Final Storyboard

Original storyboard

The opening storyboards which were eventually changed through focus group research.

Poster layout Idea

• Ambigious facial expression of female protagonist doesn't give to much away about narrative
• Faded main image to follow conventions of art house film posters
• Calligraphy style font to make the piece seem personal to help towards empathy towards the film while also following conventions of art house film posters

Magazine review page

• Use black and red fonts to show synergy between the front cover and review page
• Large image of still from film, rather than posed publisity shot
• 'Review' as title to make it clear that this is a review page
• 5 star review rating to make it clear while following conventions and making it clear that this is a review article

Magazine front cover plans

• Aim to use bold fonts because this is eye catching so it will stand out on magazine stands
• Large single image makes the magazine stand out as being luxurious to justify the pricing
• Continuous use of reds and blacks to conform with conventions seen in empire 



Script

OPENING SCENE

To start my film I needed dialogue that would make the genre of this film clear to the audience without giving too much away on the narrative but enough that would make the audience want to watch more.

Girl:(emotionless) He loves me (long pause).... he loves me not 

I got the idea to use this dialogue because its something my target audience would be familiar and would help with catharsis with especially due to the childlike nature that surrounds this quote. This also tells the audience that this is still a love story, but not one that is straightforward. The tone that this piece needed to be addressed was with a  emotionless sense, therefore, making the overall tone of the piece unclear.

ARGUMENT SCENE

The argument scene is where the majority of my dialogue is. I left this scene with little direction as I wanted them to improvise the emotion and tone that would be expressed as this would increase the verisimilitude of the argument which would help with the audiences empathy towards the piece.

Boy: theres one thing I asked you to do and you couldn’t do that for me 

Girl: I do so much for you

Boy: like what, you never do anything for me

Girl: everything I do with your family?

Boy: oh thats a chore for you?

Girl: no, they just don’t welcome me

Boy: I do everything for you and I do it with a smile on my face

Girl: yeah well my family love you

Boy: without you they would hate me so much

Girl: I don’t get how

Boy: you know the person I was, you changed me, but now your just making me even   

        worse

Girl: I try to help, but I don’t see what else I can do for them to like me

Boy: you think that but you don’t know anything of what they say when your not there

Girl: well i’ve heard what they say when I am there 

Boy: you just don’t understand

Girl: well try and help me understand 

Boy: we always have to do what you want don’t we?

Girl: how? Give me an example?

Boy: just take a look around at our room it’s full of your stuff

Girl: If you done like it then go

Boy: fine then I will (long pause, pushes past girl) get out of my way

Girl: your not going to go though are you 

Boy: (while packing bag) just watch me

Girl: no your not, you’re not going to be able to cope with out me

Boy: I coped before I will now

Girl: no you wouldn’t don’t be so stupid

Boy: I’m not being stupid, this is what I want

Girl: your not going to be able to cope are you

Boy: this is what I want 

Girl: no please

Stages of filming

STAGE ONE

The first time I filmed for this project I collected a lot of footage. At this time I wanted it to be clear that the boyfriend character had died and that the protagonist was haunted by his memory. Because of this, a lot of the shots were based around him talking to her in the mirror. I thought that reflections would be a successful reoccurring motif as I felt they would imply that someone was there without actually being there. However, attempting to create and film reflections was very difficult. I wanted a shot of a reflection in a car window and I tried to create this by waiting until it was dark, I then tried placing black card behind the windows, but the card was visible. I then tried creating excess light using a touch and lights from phones. None of these worked.  I found the best way I could create the impression of a reflection was to film him standing behind her. When I looked at this footage I felt it looked a bit static and basic. I was unhappy with the actress I was using for the protagonist. Also I had experimented with improvising parts of the script and I felt that the footage I was left with looked cheesy and unprofessional. The footage also did not feel much like an art house film. I decided to re shoot all of these scenes with a new actress and a new script.

STAGE TWO

One of the big problems with my first attempt at filming was that the shots all seemed a little boring. I’d used a lot of over the shoulder shots and a lot of bust shots. I wanted to give my film a unique feel so one of the first things I worked on in this stage was the shooting the 36o degree shot. I felt this represented a lot about the relationship I also felt it made the film look more art house.

I also changed the narrative slightly as I decided to make the relationship more ambiguous. I wanted the audience to be unsure about if the character dies or not. I feel the film looks more mature and professional now that everything is not spelt out. I think the layers of meaning work well.

STAGE THREE

I added music to the film. I think the song choice worked well as it sounds dreamlike and distorted and this reflects the characters emotions.

I was worried that the film may end up looking like a music video so I attempted to add more pauses and faded the music in certain places. On the whole however I felt this music was needed as it set the tone for the film effectively.

STAGE FOUR

A Slow motion camera was brought into school. I really wanted to use this camera as I wanted to capture a shot of a candle being blown out. I felt this would be an artistic and symbolic way of representing the end of a relationship. I was very keen to ensure that a wisp of smoke was included in shot as this could represent the emotional hang over from an emotional break up. This wisp was hard to create. I had to burn a piece of small paper behind the camera in order to capture this effect.

It was also difficult to drop the match directly into the candle. I wanted the two flames to resemble a collision however when looking deeper into it represented the fact the two strong personalities of the characters are no separate as they no longer see themselves as pair or couple.