A Brief Synopsis of the Plot
The scene begins with a woman writing a letter to her boyfriend telling of how much she loves him and that she hopes he will never leave. We are then shown a montage of shots of the times when they are a happy couple on a night out, and spending time together having a picnic but in the background we see that there is a missing poster of a girl. These upbeat shots are then mixed with shots of the missing girl in the woman's bathroom, tied
up in the bath and drenched in blood. The audience are then led to understand that the woman in the story is hiding a big secret from her boyfriend and that is that she is a secret murderer.
After not being able to arrange a final day to film with our male actor, we filmed the bathroom scene without him. This consisted of the missing girl in the bath and the female character tormenting her. After watching this footage back, we realised that it looks like he is not involved in the murder at all where he was supposed to be in our original plan. I prefer the new/accidental storyline as it means that there is now the risk that the boyfriend will find out about her secret and we anticipate the end of the film.
Actors and Costumes
The characters we have decided on are Kourtney, playing the woman and one of her fellow actor friend Jacob Church playing the part of the man. They will be a very close couple but Kourtney's character will have a secret. We have made her character look quite edgy and like she is hiding something important; the fact that she murders people. We took pictures of them on our first filming night in town to remember the outfits in case we need to go back and re-film anything.
We wanted the characters to have a very close relationship and for it to be as if they had no-one else in their lives; that they rely on eachother. We filmed most scenes particularly with no other people in it to keep their isolation and disconnection from everyone else. From what we first see of the couple, the audience is tricked into thinking that the whole film will be based on their relationship and how it progresses but we are made very aware by the end of the opening sequence that this is not the case and there is another layer to be revealed; that the female character is the murderer.
Originally, I was only supposed to appear in the film as the schoolgirl on the missing posters but after showing some of our friends the whole video and hearing their initial reactions, we felt that it would probably be better to include another scene. Most people we asked said that they didn't understand the storyline and why certain things were happening, we explained and they then suggested how we could make it clearer that the couple are the murderers and the girl is the victim. We took these points into consideration as we wanted to make the story as understandable as we could which then led us to adding the bathroom scene. After adding this scene, we felt it became much clearer to understand the plot.
Because our opening sequence is set in the present times, we thought that it would be easier and more appropriate to use outfits that you may see on young people nowadays. For Jacob and Kourtney's characters, we chose clothes that are typical 'going out' clothes with Kourtney wearing a white dress, sequinned blazer and monster heels; and Jacob wearing a smart shirt, jeans and leather
jacket. For the picnic scene, we chose more casual clothes like a summery dress and a light shirt for Jacob.
In the missing poster, the missing girl is wearing her school uniform, so, to make it clear that it is the same person in the bath, my character wore school uniform as it was the best way to make it obvious. We put red paint in the bath water to look like blood and Rachael and Kourtney helped smear more red paint on my face and clothes, rip my tights, and wet my hair.
Our first filming session was filmed at night in various areas of Peterborough. We chose areas that were quite secluded so we knew people would not be interrupting out filming session. We includes shots of the underpass, outside Town hall and behind the shops along Bridge Street. We had completed our filming session at night time within 2 hours of arriving at our location and I think we managed our time very efficiently as we got all the shots we needed and even ones that we didnt use.
We filmed another day at the green outside the cathedral in town. This is the area with the graveyard which we thought might give a sinister feel to the scene and make the audience wonder why they chose that particular area for a picnic. Only when you look closely can you see that it is filmed in a graveyard, but otherwise, it looks like a normal park where a couple in love might have a romantic picnic. We managed to get all the scenes we needed for the sequence in this area which meant that we did not have to go back and re-film.
Our last day of filming took place in my bathroom. We closed the curtains to block out the sun as we wanted a more sinister dullness to the room instead of the sun shining through creating a happy feel to the room. In all of our filming sessions, we filmed a lot of footage to ensure that we definitely had enough to put into the final cut.
The very beginning and the very end of the opening sequence will be a letter written from Kourtney to Jacob saying that she loves him and hope he will never leave. We purposely did not show the entire letter at the beginning so that the audience is intentionally made to wonder what the rest of the letter will say. The rest of the letter is revealed at the end of the opening sequence where the audience is allowed to see the end of the letter which reads 'Til Death Do Us Part' which is the name we have decided on for the film.
Props and stuff
We didn't necessarily use many props when filming so that we could focus more on the storyline and the actors. But obviously props are very important when filming so that the audience can understand fully what is going on. The main prop that we used was the picnic basket which I think is really cute but it also shows the 'good' side to the couple, whereas the rest of the sequence has already portrayed them to be bad.
We also used the missing poster of me to stick on the lamp post to make the disappearance of the girl more genuine. This was easily make on Microsoft Word using my school picture from year 11.
The scissors used in the bathroom scene are an everyday household item, making it again more real; if we had used a sword of some kind, 1) it would not fit in with the storyline and 2) it would be even more unrealistic and would therefore not make the audience as scared as they would then feel that it could never happen to them.
While filming, we had to take into account the safety aspects that we may encounter. Most of the scenes did not raise any circumstances that were too dangerous. However, when we were walking around Peterborough at night to film out night time scenes, we did make sure that we all stayed together and that we were safe. Also, we made sure that I could get out of the tied up situation in the bath in case of an emergency.
After searching through our music libraries, we finally settled on the perfect soundtrack to go over our opening sequence. We settled with Electric Bloom - Foals as, when we played it with the final video, it fit perfectly and really set the mood. We were unsure whether or not to include a voice over of Kourtney reading more from the letter but we decided against it as we felt that it didn't really need it. We figured sometimes its best not to overcomplicate things too much as the video is slightly confusing to begin with.
Editing
We found the editing reasonably unchallenging while putting together our opening sequence as we had already begun to come to terms with it after creating our preliminary piece. Most of it was fairly straightforward but it did take a very long time to 1) choose the shots we were going to use, 2) cut them down so they fit in with eachother, and 3) make it so the final video was around 2 minutes long.
We used Vegas Movie Studio 9.0 to edit out media video as it is available for us to use at school. It is very easy for us to be there at the same time to all work on it together. We all decided when and where we would put in the credits and for how long they would show up.; this was and essential item that we had to include in our final video.
This is a shot that we are very proud of as it took some initiative and research to enable us to do it. We wanted both shots in the same screen but didnt know how to get t so we could see both at the same time. Using the editing software, we did not know our limitations but we found a tutorial on youtube.com of how to create this kind of shot using this programme. after watching the tutorial, we gained a greater understanding of the programme and how to get the desired effects.
Storyboard
In our opening sequence, we wanted to include a variety of shots and angles to make the whole thing more interesting. We had a lot of shots to cover in our storyboard so covered them all equally between us with 6 each to draw.
-The letter Kourtney writes to Jacob. Filmed from above and panning down from the tablecloth slowly down the letter.
Kourtney and Jacob walk down the hill underneath the underpass. This is the first time we see the characters.
This is a shot of Kortney and Jacob in the underpass being very close with eachother and laughing together.
A quick shot of Kourtney washing her blood stained hands to make the reader wonder what has happened already in the storyline.
Kourtney and Jacob sitting down on a step in a streetlamp lit area. This is another shot that shows the closeness of their relationship.
This shot will be a flash in the middle of another scene which will only be seen while paying attention. It makes the audience question that has been going on.
Kourtney and Jacob walk up the hill on the other side of the underpass into a more well lit area.
This split screen shot shows the distanced thoughts of both Kourtney and Jacob. This contrasts with the happy and more upbeat scenes in the rest of the sequence.
The first time we see the poster of the missing girl. There is a road in the background which the pair walk down and Kourtney rips down the poster.
Another scene showing the happy times that they spend together. With the graveyard in the background, this creates a contrast between their happy behaviour and the opposite environment.
Me tied up in the bath, looking up at the wall and in school uniform showing the vulnerability of the character.
Kourtney and Jacob standing together in the green outside the cathedral, shows they like to have fun.
The final shot of Kourtney holding a pair of scissors which is the weapon she uses in the murder of Lily Lawrence.
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