Ancillary task planning- double page spread

 I like the idea of using the main character (boyfriend), staring out of a window because it is a continuous occurrence in the film. It helps support the theme of a stalker whilst giving a sense of mystery and possibly anticipation. Within the film, the boyfriend watches his girlfriend through the window whenever she leaves the house suggesting some sort of obsessive behaviour he has towards her. 

Another idea of mine is to use a silhouette of the male actor which creates mystery as we cannot see his face. His body language however is very suggestive. It looks as though he is looking at somebody from a distance or is taking time out on his own to think. In the double page spread I want to put across to the audience what the themes are in the film without giving too much of the plot away. Therefore what ever image I chose to use, I hope it will portray a sense of mystery and suspense. After all, I want my audience to take an interest, and watch the film itself. 

Ancillary task planning- double page spread

 Source- EMPIRE Magazine

I like the house style used within this double page spread. The simplicity of the colour scheme: black, grey and red, works well as a trio. The overall idea of this article has a theme of violence and persecution so the colour red helps to connote issues that go with this. Red connotes danger, anger and even blood. The image to text ratio works well. There is not so much text that it is difficult to read and the images help break up the text. Shocking and eye-catching images are used (top left and right) which work well to get the significance of the article across.



Source- EMPIRE MAGAZINE
I like the layout of this particular double page spread. One page (left) is covered entirely by a large image. The white text is antithetical to the black background which means it stands out and is easily read. The article on the right hand page is presented in three columns. The overall layout is clean cut and simple. The image in the centre of the text on the right page links in well with the film genre. It is an image taken from within the film which gives the audience an insight into what to expect.

Source- TOTAL FILM Magazine
This double page spread I feel, works extremely well. It is simple yet extremely effective. The silhouette on the left leaves a sense of omniscience and anticipation. In contrast the brightly coloured text used on the black background stands out making it easy to read. It also appeals to a wider audience. On the right page two simple columns of text are present shadowed by a large letter 'I'. 

Poster planning

TITLE- Countdown
TAGLINE- Is someone counting down the days for you?
DESIGN- Dark colours for background and light colours (e.g. white) for the text/ title
LAYOUT- Image to fill the entire poster. Dark colours used possibly around the model
                 - Title displayed at the top of the poster
                 - Tagline under the title
                 - Blurb at the bottom about 3/4 of the way down the page
                 - Credits at the bottom of the poster
                 - Star rating at the top, under the title and tagline
RATING- 5/5 stars -'Daily Mail'
                 - 'First class thriller' - 'The Sun'

Poster Research

What to include-
Clear image, simple yet effective usually works well
Use contrasting colours so that each component stands out

Bold, large title positioned where it can be easily seen
Tagline

Noticeable sense of genre

Nominations/ awards won

Billing block- credits: starring, director, producers, cinematographer, art director, music, editor, studios involved (use a thin and tall font) - the average billing block font size is around 30% of the average height of the title size

Viewing classification certificate (BBFC), sponsors/ producers
Studio/ production logos for film company/ production

Poster research

I have conducted some research into the posters of films with similar genres to the one we hope to produce. Below are some of the posters that I liked and hope to use as inspiration when creating my own. I could use certain elements of each of these posters to help tie in with my story and overall short film. The genre of our short film will be thriller/ romance.

Within this poster I like the idea of romance and fear. It appears that everything is fine as the woman is acting normally, cuddling into her partener unaware of any phsycotic features he may have. However as we can see by his facial expression not everything is as it seems. He seems rather angry and quite intimidating. This suggests violence/ stalking. The tag line 'Together forver. Or else' links well with the overall theme. Also the use of dark lighting helps to add tension, with the idea of 'Fear'.

I think that this is a very clever idea. Again it shows an innocent woman unaware of any physcotic or stalking going on. But in the background we can see a man peeking through a small gap watching her. Obviously this is not to scale, but the idea is good. The idea that one person (the person being stalked), has no idea what is going on, whilst the stalker is very secretive and discrete. This is most probably why he waits until she is asleep to watch her. Low key lighting is again used which suggests it would be a good idea to include it either in our poster or within the short film itself. The idea that there is a boy and a girl is accurate as it generally stands that it is a boy who stalks a girl. Statistics tell us it is commonly jealous ex-boyfriends that do this.

I like the concept of this because again it suggests the idea that the girl doesn't know what is going on. 'He loves me, He loves me not', is a romance/ thriller. The perspective in this film changes and a twist occurs concerning the main characters, much like our short film. The colours used, black and red, work well with the genre. Red connotes romance and danger whilst black gives a sense of mystery and uncertainty. The main image central to the poster gives a sense of innocence.

What my research has shown me:

I could use low key lighting in order to create suspense and mystery both in the film and in the poster. The low key lighting makes it difficult to see clearly which helps create suspense. 

Another point I picked out was to include the boy and girl making the girl look innocent and unaware that she is being watched.

Mood Board

Costumes/ Prop List

Costumes used and Props needed within each scene
Costumes:
Casual Clothing for male and female for days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Props:
Scene 1- (Home, high street, shop)
Mobile phone
Kettle
Tea cups
Milk
Keys
Tin
Money
Car

Scene 2- (Home)
Photograph
Photo Frame

Scene 3- (Home)
Package
Keys
Bed

Scene 4- (Home)
Laptop
Printer
Photograph

Scene 5- (Home/ outside the house)
N/A

Scene 6- (Park)
Mobile phone
Bag
Blanket
Basket
Bottle of wine
Two wine glasses
Fairy lights
Tinsel

Crew Members

Producers - Kate Young and Olivia Duffield
Actors- Peter McNulty and Kate Young
Editors- Kate Young and Olivia Duffield

Script

Script
 

Opening credits, 'Countdown'
 

Scene one

Close up tight frame of a mobile phone. Birds eye shot is used. A text message sound begins as a text appears on the screen reading, ‘Your package is ready to be collected’. Long shot of male character, Peter walking towards the kitchen worktop. He picks up the kettle. Match on action is used in the form of a close up to watch him fill up the kettle with water.

Shot of a girls legs walking down the stairs. Cuts to over the shoulder shot of Peter reading the text message. Cut back to girl walking down stairs (legs only).
Cut to shot from inside the fridge. Peter opens the fridge, takes the milk out and shuts the door. Cut to girl reaching bottom of the stairs. Long shot of Peter walking over to the kitchen worktop, placing the milk down, and filling a cup with the kettle water. He then looks up and turns his head to the side, where his girlfriend enters the room.

Peter- morning (.)
Kate (girlfriend), enters the kitchen. 

Kate- you were in late last night
She opens a cupboard to get the house keys out.

Peter- was I?

Kate- yeah (2) anyway I’m gonna have to go to work now cos I’ve slept in (.) see you later

She then leaves the kitchen.

Peter- see you in a bit
Long shot from hall way. Kate walks in from the left. We see her put on her coat and shoes, grab her bag then exit through the front door of the house.
Cut to point of view shot from a room in the house, watching Kate leave the house and walk down the street. 'Beautiful tension' begins to fade in. Long shot with door framing of Peter walking from the living room back into the kitchen. He gets a chair and stands on it so that he can reach a hidden tin which is full of money. Close up of Peter opening the tin and taking some money out. He then puts the tin back on the top shelf where it was and leaves the kitchen.
Long shot of hall way. Peter puts on his coat and shoes and leaves through the front door.
Cuts to outside of the front door from a side view. Sirens ring in the background. Peter locks the front door then walks down the drive way. He unlocks his car, gets into it and drives off down to the end of the street.
'Beautiful tension' fades out.
Cut to extreme long shot of Peter walking towards the camera. He then enters a shop to the left. Enters the shop. Close up from a low angle of Peters feet as he reaches the counter. Crane shot (close up) of him slamming money down on the counter. The shot then returns to a mid shot, where he leaves the shop through the front door. We do not see his face.
Fade out to Peter crossing the first day off a calendar. (The countdown begins...)
 

Scene two

Kate- bye (from distance)

‘Beautiful tension’ fades into the beginning of the scene. Peter is sat on a chair facing the front window. He is holding a photo frame showing Kate and another girl. Kate leaves the house and can be seen in the background walking down the street, which suggests Peter is watching her leave. An over the shoulder shot is used and the camera zooms in. Peter places his hand over the other girl in the photographs face and focuses on the image of Kate. As the camera zooms in we can see Peter’s reflection in the glass photo frame, over Kate’s picture.  The camera then changes to a low angle shot from the front of Peter, holding the photo frame and staring into it. The shot then fades out both visually and musically and fades into Peter crossing off another day on the calendar.

Scene 3

A long shot shows Peter walking through the front door of the couples home. He looks outside either direction to check that his girlfriend is nowhere to be seen. He then shuts the door behind him and checks to see if she is in the house.

Peter- is anyone in?

Peter walks towards the camera and we see him sat on the floor next to the bed and take a package out from his jacket. A low angle shot of the stairs follows Peter walking upstairs with the package in his hand. The shot then fades to Peter looking into the bag.

Shot returns to a long shot of the front door. Dark lighting shows a change in time where Kate is returning home after work. She enters the house.

Shot returns again to Peter upstairs looking into the bag. We hear a door slam and Peter quickly hiding the package under the bed.

Shot returns to Kate coming through the front door.

Kate- Hello (2) is anyone in?

Kate looks confused. Removes her coat, turns on a light and walks up the stairs to look for Peter.

Cuts to Peter crossing the next day off the calendar and fades out.

Scene 4

An over the shoulder shot sees Peter sat in the living room on a laptop. He seems to be home alone. A close up shot then sees him open a file named ‘work folder’ which suspiciously contains a photograph of himself and Kate. He looks at this for a few seconds then presses ‘print’.

The shot then goes to a medium close up of the printer, printing out the photograph. Peter then walks into a less close up shot, picks up the image and looks at it for a few seconds. Another over the shoulder shot is used here.

Fades to Peter circling the last day of the calendar. (Fades out)

Scene 5

'City park' fades in and plays in the background throughout this scene. This scene takes place in a park. Long shot of Kate entering the park through the park gate.

Kate- I'm just on my way home now just walking through the park, what are you doing? Oh you're just at home? Okay I'll see you soon.

Kate carries on an. Side shot/ mid shot. Kate walks into the shot and turns around quickly, suggesting she has heard a noise or thinks somebody is watching her. Shot switches to a mid shot from the front, of her continuing to look around. Shot changes to an extreme long shot which is also a point of view shot from Peters perspective. We see Kate in the background still looking around.
Camera cuts to a point of view shot from Kate perspective the camera moves fight slowly to represent her looking around. Camera then cuts back to the shot POV shot from behind the trees. We see Kate shrug and carry on walking but this time, towards the trees. The camera then moves to behind the tree which represents Peter trying to hide from his girlfriend so she doesn't see him. Close up of Peters face as he is hiding behind tree.
Next a loosely framed long shot, again a point of view shot of Kate walking through the trees.
Point of view shot from Kates perspective looking around her again into the trees. When the camera returns to the original view shot Peter is standing there. Side shot of Kate and Peter.
 

Kate- what are you doing here? You said you were at home.

Peter drags Kate off to the side. medium-long shot of him with his hands over her eyes guiding her forwards. Shot taken from a side view.
Kate- where are we going? You're scaring me!

Point of view shot from Kate perspective. Peter takes his hands away from her eyes and reveals a picnic to her with lighting and tinsel in the surrounding trees. Peter walks into the shot.

Peter- Happy anniversary

(Credits)