Photos of the bunker

Finally managed to upload photos of the bunker!

Tvezten Todorov's theory

Todorov's theory is that the fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything as it should be), but then suffers from some disruption (disequilibrium), & then the new equilibrium is restored at the end of the film.

1.A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.) ---> outside the bunker when the audience doesn't know what's going on
2.A disruption of that order by an event. ---> when the audience realizes the bunker is a hiding place for someone who's run away from home...?
3.A recognition that the disorder has occurred. ---> the flashbacks of the knife & her father's silhouette appearing at the end of the tunnel
4.An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption. ---> her escaping the tunnel
5.A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium ---> starting her new life
...I don't know whether I was supposed to compare Todorov's theory to my whole film or just the introduction, but I think it works better for just the introduction.

Actors

In the beginning of the film the girl is going to be wearing old baggy clothes and her dad will be head to toe in black, because he's not really there he's just a figment of her imagination.

Sound

Diegetic sound is sound which is made present by the action of the film for example the voices of characters, sounds made by objects and music represented as coming from instruments in the film. The diegetic sound in our film will be the sounds of the girl's father's footsteps, police sirens and muted voices in the flashbacks. 

Non-diegetic sound is sound whose source isn't visible on the screen and hasn't been implied to be present in the action for example the narrator's commentary, sound effects which are added for dramatic effect and mood music. The non-diegetic sound in our film will be the mood music and sound effects to show that the girl is having a flashback. 

We haven't decided on the music for the film yet but once the storyboard is put together it should be easier to decide.

Plan

Roles for filming: 

Sophie: dolly shot down the pathway, & filming entrance of the bunker

Alice: down the tunnel, filming the girl sitting at the end of the tunnel. 

Sophie: films her as she starts to run out the tunnel

Alice: films the outside of the bunker again and the girl as she's running away.

New idea

We realised our old idea wasn't really going to work so we've changed it once again..!

To make it work, we've decided that the girl is hiding from the police. When she's in the bunker there are flashbacks of a knife & her being abused by her father.

She hears a noise, at the end of the corridor she sees the silhouette of a man, she thinks it's her father who she's hiding from & that's the reason why she runs out of the bunker. 

 

Actors: Louise Eden for the abused girl hiding in a bunker

              Jared Tomkins for her father/ father's silhouette 

Will put up pictures when Sophie's computer has been fixed so she can upload them.

 

bunker

Went to the bunker at La Pulente yesterday with Sophie to take photos. The outside is covered with graffiti so we might either spray over it with a grayish paint or just film the parts of the bunker without graffiti, however it probably doesn't really matter that much as the bunker is just where the girl's hiding and doesn't have to look untouched... I didn't realize how long and dark the tunnel was before we went yesterday, so we only managed to take photos half-way down it. When we're filming we will bring torches and candles to light it up. Sophie hasn't got a lead for her camera at the moment but we will upload the photos as soon as possible.. 

Camera angles

Starts off with a dolly shot down the footpath
*insert photo of footpath*

Eye level shot of around the area; sea, trees, grass, bushes etc

*insert photo of surroundings*

Long shot of bunker

*insert photo of bunker*

Eye level shot of bunker entrance 

*insert photo of bunker entrance & a couple of down the tunnel*

Dolly shot down the tunnel

*insert photo of tunnel*

Me and Sophie are going to the bunker this afternoon & will upload the photos tomorrow once we've taken them..

To-do list!

Storyboard - half way through, need to finish drawing, colour in & scan on to iMovie

Photos - will be up by 19th, taking them this afternoon. 

I've edited my storyline a bit more and I'm now working with Sophie because we work well together and both have some good ideas for the film. 

Actors

I've decided to use a friend of mine Louise Eden to act the part of the girl because she's a good actress. She's the same girl who's in my first attempt at editing. 

location

I have found the perfect location for my video, it's an open bunker at La Pulente in St Ouens on a cliff top and is quite deserted. There is a really long dark tunnel and I've decided that the girl is going to be sitting right at the end of the tunnel, because it would be really interesting and creepy if there were camera shots down the tunnel. I have taken photos but they're on a disposable camera which I need to get developed. If I can't get them developed in time I could borrow a friend's digital camera and take photos on that instead...

Props
Rucksack, torch, a few empty cans of food and an empty water bottle. The rucksack and empty cans of food are to show that she's run away from home. 

Final Idea

The story is about a girl who's 16-18 years old. The film introduction starts off by showing this girl living in complete solitude in a deserted bunker/ dark room/ shed and hiding from the police. (I know it was a man before, but I couldn't think of anywhere to go with that. I have a new idea now.) The audience don't know yet why she is hiding from the police but this is revealed later in the film and she looks completely terrified. By the end of the introduction when the credits have finished the girl is running from this place where she's been hiding; she collapses from exhaustion and the scene blacks out. 

The film is basically about this girl and her fresh start, she has a new life but there's these old memories that she can't get away from. It turns out that she was abused by her dad from a young age, and ends up stabbing him with a knife in the kitchen. It's a really gory disgusting traumatizing death and the image of it flashes up sometimes in the film but not enough of it for the audience to know what happened. She has dreams every night that her dad is going to come after her, even though he's dead. The whole story isn't revealed until the end. 

Throughout the film she keeps imagining her dad being there and tormenting her, even though he's dead. Later on in the film she meets some new people, meets a man & falls in love etc but she can't tell him why she has nightmares every night. At the end of the film her dad appears - she's convinced that he's there and alive.  

Preliminary..

I finished filming and editing my preliminary, it's my 3rd attempt because the filming in the first was really bad and the second one got lost. The lighting isn't good but overall I think it's okay. 

I have changed my first idea a bit, because it doesn't make sense that someone would lock themselves in a dark room for years then suddenly decide to escape. Also there isn't really any plot because I haven't decided on one yet. I need to think of a reason on why this man is living by himself in this room in the first place, aside from just paranoia. 
I've decided that he's committed a crime and is hiding from the police, but has only been in this room for about a week. The audience doesn't find out why he is hiding until later on in the film. There are police sirens in the background for a bit, and scenes of the crime keep flashing up. As he leaves the dark room/bunker that he's in he keeps looking back as if he's looking out for police or someone coming to get him. He keeps running and eventually collapses and the introduction blacks out.

First attempt at editing

I finally found my first attempt at editing a video... The filming isn't very good and it could've been longer with more camera angles but it was just a first attempt, and I had to cut quite a lot out.

Lighting

The room is going to be dark but with a thin stream of bright light coming in from the side. The room fades to black occasionally with the credits flashing up. I could either use natural or artificial light, it depends where I decide to film it. If I use artificial light I could just attach a torch or something to one of the walls to give the impression of sunlight shining in from outside. I still haven't decided on a location but should be able to find one soon, I have a few ideas on where to film it.

films...

I watched the film Mulholland Drive by a director called David Lynch and found parts of it inspiring for my film. It is the story of a young woman who moves to Hollywood aspiring to be famous, but gradually realizes how corrupt Hollywood is. Her life goes downhill and she ends up going insane and killing herself. The film is a lot more complicated and confusing than that but that is the main plot. The part where she goes mad is really chilling and disturbing, I'd like to make my introduction a bit like that, except instead of killing himself the man manages to escape. 

This is the ending of Mulholland Drive..

Another film I watched is called the Twelve Monkeys and at first I thought it wouldn't be any use at all to my film but after watching half of it I found a few filming techniques that I like. The film is set in a mental asylum and the camera angles are taken from diagonals sometimes which gives a really weird interesting atmosphere. This type of shot is called an Oblique/Canted Angle and is used to suggest imbalance, transition and instability. I'm going to use a couple of these shots at the beginning of my film intro.

Setting

I'd like to use a bunker or a garage for my setting because I need a dark room with hardly any light. There is an open bunker at Gronez which I might use, I'm going to take some photos of it the next time I go.... There's going to be a mattress on the floor or a sofa and a few empty cans of food scattered around to give the impression that the man has been living here for a long time in complete darkness. The first few shots are of him sitting down with his head in his hands looking weak and scared. His clothes are old and slightly ripped and he has pale skin and dark circles under his eyes, I can use make-up to do that.

I watched the film Seven and liked some of the camera angles and settings used in it. I also liked the intro because it gave hints about the film without giving away the whole plot, which is what I want to do in my intro.
My film is going to be a psychological thriller because the main character's mental state is going to be emphasized slightly more than the plot. 

The opening sequence for Seven

Wikipedia definition of a Psychological Thriller:

"Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging thriller genre. However, this genre often incorporates elements from the mystery genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre.
Generally, thrillers focus on plot over fictional characters, and thus emphasize intense, physical action over the character's psyche. Psychological thrillers tend to reverse this formula to a certain degree, emphasizing the characters just as much, if not more so, than the plot."

First idea...

I have one idea for my film intro but I'm don't know if I'll use it yet because it might not work..
Starts off in a dark room, a shed? The music playing is a song called beside you in time by a band called nine inch nails, which is really repetitive and atmospheric.

A man is sitting down with his head in his hands, the camera is looking up at him. He's really paranoid and his thoughts keep flashing up. Has lived in this dark room for years and needs to escape. Signs that he has lived here for ages are around the room, like a mattress on the floor etc. He has done something in the past that has gradually been turning him mad, pictures from this moment flash up sometimes but the whole story is revealed later in the film. What he's done isn't entirely clear... The plot is his escape from this dark room he’s created for himself. About 3 quarters of the way through the intro the music gets brighter and the man opens a window in the room letting the light shine in. He opens the door and stands outside looking up at the sky; he starts to run and the intro ends, screen fades to black.
?