps. We used different shots to film this; Wide Shots from across the road, along with Extreme Close Ups of my feet walking down the steps and panned across me walking away, down an alley. This then gave us the idea of keeping the continuity of the film as we filmed me walking down a road, from behind, in front and an extreme close up of her feet kicking the leaves and even a hand held shot only focusing down on my feet and my footsteps.


After this we filmed Enfield Town bridge. This shot needed great timing and communication between the actors and the directors. As we had myself running across the bridge one way and Billy, the "killer" running underneath it the other way, the directors had to stay in touch on phones to tell Billy and I when to go or not. We also had to be extra careful and time it right, as Billy was running across a road, so we timed it when the cars were stopped by the traffic lights. Ive not yet seen this shot, but the girls said it looked fantastic as Billy and I both meet at exactly the right point in the middle of the bridge. The lights from the bridge gave us enough light and you could easily see the two silhouettes of both actors running from the different directions who met in the centre exactly.




After this we filmed an alley way for our final shot of the day. This shot was of myself walking down a dark alley whilst being followed by Billy shortly after. We filmed this shot from loads of different angles giving us different shots. We filmed myself walking towards the camera, then panning around the corner. We filmed from behind her. We filmed her walking past the camera, and finally we filmed from sitting on a wall to produce a high angle shot. This shot will make the ballerina seem vulnerable and unaware seeing as she is the victim in this film.



Last nights filming was so enjoyable, I absolutely loved it and cant wait to film some more today!
I think we all realised how much preparation is needed and how time consuming it is! It was a very long night which seemed like forever, but got the shots we wanted so everyone happy! We still have more shots to film, and although we have already filed 10 minutes, which is well over 2, we thought it is better to have more than needed so we can play with it at the end and see which works best!

Practice Filming

During our media lesson on the 23rd October 09, each group was issued their equipment for the making of our 2 minute film. Myself and my group set out around Enfield Town to film some practice shots and just to generally get used to the camera. We were given a camera, tripod, tripod plate, 3 DV tapes, battery charger and a fire wire.

As we set off we accidentally came across a small alley way with steps in the middle of town so decided to have a quick go of filming Sophie walking down the steep steps of this building. We included Extreme close ups of her feet which gave us a slight incline into how difficult our film and each individual shot was going to take, and also how much patience and time is needed.

Whilst in town filming, we came across the "Cheeky Girls" opening up a new shop in the center. We decided it would be a good idea to go in and meet them also whilst filming them, to get a feel of the different lighting and sounds (mise-en-scene) that we could possible adapt to our film.

As we left the shop Sophie and Neelam were given free balloons, so we decided to film a shot setting the balloons off into the sky and use it as a weather shot. We then went inside a shop to film Sophie pressing the lift button and walking inside the lift. We did the same for the escalators, filming a number of different shots, including Pan Shot Following, as well as Long Shots. Both looked really good.

Just before we left, we had a practice go of Sophie running along a bridge, away and towards the camera, as if she would be running away from her "stalker/rapist" in the film. This was very effective and we will probably use this in our final film.

Research:Lighting and Sound
In the outside scenes of our film it will be night time so the type of lighting will be low key lighting. This is because it is a thriller film and adds a feeling of mystery, builds suspense and makes it appear spooky.When the man is typing on the typewriter, he will be in a pitch black room so that the idea of darkness runs throughout the film. So that the text is visible there will be a spotlight moving along the text on the paper this will be achieved by the use of a torch. We are thinking of perhaps using a red sweet rapper in front then shining the light so that it produces a red light and will support the idea of thriller as it will bring about connotations of murder and blood.

There is a scene where the girl gathers that she is being followed and so has a flashback on what she has previously seen, this will be presented in glow mode as it will represent the fact that it happened in the past. The colours will be warm yellows, this will make it look like a dream especially with the glow effect making it seem like it is a dream. This will be achieved by the use of imovie during the editting process.

the next scene is when the girl is running along the Enfield Town bridge, there are vibrant lights that run along the outside edge of it and change throughout the night. This will make the bridge appear dominant against the nightime and will be the main focus in that scene.

Sound plays a major part in a film as it is the key to building up suspense. So, when the music box appears in the scene it will play the music it produces. During the other shots, there will be a haunted music box song playing in the background which I have included further down in my blog posts.

We will use this example as an inspiration and we hope to produce something similar on GarageBand.Towards the end when she realises she is being followed, there will be rapid transitions when she flashbacks in sepia mode which will have a sharp sound on each changing transition to reflect the rapidness.On the bridge when she turns around there will be the sound of a fast heartbeat in the background to show her fear.

Research:Props
Our film will include a limited amount of props:

The Music Box=This is the main prop in the film as it symbolises the psychotic mans presence and will be used at several different times in the film.Also, our film is named after this significant prop.

A typewriter=Plays a significant part in the film as it is the first prop the audience see and so should grab their attention. The purpose is to show the title of our film, tell a story and show the closing credits. We decided to pick a typewriter rather than a computer/laptop because the way the text comes up on the paper along with the sound it makes when the typewriter returns for a new line makes it immensely creepy.

A newspaper=This will be read by the psycho man on a bench in the park. The purpose of this is to hide his face so that only his eyes are visible and so that the audience do not have a clear visualisation of him and so adds mystery and suspense.

Research: Actors and Costumes
In our production have three characters:
The main character who is a female in her late teens, she is a ballet dancer and the victim.This role will be played either by Emma Kozlowski or Elle Hutchkinson who are two girls in my group. Throughout the film, they will be wearing the same outfit which will be a ballet outfit; a leotard, tu tu, tights and ballet shoes. The reason for wearing the same outfit throughout is to show continuity. The outfit will be the same one as the ballet dancer is wearing in the music box so when we do the fade in/out shot it will be very effective.

The next character is the psychotic man and will be played by a male in his late teens. He will not be presented directly and the audience only see parts of his body. He will be wearing black attire to make him dominant as he is in a block colour and a hooded top so that his face is not visible. He will also be wearing significant black gloves that will hide his identity.

Our final character will be played by Sophie Mcnamara another girl in my group and will play the role of the next victim of the psychotic man. She will also be wearing a ballet outfit but obviously a different coloured one. The pastel colours of the outfit will symbolise her innocence as she is the next victim.

Research for typewriter shot

During my research on how we could incorporate the typewriter in our production I came across this advert which is advertising MasterCard. The typewriter includes a shot at 0.06 seconds and although it is completely irrelevant it is exactly the kind of shot we are after for the opening credits to illustrate our title, 'The Music Box' and for our closing credits.
When we include the typewriter as the first scene of our production we hope to achieve a shot like this because it is a point of view shot and does not include the fingers of the person typing. Together with the content of the film and the sound it will add suspense and present the thrilling scene that we are hoping to portray to prepare the audience for the rest of the film.
The typewriter idea will be portrayed through the type of shot I previously mentioned.

Sound research
During my research on sound I came across this piece of music which instantly grabbed my attention.




I found this piece of music particularly creepy and eerie because it is quite high pitched and has a distinctive rhythm.Me and my group took great interest in this piece of music and we will use it as an influence as the music for the music box in our film opening and we hope to produce something similar on GarageBand.

Research on locations

For our film production we will need several locations to show the places the main character walks through on her journey home.

The first scene will be of the typwriter and will be filmed in a pitch black room.Then, there will be a scene in a bedroom with the man on the typewriter.

The first scene in the flashback will be in a car with the man winding up the music box on the dashboard.

This then blends into a ballet studio surrounded by mirrors and will be filmed at Bodens Studio & Agency.The next location will be outside Enfield Grammar Lower School and the focus will be on the ballet girl walking down the steps.

She will then begin her journey home where she first walks through Enfield Town Park by the lake.

This will then lead to a Jack The Ripper style alleyway which is situated in Central London.

The next location will be on a set of escalators with one ascending and the other descending and will be filmed at a London Tube Station.

Finally, the last scenes will be filmed in the multi storey car park in Enfield Town in a lift and across the bridge that connects the car park and shopping centre.

We are then brought back to the scene with the typewriter in the bedroom.

To finish the production the final scene will be back in Enfield Town park by the lake.

Extended storyboard for our film..

1) "The Music Box" - on typewriter, typing out as film starts.
2)Man in car (over the shoulder shot) winding up the music box on dashboard
3) Zoom in of ballet dancer inside the box - fades in fades out, zooms into real ballet dancer (blury) as she is spinning.
4) overlap of writting on bottom right saying "it was a long day..." (typewritter)
5)Back to man in car- music box still spinning, he slams shut the box
6)Sharp shot back to girl in studio -she falls down as man shuts box.
7)Gets back up and carries on dancing. Moments later, decides to finish 'class' so picks up her bag from the floor shes out of shot, and all we see is mans reflection in the door way of dance studio.
8)Then as she gets back up, he dissapears, leaving a music box. Girl is unaware of this. Turns off lights, see's music box lightly playing the music again. Takes no notice. Continues to walk out of room towards light. (We film from inside the studion watching her leave)
9) Next scene, girl steps out of dance studio (back of the Grammar school) and off she walks.
10) Walks down alleyway, hears the music box music, doesnt understand whats going on.
11) Next location: holborn? then the lift where she has a FLASHBACK!! as she sees music box again!
12) Flashback of the park, man sitting there with newspaper, follows her. Then girl realizes, he followed her from the dance studio, through to the park then the alley, then the escalator, and now!
13) Girls panics! frantically tapping the lift to go up!! as she gets to the top PAN SHOT of girl running one way across the bridge and the man running directly beneath her at the bottom (chasing her)
14) Then (strobe light effect) camera runs after girl..flashes instantly towards her, as camera gets closer, she starts running and looks behind (distorted) and BOOM! Black screen.
Leads audience into anticipation.
15) Type writter comes back into view, typing "She had it coming to her" or "who will be next?" grabs gloves and walks out.
16) At the park again, reading a newspaper. DE JA VU! Ballet Girl walks past with ipod on.
Extreme close up of mans mouth, smirking.
17) Camera stays focused on the bench man sitting on whilst he leaves, exiting the view shot following the next victim.

ALL CAMERA SHOTS ARE ON MY PREVIOUS STORYBOARD.

Prelim Exercise.

This is our Prelim task which we completed in class. My group and I edited our video to fit perfectly together. It turned out really well and we're all really pleased with the outcome. It took us over an hour to edit fully and then upload onto youtube.
Our feedback from the class was overall really impressive, with only a few minor issues raised. Including: When Sophie bangs her feet on the table, as we have edited the next shot, it has carried through to the next shot, causing the sounding to be delayed. This is a problem that needs to be fixed for future filming as we need to sort out our sounds to get a continuous audio/sound for each individual shot.
Our Establishing Shot, Pan Shot and Zoom In was said to be "really good ans smoothy done" We also managed to include 'Shot Reverse Shot, 180 Degree Rule, and Match On Action'

Rough STORYBOARD for our film. (inc camera shots)

3 main locations;

Whitechapel - narrow, dark alleyways, wet cobbled streets, we will have an 'over the shoulder' shot following the girl down the alley.

White Lodge (Royal Ballet) or Trafalger Square outside National gallery - Large steps- Group of dancers saying goodbye, girl walks off on here own into the distance.
- Man in a car watching.. (dont see his face, just over the shoulder shot of his breathing)..
-wide shot of his view watching girl walk off..

Bodens Studio's- Ballet studio -Girl dancing like the music box (in same position) box slams, so she falls. Class ends. Girl in mirror, picks up dance bag from floor. As she bends down, we see a mans reflection in the doorway from the mirror. Then as she gets back up, he dissapears, leaving a music box. Girl is unaware of this. Turns off lights, see's music box lightly playing the music again. Takes no notice. Continues to walk out of room towards light. (We film from inside the studion watching her leave)

At the beginning of the scene - Music box is on the dashboard of mans car. Extreme Close Up of him winding it up.. Lens goes blury, zooms in then out .. Cut away to girl in dance studio in same postion as music box (spinning around etc) Then he slams box down (cannot see this, just hear it?) Girl in studio falls over (like a voodoo?) Canted angle. She then finishes class.. Picks up her bag from floor, we as viewers see him in the reflection standing at the door, leaving the music box from car.

Music plays quietly in the background, un-noticed. Girl stands up, brushes herself up, looks around, walks out, turn lights off, at corner of her eye notices the music box but chooses to leave it..Camera zooms into music box spinning, and music follows through onto the next scene. As girl walks out to meet friends outside on the steps (White Lodge RB or Trafalger Sq) She is humming the music box tune.

Next scene, girl is walking home alone, in dance wear, down the alleyway (Whitechapel Jack the Ripper alley) Over the shoulder shot of her. She is humming the song from music box, when she notices a quiet noise coming from behind her.. deep heavy breathing, and the real life music box...

Prelimary Task

Yay! Me and my group finally managed to sort out and shoot our prelimary task today in class. It went really well!! We added some extreme close ups and pan shots, and successfully stuck to the 180 degree rule! I especially liked the idea of the extreme close up of when the phone rings, so now the viewer will actually get to see "Ricky" ringing Sophie. Im soo excited to do all the cutting and editing now as it is going to look great!

The Beach. – Camera Shots.

I chose this trailer from The Beach as it demonstrates a variety of camera shots. The opening shot is a Crane Shot sweeping in towards the island. It is used to set the location, and in this instance, enables the audience to see the full view of the beach. It manages to draw the audience into the center of the action. The next shot is a Fade Shot, fading in and out of the island. Then follows the Pan Shot Following, this follows the cars on the road, emphasising the busyness of the road and country even.

Medium Shots and Wide Shots are regularly used to emphasise the large crowds in the background, and also to emphasise the isolation of him in a unfamiliar country which is ironic as later on in the film, he ends up in a close-knit community, unsure whether he liked being alone or in a community on the secret beach. Establishing Shots are used to see the rear view of the beach and the setting around it.

Pan Shots are included as it affords a more extensive view of the location. This made spatial awareness clear to the audience, really emphasising the isolated island. Close Ups are also used to show the character Daffy's facial expressions and his twiitching emphasising his mental instability. Lastly, Extreme Camera Shot is used to show the detail of the map as this is the key feature in the film.