Just realised i spelt 'story' wrong.

Sounds good to me Hugo! :D

Stroyboards/Scripts

I would much prefer to script rather than storyboard. Charlotte if you are doing the opening, do you want to send it my way when you have finished, and I will get writing.

H.

Storyboarding

OOOh yes Jess that sounds dandy! I'm up for doing the opening scene! :D

Storyboards/Script

Oooh, it's all going quite nicely.
I was thinking, since we're all pretty busy with our pairs projects at the moment, should we have a chat about who could storyboard/script each part to put on here so we can do it from home? What does everyone think?

OH and . . .

Just watched that link Hugo! really like that! Think the black comedy style's the right way to go! :D

Storyboards

Aw that's cool about the sound Miriam! Glad it was helpful! :D Ahh good old neill!

Yeah I don't mind storyboarding the opening, or if anyone else wants to let me know :)

X x x

i forgot to mention that i had another sound workshop last monday with ron in sound editing.
it went well and we covered lots of things. i definately feel more confident about doing the sound now. also i can start storyboarding a scene from the film. i could start at the beginning of act 2 if charlotte is doing the 1st act.

i like the briefcase hugo put up, i think i know someone who has one like it. i'm sure we could borrow it. i also took alook at the trailer and i think the black comedy angle is good. i think it would suit our film.

GLASSES! GLASSES! GLASSES!

These are nice to. H.

BAGS! BAGS! BAG!

I think that this is a much nicer bag. However it does cost £2,210. But one like would be brilliant.

Black Comedy

Of course when I say 'annie mentioned this' I was talking about the black comedy genre

Annie mentioned this when we presented our idea. I think that if we want to go down that route then we should look at this.
If you haven't seen this film and would like to then i have copy that you can borrow.

Locations

Hey guys!

Hope you're all okay! :D I was just wondering whether for the next meeting we go location scouting? :D So then that will help us when we storyboard things. It might give us a clearer idea perhaps. Just an idea though :)

much loveeee :)))

...

Perfect Charlotte! Just as i imagined. I'll start a storyboard from that ready for when we start filming :)!

Camera

Opening scene-

Camera shot over looking Clive lying in bed awake waiting for the alarm to go off. He is looking up at the camera as if it's the ceiling, The shot is wide enough to see him and his wife lying in bed. It shows obvious distance between the couple. She is facing the other side asleep curled up. The camera is static at this time. It stays focussed on them in bed until the harsh sound of the alarm goes off. It then cuts to a closer shot on the same level of his wife Tracey waking up and screaming for Clive to turn the alarm off. it cuts to a fed up blank expression on Clive's face. This will be a close up to show his emotion. A quick edit and close up shot shows Clive's hand smacking the button on the top of alarm clock to switch it off. He sits up and a medium shot of him is shown wearing stripy blue and white pajama bottoms. A close up of his feet putting on his slippers proceeds. His morning routine is then followed through the use of slow shots, whilst his wife yells at him in the background. A hand held shot is used while he plods down stairs to put the kettle on. the shot is a medium shot, again showing his blank fed up facial expression. Close up of the kettle switch and tea bag in the mug and hot water being poured in. These edits are quite quick. It is slowed down with a close up hand held of his face looking into the camera whilst pulled out of focus is Tracey screaming and arguing at him. The sound could be muffled here to suggest Clive is in his own world. The camera then follows him picking up his brown leather suitcase and walking out the front door. The minute the door closers, it's peaceful and calm.

I hope that's okay to begin with for the opening part? Let me know if people visioned it differently! :D

Thanks Laura you star! >_< The treatments really good!

Do we need to say about how we are going to shoot it and how we are going to do it within the time we've been given? And like maybe the style of editing we are going to use? I'm not sure if we do but we could maybe add it in :D

Costume Ideas

Project Treatment Draft

[“Come Dine With Clive” ???? Haha!]

Length: 7-10 Minutes

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Target Audience: 18+

Tagline: [Something about him being a puppet master maybe????]

Brief Synopsis: Clive goes through life tending not to get noticed or respected. This leads Clive to a mid life crisis where he carries out murders and keeps the dead bodies in his house. [Needs expanding??]

Brief Outline: It's a Monday morning, the time is 06:58. Clive Morgan lies awake waiting for his alarm clock to cue him out of bed. As the clock goes off, Clive gets out of bed and proceeds to get ready for work, getting dressed then making breakfast, whilst arguing with his wife about her constant nagging and talking.Clive leaves his house and makes his way towards the bus stop.
This is Clive's routine every morning Monday – Friday, 9-5. Clive arrives at work, where he carries out repetitive and tedious tasks throughout his shift. Clive hates his job.
That night, as Clive gets changed for bed he finds a tie on the floor, a tie that isn't his. Assuming that the tie must belong to some mysterious suitor, he grabs the tie and strangles Tracey to death with it.

The next morning Clive wakes up, opens his curtains smiling, he embraces the day and seems a lot cheerier than the day before. Clive heads to the office where he repeats the same tasks but in a happier manner and with enthusiasm. When Clive arrives at home he puts his wife in an armchair in the living room, talking to her about his day and bringing her things.
The next day in work Clive is seen talking to Ted and Jeff, 2 of his colleagues, they make small talk and Ted asks about his wife. Out of the blue Clive invites them round for dinner that night. After work they are seen entering his house.

The next morning Clive passes the living room, and sat alongside dead Tracey are Ted and Jeff. 2 weeks later a police officer knocks at Clive's door to inquire about missing Ted and Jeff. Clive acts oblivious and concerned about his colleagues absences, he tells the policeman that he knows nothing.
The day after Clive approaches his boss, Nigel, at his car after a days work, inviting him for a beer at the local pub. He refuses, and in the next shot Clive is seen entering Nigel's car and sitting in the drivers seat. Clive turns to talk to Nigel who is seen propped up by a seatbelt in the passenger seat, dead.
In the final scene the police knock at Clive's door, there classical music blasting from the property. Clive is seen in the living room dancing with his dead wife, numerous other dead bodies are surrounding him, wearing party hats. As the music track changes Clive notices the banging at the door. "Brilliant...more guests" he mutters. He slips off his tie as he heads towards the front door. [Might be a bit long!]

Director's Statement Of Intent: We intend to create a original and dark psychological thriller with a humorous edge. This will be shown through the narrative of the film itself, as well as through our development of atmosphere and tension. We aim to portray this through the character of Clive himself - his gradual mental deterioration is what will make him truly terrifying to behold. This will be shown through the use of the tie - which he will use to kill all of his victims.
In terms of camera and sound, we aim to use a lot of tight framing to emphasise the characters' feeling of being strained and bored. This will be paired with long shots - which will be mirrored in the more rhythmic, shorter shots which will be used after he kills Tracey, representing his happier mood.
We will use classical music throughout the piece, which we believe will give the film a very sinister edge and emphasise Clive's madness.

Do we need to have a bit about our use of camera, sound, etc?

Example of classical music

Hey guys, this is an episode of Skins which used classical music through the whole episode. It's good for seeing what looks good and so on...

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/skins/4od#2918543

Treatment

Hey guyssss

Yeah, our treatment has to be in tomorrow! Sorry about earlier, Laura and I were having major filming issues. Laura has kindly offered to get the ball rolling and is going to post it on here later, and we can all edit it as we see fit. Also, would someone be willing to volunteer to print it?

Loooove :)

Yeah the meeting was cancelled today. I don't mind doing storyboards or anything :) just let me know. I think jess said laura was going to do the treatment then post it on here so we can edit it and whatnot. I only got half her text though! so i could be wrong! haha!

See you all tomorrow! :D

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2578841881/

Whatever you may think about Christian Bale (Jessica) I think that it would be a good film to look at to make our film better.

H.

Was todays meeting canceled? I am pretty sure that we have to have our treatment in pretty soon. I will have a stab at that tonight. I might start to do a bit of story-boarding, just so we have started it. Also we should start on the script now that we have our idea pretty much sorted.

H.

Music

Don Giovanni -Mozart
The Blue Danube - J Strauss
And some Wagner.

I have these at home and will find some good bits to bring in a play.

Classical Music

Hey guys, had a look for some suitable music for different bits of the film! Have a listen and let me know what you think:

• For when he awakes, after he has strangled his wife. To go with the montage of him being happier at work. Alternatively, to go with the montage of him caring for his wife.

Rossini William Tell overture Part 2

• This one could also go with him waking up happier.

Grieg - Morning

• For when he dances with his wife at the end. Listen from about about 2 mins in for this one.

Amilcare Ponchielli - Dance of the Hours

• Also for when he dances with his wife, it just depends which one we think would fit better! They could alternately go with him killing whoever else.

Bizet: Habanera

• This piece is quite sneaky sounding, like tiptoes, so could be used when murdering someone, like when he invites his boss for a drink.

Pizzicato - Léo Delibes

• Also for when he's committing a murder

Winter - Vivaldi, Four Seasons

...Final Idea...

Ok guys a lot of brainstorming today, and i think we have come up with something we are all pretty excited about.

Here is a summary of the synopsis with a few potential additions.

Our main male character wakes up before his alarm clock on a Monday morning, looking annoyed he turns it off, after receiving some abuse from his wife lying next to him. They have a petty argument which is fueled by her constant nagging/talking. Then a montage is shown of him getting ready for work (focusing on him putting on his tie), eating breakfast and more arguing with his wife. He leaves abruptly and catches his bus to work (listening to classical music on an old portable CD player).

He arrives at work. Looking very bored he carries out routine tedious tasks repeatedly throughout his shift. Potential argument with boss? Trying to relieve his boredom. He leaves for his bus and is seen walking down the path to his house.

When he enters his house his wife is waiting for him. He heats his dinner in the microwave, watching it in a daze. His wife tells him she is pregnant and he reacts quite numb to this. He flips out when alone, (smashing something?). They are both seen in the living room watching TV, sat very apart occasionally glaring at each other. His wife goes to bed and he shortly follows. Whilst asleep he dreams of his wife with another man, leading him to think he isn't the baby's father. This is the breaking point for our main character. He wakes and strangles his wife to death with his tie.

The next morning he cheerfully awakes, opening the curtains with a smile, kissing his dead wife on the forehead and bringing her breakfast in bed? He goes to work where he repeats the same tasks but in a happier manner and with enthusiasm. On a toilet break he is seen fixing his tie and gazing at himself in the mirror. He goes home.

Montage of him caring for his pregnant wife. Acting as if she were alive. He talks to her about his day.

The next day in work he talks to 2 of his colleagues (3 character scene), they ask about his wife and he seems uncomfortable. He invites them round for dinner that night. They are seen entering his house.

The next morning as the main character heads downstairs the 2 colleagues are subtlety seen in the living room dead, with his wife.

2 weeks later (shown by a flip calender), 1 or 2 police officers knock at his door to inquire about a missing person (1 of his dead colleagues). He acts oblivious and concerned about his colleagues absence and tells them he hasn't heard/seen from him.

The day after he approaches his boss at his car after a days work, inviting him for a beer at the local pub, his boss acts awkward saying he doesn't know and then that he already has plans for the evening.

In the next shot the main character is seen driving his boss's car, turning and talking away to his boss who is seen propped up by a seatbelt in the passenger seat, dead.

In the final scene the police are seen knocking at his door, classical music blaring from the property, a tracking shot then leads into the house and through to the living room where numerous dead bodies are seen in a party environment (party hats/food/etc), and the main character is seen dancing with his dead wife. As the music track changes he hears the knocking at the door. "Brilliant...more guests" he mutters and slips off his tie as he heads towards the front door.

End.

Idea, maybe

Had a bit of an idea about what we could do for our project, maybe. I've written it basically according to Annie's 3 Act Stucture and so on.


ACT 1

• Who is he?: Our protagonist (male, middle aged? depends on the actor we can get) works in an office (I got this from Hugo's idea about the guy who stole office supplies) and is extremely bored and depressed.
  
• What does he want? : He does the same thing day in and day out, watching grey office days go by, and simply wants a more exciting life.
  
• Inciting Incident : One day, after leaving the office, he recieves a letter in the post telling him to go to a certain place at a certain time. Happy for the bit of excitement, he goes, but upon arriving, finds the body of a dead girl. (How she dies can be decided later).

ACT 2

• Knowing he is innocent, he runs from the body out of fear and worry that he'll be fasely accused if discovered at the scene. He drops a glove (or something else that can be decided later).
  
• He goes home, but it's not long before he starts to become paranoid that the police will think that it's him. He starts to see things, and feels like he's being watched. He looks in the mirror and thinks he sees someone behind him, etc. He begins to see the girls body in the house (but we won't explain whether or not it's really there).
• Some time later, the police knock on his door. He runs, afraid.

Basically, in the end it would be that he actually set it all up himself to create his own excitement. After leaving the office one day we'll have a suttle shot of him coming out of the post office (I.e. he sent the letter himself), that sort of thing. And he dropped his whatever on purpose, so they'd follow him. Not sure what would happen at the end yet, but he'll have to be caught in order for us to explain what was really going on. We can have a chat about it tomorrow if you guys like it :)

15/02/10 Meeting

Today we had our first group meeting, where we all came together to discuss our ideas after brainstorming the titles 'Facing the Shadow', 'Making an Entrance' and 'Refusal is Pointless'.
We found that we were all most drawn to the title 'Facing the Shadow', and we therefore began to build a story around it, coming up with these ideas:

• Implied meaning, facing your demons
• Shadows swallowing up the character (dream sequence?) - representitive of his mind
• Being stalked
• Psychological thriller
• Paranoia - perhaps someone sends him a letter telling him to be at a certain place at a certain time - dead body? Framed?
• Angel vs. Devil - different sides of himself, affecting his decisions
• On the run?
• Is he truly innocent?

Since we could not come to a final decision, we agreed to meet again after developing our own ideas using these points:

• Must be a male protagonist
• Must be a murder
• Have a twist(s)
• 1 scene with 3 characters
  

here are a few basic ideas i had of what the titles bring to mind:

Facing The Shadow :

• light vs dark,

good vs. evil - reminiscent of fantasy genre e.g Lord Of The Rings.
also could be action e.g Die Hard

• literal meaning- actually facing shadows/dark place - could be horror or thriller.
• facing yourself - hidden wants/desires, emotional turmoil.
• facing the uncertain- maybe uncertain future.

Making An Entrance:

• going to prom/dance/somewhere special - chick flick or rom com - trying to win over the guy/girl
  
• doing a bank raid or robbery - action/thriller
• new beginnings - starting a new job, moving to a new place, having a baby.
  

Refusal Is Pointless:

• lovers- one unsure the other certain - unwilling to give in - romance
• hostage situation - being held against their will - thriller
• sounds like a murder mystery title - who done it?

hi everyone,
just letting u know i went to a sound workshop on thursday with Neil Webb down at sheffield independent film. we did a lesson on sync sound which was really useful because i havent done that before. it'll be useful if we decide to use sinc sound for our project. i'm sitting in on sum other lessons aswell so i'll keep you posted.

Meetings:

Monday 10th Febuary, Collegiate Library, 1630.
Wednesday 12th Febuary, outside EMB 3115, 1230.

Group Roles

Laura - Camera/ CSD
Miriam - Sound/ Camera/ Editing
Hugo - CSD/ Editing
Charlotte - Writer/ Producer/ Camera/ CSD
Jessica - Editor/ CDS

As always, we'll all help each other out with all the roles :)