Risk Assessment

Due to the nature of our film we need to outline any possible risks that could occur during filming.

Props- We will be using weapons during filming but these will be false and likely made out of rubber, plastic or possibly even foam. This does not run a great risk.

Hanging - My character is supposed to be hung in the film. We will be using real rope around my neck (not tied too tightly) and obviously I will not actually be suspended from the rope with no support at any time. To avoid any risk we will use a stepladder or something alike for me to stand on, and simply not film my feet. If my feet have to be filmed then I will hold myself up on something e.g. a bar, while the shot of the bottom of my legs is filmed.

regards, Jake Baxter

Storyboard

Our groups storyboards can be found here

All artwork by Jake Baxter, uploaded by Frankie Spicer.

screenplay

SPICERRACK PRODUCTION

SAM: She Is an abused, scared, curious teen. She wears modern clothing. Her mum died when she was younger, since then her STEP-DAD has 'taken care' of her.

ROBIN: He's an abusive drunk, a very angry character, he is Sam's step dad. He wears tacky clothing.


HUNG-HELPER: He's a mentally unstable, informed character. Rope around neck, old fashioned clothing. The HUNG-HELPER has burn marks from the rope around his neck. He wears a puffy white shirt, black tracksuit bottoms with black socks over the edges (OLD FASHIONED LOOK) Black shoes, clothing is ripped. His hands and face are decaying: he is also wearing a pirate hat.


Blank screen- titles (participating persons), glass smashing.


INT. HOUSE/STAIRCASE-- EVENING.


SAM RUNS up the stairs HOLDING her face, her step-dad (ROBIN) FOLLOWS CLOSELY.

ROBIN.
Sam get your arse back here!


SAM BURSTS into her room and RUNS towards a wardrobe before closing the doors QUIETLY behind her. ROBIN STRIDES to the wardrobe and puts his hand on the door closest to the camera.

ROBIN.
(In a persuasive tone)
Sam
(PAUSE)
please
(PAUSE)
Just come out.


SAM.
(SCREAMING, GRIPPING something)
I'm never coming out!


ROBIN THUMPS the wardrobe.
ROBIN.
GET OUT!


SAM breathes SHAKILY and SNIFFS as ROBIN continues to THUMP, his THUMPS on the wardrobe door get QUIETER as SAM passes out- black out.


EXT. FOREST-- DAY TIME.


SAM is LAYING on the FOREST FLOOR, her eyes SNAP open and she sits BOLT UP RIGHT
looking around in a PANIC, SLOWLY she RISES and ROTATES SLOWLY. When she ends up at her starting point the HUNG-HELPER APPEARS, hung from a tree.


SAM.
(STUMBLES and LANDS on her backside, SCREAMING and STUTTERING)
Who are you?


HUNG-HELPER.
I'm highly strung.
(LITTLE LAUGH)
Who am I? Well there's a question I've heard many a time. I go by many names but enough about me Sam,
(DROPS FROM TREE)
Tell me about you.
(SLIGHT SMILE OFFERS her his HAND)


SAM STARES at the rope which is DRAGGING behind the HUNG-HELPER, who matches her gaze, GRABS the rope and out STRETCHES his arm whilst making STRANGLED noises. He GIVES her a SLIGHT SMILE and a WINK.


HUNG-HELPER.
Never mind that.
(HOLDS position, and SHAKES outstretched hand at her)
I have something for you, something to keep you safe, something from your memories.
(HOLDS out OTHER hand)

SAM TAKES his hand, DUSTS herself off and then LOOKS down at his other empty hand.


SAM.
There's nothing there.


The HUNG-HELPER looks at his own hand as his other DROPS to his side. He ROLLS his eyes and then checks himself over. As he MUTTERS to HIMSELF, he reaches out for SAM and she FLINCHES away. The HUNG-HELPER LEANS FORWARD and produces a photo from behind her ear and GIVES it to her.


SAM TAKES the photo of her mother and STARES at it for a moment before putting it away.

SAM.
Where am I?


HUNG-HELPER
Full of questions aren't you? Curiosity killed the cat, well it's a good job you're not a cat. My dear...
(PAUSE)
are you?
(TURNS SAM around to CHECK for tail.)


SAM.
(HANDS on HIPS)
That doesn't answer my question.


HUNG-HELPER.
(PULLS rope slightly AWAY from his neck as though LOOSENING it)
You are where you want to be.

SAM.
(HANDS STILL on HIPS)
And where's that?

HUNG-HELPER.
(BLANK expression)
You tell me.


SAM TUTS, turns on her heel and walks AWAY.


SAM.
(HAUGHTILY)
And by the way-


The HUNG-HELPER has DISAPPEARED. SAM SIGHS and ROLLS her eyes before TURNING BACK AROUND and STARTING to WALK.


ROBIN.
(CHANTING- OFF SCREEN.)
SAAM, SAAM, SAAM.


FLASH BACK.


INT. BEDROOM-- EVENING.


SAM is LAYING on the FLOOR SURROUNDED by PARAMEDICS and FAMILY ALL TRYING to TALK to her, it all seems like a MUMBLE as she FADES BACK into the FANTASY WORLD.


ROBIN.
You think you can get away from me?


ROBIN DISAPPEARS and REAPPEARS where ever she TURNS- each time he HOLDS a different weapon.


ROBIN.
But you never will.


ROBIN DISAPPEARS and REAPPEARS where ever she TURNS- each time he HOLDS a different weapon.


ROBIN.
I'll always be here.


ROBIN DISAPPEARS and REAPPEARS where ever she TURNS- each time he HOLDS a different weapon. He APPEARS BEHIND her. ROBIN PULLS SAM'S hair from behind.


ROBIN.
(WHISPERS)
Waiting.


SAM RELEASES SAM'S hair, SAM WHIPS around and LASHES out to find ROBIN has DISAPPEARED once more. ROBIN'S LAUGHTER ECHOES.


LAUGHTER becomes LOUDER and SAM DROPS to the FLOOR, HOLDING her ears, ROCKING to and fro, a white light blanks out the screen.


(Note to selves CONTRAST SCENE- make brighter.)


EXT. FOREST-- CONTINUOUS.


SAM is SPRAWLED on the FOREST FLOOR, COVERED in BLOOD.



Note: Everything has been centered, problem with the blog: it wouldn't allow me to center certain things whilst leaving others left-aligned.

Propp's Character Archetypes.

These are Propp's seven character archetypes;

1. The villain
2. The donor – this person gives the hero information or an object to help him on his way.
3. The helper – often magical in nature, such as a talking animal, helps the hero.
4. The princess and her father – For Propp these two often serve the same purpose in regard to their function within the story. Whether being sought after by the hero, or setting the hero on his quest, unmasking the false hero or providing the hero with his reward, both characters often fill the same space.
5. The dispatcher – this character informs the hero of what is needed, or the lack, and sends him off on his journey.
6. The hero
7. The false hero – tries to take the hero's place either by taking credit for his actions or trying to marry the princess

In our film we will not be able to fit in all of these characters.
However, we plan to use these;

The Hero - Sam. Our main character. She is the one exploring her new world
she is occaisionally aided by the 'Hung Helper' - this character would be the helper, rather obviously due to his name.. But we are also making this character the donor, and maybe even the dispatcher.
We also have the villain - crucial to every fantasy. The villain shall be Sam's father in the real world, who in the fantasy world will be an exaggerated version of himself. Obviously we would probably fit in all or as many as characters as we could, if we were making a full film.

A summary of our groups film idea;

An abused teen one day decides they cannot take it anymore and locks themself away in a wardrobe. The abusive parent attempts to get them out by shaking/banging on the wardrobe but to no avail. The teen then eventually falls asleep- Waking up in a new world the character begins to explore, and eventually meets a character named the 'Hung helper', hanging from a tree in the area. The two have a short conversation and the teen realises that they may not necessarily be in the normal world anymore. The helper dissapears suddenly and the teenager is faced with their worst nightmare; This new worlds equivalent of the teens parent. A short conversation is held and the teen manages to escape this threat.
As the tenager explores further still, they hear things, which would later be revealed as flashes of reality, but the character does not yet realise this. Eventually the character would meet others on their exploration. These characters would either help the teen to escape or defeat their nightmare. The nightmare villain/parent kills off the teens accomplices throughout the exploration. Whilst still exploring the character is grabbed by a moving tree, which is a trap set by the nightmare character. Giving the film a grittier feeling, the character is then killed in the fantasy world, and consequently dies in the real world, which is revealed when we hear the constant drone of a life support machine, and the camera moves upwards to reveal the girl in a hospital room on a bed, implying that she was in a coma; it is said that one has their most vivid dream ever before their death.

Genre Research

Research into fantasy;

From the films we watched (Lord of the Rings - the Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Pirates of the Caribbean - At Worlds End, to name a few), I have picked up on a couple of things. A lot of the films have old fashioned speech - not necessarily all characters, but often they speak well, and with long, Shakespearean sounding words. Key examples are Frodo Baggins(LOTR) Elizabeth Swan, Jack Sparrow, William Turner (Pirates of the Caribbean), And many of the Harry Potter characters also. This could be easily utilized in my final piece. There are also cliché characters and settings; These include things like forests, castles, fields and meadows, and characters such as Kings, Knights, and mythical beings. This of course can be twisted in some ways, for example Harry Potter is set in a school, but still involves mythical beings and magic. This can also be used in my final piece, for example taking a regular thing like a school and making it something else, e.g. a school for wizards and witches. All of them also have a character that guides. In Harry Potter there is Hagrid, Dumbledore etc, in the opening scene of Pirates of the Caribbean they seem to be led by Barbosa, in LOTR, Smeagol leads Frodo and Sam towards Mordor. This would also be easy to use in our piece. Also in fantasy films characters often seem to travel in a party. The group of pirates, Harry Potter and his friends, and Frodo and his friends. These groups may occasionally be split up, which could also be used. Things that most fantasy films have are good props, costumes, and often CGI. The props and costumes would be difficult to use but not impossible. Unfortunately CGI is not an option. Another film we watched was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Although comedy, this film could also be considered fantasy as the setting is in the past and there are mythical things such as beasts and artifacts. If we wished to we could also attempt to give our film some comedic elements to stop it from being boring, and please the viewers.

Preliminary Evaluation

First of all, we discussed ideas as a group- after we had an idea we wrote up a script and storyboarded it. After having done this, we scouted locations and in the end we decided on the science room. This was because we needed a window to easily get in and out of. We then discussed and agreed on when we should film each part, and then eventually started to do so.


Before scouting locations, we already had one in mind. We thought about using the Common Room, because it looks alot more homely than other rooms in the school. We didn't end up using this however, because the wall colours and windows were different, and we didn't want serious continuity errors. We also discussed and decided on which techniques and camera angles to use. We decided to shoot stacey from a slight low angle to make her seem like she has a higher status and I would be filmed flat/high to make me seem in the wrong. This also solved problems we had with height differences between the two of us. We tried using the tripod, but we decided steadycam gave us better free movement, and was easier to use. One problem with this is that the camera operator would have to have a steady hand or something to lean on. Also the editing software gave us further inspiration and creative ideas; Our script and title gave us the idea to use sound effects (for example, bars slamming on title 'grounded' and bleeping over swear words for a bit of comedic effect)


In our preliminary there were a few errors. There was one point where I had to climb through the window and where we tried the match-on-action, there is a jump cut. This makes the film messy, and also is quite noticable to the viewer, and unnatural to the eye. The same thing happened during the conversation scene. These problems however were easily solved using editing software.
Our preliminary overall was quite pleasing for our first ever piece of footage. We did not break the 180 degree rule, showed match-on-action, and got shot/reverse shot quite well. Overall the prelim was good. It could have been better ofcourse, but there is always room for improvement considering it was our first ever try at filming.


If I were to film the Preliminary again, I think I would have scouted locations better, to find a more suitable location. Alternatively we could have rearranged furnature to make it look more like a bedroom/house than a classroom. Also I would have learnt lines better and I think we would have practiced a bit more. But under the tight schedule we had due to having to film in lesson time, we had to get what we could. We could have been much more precise, to avoid jump cuts etc. Also we could have gotten actors in to help, so there were more hands on set to look out for things like continuity errors etc.

During the making of the preliminary we learnt a few things. We learnt how to use a video camera, a tripod, and how to scout locations well, for example taking pictures or even short video clips using a camera phone during scouting to see how the set and character in relation to the set will look on camera. We learnt how to function well as a team also. Personally I think the biggest lesson I learnt was that both filming and editing are harder than they seem, by quite alot. The editing program makes it seem easy; simply drag and drop footage? I don't think so. It is surprisingly stressful when you realise you have continuity errors, jump cuts, unnecessary sounds, or have broken an important rule of filming. The problem is that during filming, you may be too busy to even realise these things will come up. This can be solved with having extra heads on set to look out for errors. During our final piece we will try as hard as possible to eliminate these errors and learn from our mistakes.


Our prelim is uploaded onto our camera operators blog here

Test

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