main task- updated plot

After talking to my teacher and doing the pitch, I have decided to change my story line slightly.
Here are some of the changes..
- She will go on  a run at 9.00am
- There will be only one man who stabs her with a syringe instead of suffocating her with a cloth.
- The person who he is demanding to know about is the person that will save her not a mysterious man.
- The man doesn't pull out a knife, the woman comes on a motorbike and shoots him from afar.
- The two women ride away on a motorbike together, so it is clear they know eachother and it was the plan all along to kill him..

Pitch for main task

How I decide on genre/plot/character type..

After mapping out ideas of what I wanted to include in the film, I transferred them on to this mind map electronically. My narrative plot has three stages, a beginning, a disruption and then a return to the equilibrium. It begins with a woman going unusually early for a run at five in the morning. As she is running a car pulls up alongside her with two men in, they ask for directions and as she leans in the window to tell them, one of the men, after looking in the boot while she is distracted, comes up behind her with a cloth with cloroform on a cloth. She passes out and is put in the back of the car where she is taken to an isolated run down old wooden house in the middle of no where. She is tied to a chair and has tape over her mouth, the man who asked for directions begins to interogate her. He demands questions about who she is and shows pictures of the woman she looks like and has the same name as who they are supposedly trying to find. As the suspense builds and she struggles, the man pulls out a knife and goes towards her with it. A gun shot is heard in the distance and the man falls down bleeding from his stomach. A mysterious man is seen running away in the distance. The woman kicks the knife nearer to her reach and cuts the rope. She escapes.

Working title: Captured
Tag line: Carry on running
               Keep running?

A bit about my character...

The preliminary- Evaluation

How effective is the combination of your main product and your film poster?

I believe my main product is successful in portraying a lot about a character in such a short space of time, I also believe that the poster, despite it's simplicity, reflects much of my created character too. As a combination, they compliment eachother, the poster doesn't give too much of the narrative plot away and the actual film consists of a suprising twist which isn't ruined by a telling poster. My preliminary was purposefully simple, as the main task of it was too evoke emotion from an audience and the purpose was to make the audience sad.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From my audience feed back I learnt that while the majority understood the ending (which was that he was getting on a train to London on the day of the bombings on the tubes and buses) some didn't understand the concept. I felt I made it as obvious as possible, by using props such as a phone with the date on it and a tube map, however in future if I were to connote an ending without using verbal communication during the film, I would try and make it even more obvious so it was completely clear. However in some aspects this may have ruined it by giving too much away. I also learnt that whilst my script was generally good and detailed that some people got lost, as I was trying to convey too much in a short space of time. I have learnt that 'less is more' and that my script should have been more concise in representing my character.

What have you learned during the course of this project and what targets for improvement do you need to set for the main task?

During this task I believe I have learnt more than in previous tasks. Perhaps my biggest achievement was learning to use the new Mac computers, this is a great advantage as I find them faster, more convinient and easy to convert files. I learnt how to do things independantly. I did this by filming it myself on my own camera, which was also useful in helping me learn to use my camera better. I also did the sound myself, recording it on one of the school cameras and converting it. I didn't use lighting but learnt through the process that I much prefered naturual lighting which made me want to use it for my thiller, although it isn't neccessarily conventional. I learnt how to write a script in monologue form so that it's meaningful and conveys a character well. I have learnt to shoot a range of shots in a more artistic way than I had before, taking the lighting and point of focus in to consideration a lot more than I previously had. I even tried to develop some of the shots so that they had meaning behind them such as using low and high angles to convey different feelings.
For the main task I have abstract ideas, shot ideas and shoot locations, however I am still thinking about my basic plot. I think I will try again to do something simple and effective like in my preliminary, however I want to focus on a female character as I haven't so far and perhaps have a definite, happy ending as mine have predominantly been ambiguous so far.

The preliminary Video- River

Preliminary task- Music

I have chosen 'Spanish Sahara' by Foals. I picked this song, not only because it's one of my favourites but it's subtle build in beat adds to the pace of my video. It fits nicely because as the monologue builds in emotion so does the story line. For example as he talks about emotional things such as Jack (his son) and Anna (his ex) the train arrives and he gets on it, which is a crucial point in the narrative. This all coincides with the gradually building music and the constant beat which becomes quicker.

preliminary- Poster

How and why I made my poster like this..

I created my poster using Publisher 2010. I have deliberately simplified it's appearance in order to keep it's purpose and story line secret. Before creating the poster I researched a number of film posters which had a similar appearence or narrative plot, for example the 2010 film 'Remember me' which shares a similar story line to my own film.
This poster also has elements of amibguity to it. The white background and bold style of writing is not dissimilar to the poster I have created and I feel it is both effective and intriguing to an audience.

The actual image from the poster was a screen shot I have taken. Originally I thought it was a good shot, however I also think it represents my character quite well. He is a confident character, so his stance in this shot is important. He is also an independent business man, which I think is clear in this particular shot as he stands in the centre dressed in a suit, waiting, quite obviously for a train. It also seems he is lost in thought as he looks in to the distance, this may work in favour if it were being advertised as the intriguing factor may make people want to see the film.

The technical aspects of the poster such as the bold, black writing were purely used because of their effectiveness. I think they work well against the white/light blue sky. I also like the fact that the title is between the overhead cables which gives clues as to where he is standing.

The name of the actor was written in this particular font and in grey and black as when researching posters I found one that I liked a lot and took ideas from it, which was (below) 'Charlie St Cloud' starring Zac Efron...

To make the poster look authentic I added a star rating from a well known film magazine and credits taken from a diffrent film poster. However in the main task I would write my own credits for extra detail and precision.

Pre production- pictures

Here are some of the pictures I took on the day when I filmed of where River is seen. For example the bench he is sat on parts of the train station and the stairs he walks up. Luckily, as I was portraying a summers day in the actual month of October, it was nearly thirty degrees as is obvious from the blue sky in the pictures.