Props List

Living Room:

• Sofa
• Cushions
• Coffee Table
• Beer cans
• Beer bottles
• Side Table
• joint (Cig roll)

Kitchen:

• Fridge
• post-it notes
• toaster
• bottle opener

Hallway:

• Mirror
• bowl
• Chest of drawers
• screw driver
• brief case

Bedroom:

• Bed
• chest of drawers
• screw driver

Shooting Schedule

Shooting date: 17/11/2013

Time schedule

12 till 1.30 pm:

Shooting of the kitchen scene.

Cast- Billy Hash ( Lewis O'Loughlin )

• Depicting Billy Hash taking bottles out of the fridge.
• Also the shooting of him disorientated in the kitchen.

1.30 till 3.30pm:

Shooting of the Living room scene.

Cast- Billy Hash ( Lewis O'Loughlin )

• Depicting Billy drinking bottles and cans of alcohol.
• We will also be shooting him smoking
• Lastly we will film Billy waking up stumbling around the house.

3.30 till 5pm:

Shooting of hallway scene.

Cast- Billy Hash ( Lewis O'Loughlin ) Stacey ( Holly Huzzard )

• Shooting of billy stumbling through the hallway towards the door.
• filming of billy seeing his reflection in the mirror.
• Stacey walking through the door.

5 till 6pm

Shooting of bedroom scene.

Cast- Billy Hash ( Lewis O'Loughlin )

• Billy waking up in bed
• Shot of the screwdriver

6 till 7pm

Refining of Shots.

Screenplay

Walking through the back door, Billy Hash finishes his conversation with his friend on the phone.

Billy

“Yeah just let yourself in when you get here Stacey.”

Billy laughs at Stacey

“See you later!”

Billy proceeds to put his suitcase on the side, he goes into the fridge and gets himself a beer, he goes to the draws and gets the bottle opener out, opens his beer and goes towards the living room, once he’s entered he collapses back into the sofa and lets out a huge sigh of relief.

Billy

“Finally!” (in a relieved fashion)

Billy sits there watching the TV and having several more beers, after each one he’s looking at his watch more and more in anticipation of his friend coming over, in the end he decides it’s taking too long and he goes up the stairs to his bedroom where he pulls out a tin from underneath his bed, he pulls open the tin and inside is Billy’s drugs, he takes the tin downstairs, he pulls out some of his papers and puts a pinch of  the drugs on the paper and rolls it, he lights it up and smokes away. Due to Billy smoking all his half of the drugs and his friend being late he decides to finish the drugs off. After all the drink and drugs that Billy has had he falls asleep on the sofa, after half an hour or so, Billy hears the door open which wakes him, still in a drug fuelled state Billy’s vision is blurry and distorted, he sees a figure but can’t make out what it is, he thinks it is someone invading his home so he shouts at the figure however can’t really make words out because of the state he’s in.

Billy

“Get out of here! Go Away!” (Mumbling loudly)

Billy is getting increasingly threatened and very annoyed, he hears the figure talk however it’s in a menacing low pitch voice and he cannot understand.

Figure (Stacey)

“It’s me Billy! I brought you this back.” (In a monotone hard to understand voice)

Stacey goes to hands over the screw driver that she borrowed off Billy, Billy thinks that she is attacking him and grabs a knife from the top of the kitchen side.

 

Figure (Stacey)

“Billy! Billy what are you doing!?” (In a monotone hard to understand voice)

Billy

“Get away from me!” (Shouting)

In a swift motion Billy takes the knife he is holding and stabs Stacey in the stomach.

Figure (Stacey)

“…*Cough/splutter*” (Gasping for air)

Billy has no idea what’s happening and blacks out. He wakes up in the morning in his bedroom; he wonders about what a crazy dream he had the previous night.

Billy

“What a crazy dream!”

As he sits up the blood soaked knife which he used to kill his friend who’s blood soaked corpse still lays downstairs is on the floor of his bedroom, the camera focuses on the knife as Billy blurs out in the background.

Scene.

Character Profiles

Characters:

Billy Hash (Played by Lewis O'Loughlin)

Age- 20

Occupation- Accountant

Appearance- Billy Hash has Blonde hair, Blue eyes, and is 6'3 tall.

Location- Hessle

( We have Chosen Lewis to play the role of Billy Hash because he has previous experience with acting and is able to play a variety of different roles.

Stacey (Played by Holly Huzzard)

Age- 19

Occupation- Waitress

Appearance- Stacey has Auburn hair, Hazel eyes, and 5'4 tall.

Location- Hessle

Location of shooting

This will be the location of our short film, with the entire feature being filmed within the house. we chose this location as the plot to our film entails a male protagonist coming home from work to start drinking in his living room.
Because our lead character is a male, to make our film realistic, we needed a male's bedroom, this made picking Adams house a clear choice out of the two.

Location

Some pictures of the rooms we will be shooting the film in. 

 This is where Billy will wake up in the final shot.

 This hallway could be used when Billy looks in the mirror and thinks he is smashed but it's treally the mirror.

 This could be the room Billy sits in when he gets drunk and stoned.

The same room at a different angle.

 Again at a different angle.

 This is where Billy will walk in at the beginning of the film.

 This is the kitchen we will see Billy walk through to get his beers and go to the sitting room.

 Another angle.

 The fridge where the note will be placed and where Billy gets his beers from.

Another possible sitting room for the drinking and smoking scenes. 

Another angle of the possible sitting room.

First draft of the Synopsis

After a hard day’s work, Billy Hash decides to unwind the only way he knows how. After a couple of ice cold beers, Billy decides to get out his weed, after a large amount compared to what he usually would do, Billy becomes completely different due to the overdose and when a friend pops by to see how he’s doing, everything turns a bit sour, with the state that Billy’s in the worst happens, Billy is threatened and kills his friend, after passing out due to the amount of drugs taken by Billy, he wakes up thinking that he had dreamed everything from what had happened the previous night, this is until he goes into his kitchen and sees a blood soaked knife on the table, he knows straightaway that something bad has happened, he looks in the next room and his worst fears are confirmed to him, he hadn’t dreamt a thing and it was all real. Billy is feeling all sorts of emotions, sadness, regret, guilt and with all these emotions running through his head he doesn’t know whether to hide the body, just leave everything and run away or turn himself into the police. With all these ideas running through his head at such an intense time who knows what he will do?

Moodboard

this moodboard features all the aspects of mise en scene that will be included in my short film. by creating this it allows me to plan ahead and learn what we need to include to create verisimilitude within the film.
as the key theme to the short film is drug and alcohol abuse, i have featured a large amount of images that show scruffy clothes, smoke, messy rooms, alcohol and young adults as these are some of the stereotypes for the life of someone resorting to drugs.
i have also included some images that a slightly blurred, half way through the film, our character, Bill Hash, begins to hallucinate and struggles to see the difference between reality and his imagination. this also represents the effects that can be caused by schizephrinia, a mental disorder that can develop over time.

Narrative Theorist

we have chosen Syd Field for our narrative theorist as the theory being demonstrated here in the image, supports the overall plot and storyline for our short film.
the setup for our short film is going to be, Billy Hash getting home from work, and starting to drink. The plot then moves onto the confrontation, where we see Billy taking weed and his friend coming to visit in the first half.
in the second half we see the story take a negative turn, ending with the death of his friend. finally the climax will show Billy waking up in his bedroom, believing that it was all just a dream.

Conventions

Conventions of drama/Film noir films

Drama

Drama films tend to focus mainly on the portrayal of human emotions, in such a way that allows the audience to create emotional attachments to the characters and also creates empathy.  Popular plots used in a drama are, drug addictions, injustice, and corruption.

Sound is a key aspect within a drama, as it emphasises the emotions of characters and draws out the emotions of the audience, linking the two together. Strong non-diegetic sound can indicate to the audience the next step within a plot.

Mise-en-scene is used to reinforce the narrative. Very little in the way of dramatic costume will be used as drama bases itself around real life situation that could realistically happen. The lighting and colour of the film will be natural and authentic, with very little editing, this allowing the film to look realistic, simple, and conform to the conventions of real life. Lighting is emulated to look as natural as possible. This allows the film to look as true to life as possible, therefore fulfilling the aim of achieving a realistic look. Editing in drama films can change depending on the plot and emotions of the scene. It may vary become fast paced, indicating the feelings and characteristics of what is happening, or become a slower pace, emphasising the lack of emotions, feelings, and disarray within the scene. Editing within drama tends to avoid jump cutting as it pulls the audience out of the realistic aspects of the film and highlight the fact that it is not reality, this defying the point to a drama, defying the point to engage the audience into the narrative.

Cinematography within drama films can change depending on the plot and mood of the scene. The use of camera angle, tilt and shot can be used to draw out specific emotions of the audience. A slow pan can be used to show tension, or fast handheld camera movements could portray anxiety or stress. The cinematography in a drama film is very rarely dramatic, and tilted. The shots used, will try to recreate a focal view point as if it was your own eye line shot. This once again is helpful in maintaining the realistic environment. Handheld cameras can be used in scenes where a character is moving, adding to the suspense, unsteadiness and highlighting the rush of the character. This also puts the viewer into the eyes of the character further drawing them into the shot. Drama films usually try to engage the audience and invest them into the diegesis of the film world. Making the audience believe that what they are seeing could be try and immersing them in to the film film. This re-enforces realism through the narrative. Films of the drama genre are usually narrative driven, focussing mainly on the storyline rather than the visual effects. Therefore, the plot is a key aspect and isn’t usually based on fantasy. To allow the audience to empathize, the characters must be realistically believable, and usually are based around the real life of a character, maybe focussing on the emotions, mental state, or actions of this character. This giving the viewer a chance to relate to and empathise with the character, further drawing them in to the plot. The viewer is likely to have felt these emotions, and so it is easier for them to engage. The ending of the drama film is usually either resolved or sometimes can be left as a cliff hanger. Depending on the initial plot to the drama, the plot can either end extremely well, with the problem being resolved, or really bad, with either death, or severe problems accruing. It is very rarely that a drama will not resolve itself in some way; as it would fail to fall create the final outcome needed to follow conventional endings to this type of film.

Film noir

Within film noir, certain plots show up more frequently than other, such as mental illnesses, psychological, ain and punishment, drug abuse, murder, criminals, and wrong decisions. These storylines lead the audience into a dark film, a film that tries to portray the darker side of emotions and highlights the disruption and mayhem in society.

Cinematography focusses on trying to convey the weaker and stronger characters, the unconventional outcomes and using shots that are displeasing to the eye in a way that leaves the viewer at unease.  Shots that are distorted, skewed and uncomfortable to look at, put the viewer in a position of discomfort, linking them to the emotions of the film before the storyline has been unveiled. Extreme close-ups and depth of field is used to portray the hidden emotions and story behind the character, emphasising the effect the film is trying to portray. This allowing the viewers to see the characters as mysterious and secretive. Depth of field shows how there can be something being hidden from the shot, or it can make a feature within the shot more dominant, whilst also linking the two objects together. This can be used to not only link the characters together, but show a more dramatic representation of the object.

Initial Ideas

• Idea 1 - OCD ( for our first idea, we decided to focus on the life of a Young Woman suffering with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It would be filmed in the style of a Documentery, with a voice over depicting what is happening in the shot, from the point of veiw from the young woman).
• Idea 2- Split Personality ( for our second idea we decided to focus on a character that suffers with a split personality, struggling to decide who to listen too, they good voice in there head or the bad one).
• Idea 3 ( for our third idea, we decided to do a short film on a young man in his early twenty. the film would show the side effects of drug and alcohol abuse, with the climax to the short film being the death of one of his best friends).

Film studies A2 – Small Scale Research Project

During this research project, I will be focussing my topic area on, film star Johnny Depp, looking into the variety of work he has taken part in and the many genres of film he has starred in. I will be using the film Sleepy Hollow (1999) as my main focus film, linking this between his role in Pirates of the Caribbean- The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), and Public Enemies (2009). I’ve chosen these films to show the difference in genre and how ‘Depp’ adapts with his work, branching out to more than one type of role.  Were actors often focus on one genre only, finding it difficult to fall out of a certain genre of work and not be associated with it.

I intend to focus my work on the audience responses between ‘Depp’ in his roles in Pirates of the Caribbean, Sweeney Todd, and Sleepy Hallow, showing the huge changes in character characteristics, emotions, and reactions within a film. I intend to research into what genre he is most preferred in, and what genre audiences think of when they think of ‘Depp’. Finding out which genre he is thought to have suited the role better.

I have chosen these three films to help demonstrate the huge differences in character roles, and how although neither character can relate to one another, ‘Depp’ plays each role to his best ability, showing originality and variety within each film his is featured in.

By doing this I hope to be able to discuss whether or not, all actors can branch out into many different roles and genres, and whether or not once an actor has made a big impression in a particular role, is it difficult for them to leave and be taken seriously as a whole new character.

I’ve chosen Johnny Depp as I feel that he is one of the few actors that can do this, and doesn’t stay to one Genre of Film, but creates new and inventive characters with each project he becomes a part of. Where in Pirates of the Caribbean he is seen as an eccentric, dramatic, and insane pirate. In Sleepy hallow he is represented as a Smart, and curious detective, however in Public enemies, he is seen as the opposite, becoming the criminal, being the Most wanted felon in America for his crime of Robbing banks.

I also hope to focus on how a particular films can be judged to be good or bad, by who the main star is, as the actor not only has to play the role well, but they also have to look the part to create a convincing character for the audience. Within the first major films as an actor, audiences create ideas and attachments to them in certain roles, finding it difficult to change. Especially if the film is a huge success, the actor will forever be associated with that one role. However this can also be an advantage as it allows Films to use the actors star appeal to draw in more audiences.