Foundation Portfolio Planning

My Roles:

• script
• early technical decisions for effect
• Talent & Script
• Weather check for filming day(s)
• Camera operator
• Director/time-keeper
• treatment

Brainstorm

character-Lily by tiana wijohn

Script

Treatment

A Treatment for SWING

Prepared by DTM Productions

It is proposed that the film will be of 2-2:30 minutes duration, and it will be filmed at the following location, Steph Armstrong's house as our main actor lives there so it was easy to get access to as well as it has area for a forest that our main events are in as well as being a house, where we want our setting to be set at. The house also has a swing set which will be used for our abduction scene.

The film will include the following processes of thriller films, being set in a forest, using an innocent child as a protagonist, being set at night, an abduction scene, hand held shaky camera filming, long takes to establish the scene for audience (Using Hitchcock's of idea of giving the audience an expectation of what's too come without the actor knowing, creates more anxiety to the audience as they almost are busting in their seats wanting to warn the actor what is to come). Draws the interest of our target audience as they like abductions so if they're suspecting one in the start they can be drawn to watch the rest to find out what happens.

After watching this past students foundation portfolio

 I've been interested in the technique of using child-like structures to come off as something scary. I've also been interested to try use long shot takes instead of quick edits as shown in this video 

 as I believe that through this way I can create more suspense through telling the audience what is going to happen before it actually happens.

Problems we may encounter will be to film in the right time of day as first of all it's getting into winter so the weather might become a constraint, as well as we want the lighting to be dark but we will film during dawn as there will not be plugs for us to plug lights into whilst filming in the forest.

The Film will include the following:

Characters- This film only really includes one character, Lily who will be played by Libby whos 10 years old but will be acting as a 5-7 year old. I chose a young child as the main actor as it can create more anxiety to an audience as they see her as a young child by herself, and can be more worried to what might happen to her than if she was older. The little girl will be perceived as very innocent as she will be in a cute dress with pig tails and holding her stuffed animal, very cliché look. She will be shown to be quite adventurous linking to how she could even end up in the forest. Examples of how she will look:

Ideology- The aim of this film is to create a cliché message to not go into the woods alone especially a child, and to watch you kids with a very close eye because you never know what could happen to them. I represent this through the mother not actually visually watching her child and the forest is portrayed as not a good place to be alone in as she gets abducted.

Mood and Tone: The mood and tone will be eerie through the forest seen as I'll use slow paced suspenseful music as well lots of forest sound effects, trying to create an alive creepy feeling. Also when the child approaches the swing as it's already moving I want a scary tone to be built so the audience can feel the presence of another being.

Camera/lighting- Long camera takes are going to be used to really put all the details of the setting and whereabouts for the audience to know. Slow pacing tracking shots, with no editing in them, to create the tension of waiting. The film will will filmed during dusk hours so the lighting will be darker than normal daylight but not too dark that we can't see what's happening. We're also trying to avoid using the artificial light's as it can make it seem less realistic.

Themes and Motifs- We will use lot's of child-like themes through the girl and the swing set. The teddy bear will also relate to this as it can relate to how she innocent

The forest will be represented as a place that all people know as being represented as almost dangerous. A no-go zone. The photos below are photos of the actual forest to be filmed in, obviously though we will create the vibe of the forest in a more daunting way, without the rainbows. (Photos of the forest being filmed inside)

The House will represent being the child's safe place as it's her home.

Narrative- The story line will be quite cliché as a little girl wonders off into the forest after playing outside her house. She walk through the forest and ends up at a swing set. This idea is very simple, which we were aiming to make it, so we can try our best to create the best quality piece of work, with this very achievable storyline

Mise-en-scene- The forest in this will represent the abduction coming up, as audiences watches her walk through the forest they can know it represents bad things. 

Sound and Music- The music I'll use will be eerie and quite dramatic however It wont be that quick pace as it needs to match with the long action shots. I'll use lots of forest sound effects, essentially aiming to set the scene effectively.

Use of Logos- Mackenzie will be creating a group logo which will be incorporated into our film

Editing- The editing wont include lots of quick cuts, instead it will involve a lot of quick takes with very few edits in between

At the Beginning of the film it will start with a wide shot of the house which eventually turn into lily playing on the driveway of her house next to the forest. She stays there playing with her dolly, running around leading closer and closer towards the forest. Her mum call her in for dinner however she decides to stay playing for another five minutes, after some negotiating with her mother. Lily then continues on playing until she finds herself somehow in the middle of the forest. She looks around hesitantly, going deeper and deeper into the forest. All sorts of forest noises surround her. She continues her way through until she approaches the end of the forest. She comes across a swing which is already swinging. She approaches the swing slowly before being completely snatched. Lily is no where to be seen, the only trace of her is her little dolly lying on the forest floor.

Weather for Wed 26: 

Camera

I'm Going to the start the film with a very long shot on a steady cam to establish the scene while the girl is outside of the house. Then I'm going to switch to hand held during the forest scenes to create the camera as being like the 'stalker'.

This video is an example of how I will portray this.