In the scene with Ellie Dean running in the forest, her costume is a white T-shirt stained with mud and blood showing a struggle must have taken place beforehand. The audience will see Ellie running away from the kidnapper covered in such substances to emphasise the struggle she has faced beforehand, however he catches her again. To make the T-shirt have this dirty look, I went outside to start prepping it. I firstly rubbed the back of the shirt into grass, this making it look as though someone had fallen over it, after this I used the fake blood and covered the front of the collar and side of the shirt with the fluid and continued until it had the look I wanted it to. Here are the pictures of the process:
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Having done a backstory for the detective character, I feel it would be appropriate to add in a scene to my trailer emphasising his different problems, such as alcoholism, therefore making him more believable as a rugged hero protagonist who has lost his way in life. The scene will be revolved around him at work, with a medium shot of him sitting at his desk looking at different case files, we will then see him take out a hip flask full of what the audience will presume is alcohol and start drinking it-close up shot. He will then look down at an object in his hand-a locket, with his wife and daughter's photo in- close up over the shoulder shot of this picture. Then there will be a medium shot of him from the front looking at his desk, this is then replace by a high angle shot which will show a picture of Ellie Dean and her family on the desk. Then the camera will pan out to see him in a rage of fury, smashing things up and throwing things off his desk. This I believe will add much more realism to the character as a real person, and help the audience to empathise with his situation. This will be the last shots the audience will see to end my trailer.
Having looked previously at conventions of a crime soap opera, and the type of sounds needed to create the right ambience for the trailer, I decided to have a go at producing my own rough soundtrack. Using GarageBand on the iMac's, I managed to take different pre-recorded sounds from the software and merge them together to make my own sounds. I only had a quick practice with the software, but I wasn't keen on the sounds already on there, therefore when I make a soundtrack properly I shall import different sounds off the internet and Youtube to create a more fitting ambience.
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
After doing some of the filming of the first scene today, I encountered a few changes with the shots I wanted to use, therefore I have updated the Shot List. The shots I filmed today were: 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, therefore the changes may be seen on any of these shots.
Shot Number, 01: Establishing Shot-Young girl (Ellie Dean) running through a forest:
- Low key lighting-very dark and mysterious
- slow tension building ambience-Choir/supernatural feel- non-diegetic
Shot Number,02:Jump-cut- Flashes to Police interview room with press
- Flashing lights of cameras, police sitting at a desk with Ellie's Parents
-
Detective: "At 8 O'clock last night, 8 year old Ellie Dean went missing near her home in Penkridge..."
- Music continues in the background, clicking of cameras sounding, shuffling of papers
Shot Number, 05: Jump-cut to Ellie running through the forest still- She trips over a branch
Shot Number, 06: High Angle shot of her body on the floor, she turns around slowly
- Camera pace is slow, her actions slowed down for suspense
- slow tension building ambience-Choir/supernatural feel- non-diegetic still continues, grows louder when the focus is on Ellie
Shot Number, 07: Jump-cut back to interview room-Detective continues
Detective: "We believe Ellie may still be alive, but we are urging anyone with information to come forward..."
Shot Number, 08: close up of his face, then medium shot of the girls family upset- camera pans up towards picture projected onto the board
- More cameras flashing
- Ambience music still continuing in the background, with occasional clicking from cameras and coughs from audience, family sobbing in the background faintly
Shot Number, 10: Jump-cut to Ellie in the forest
- Shallow breathing, heartbeat non-diegetic sound
Shot Number, 13: Low angle shot of a shadowed figure above her
- Dark low-key lighting - only lit by moonlight and glow from street lamps elsewhere
Shot Number, 14: Jump-cut back to interview room-Detective continues
Detective: "Tonight we will be holding a full-scale search of the area, inviting the local community to help us in our search for the young girl..."
- slow tension building ambience-Choir/supernatural feel- non-diegetic-continues in the background
Shot Number, 19: Jump-cut to the search party- groups of people searching the forest, torches flashing etc.
- girls scarf comes into view stained with blood
- music continues in the background growing louder
- body of a girl is spotted lying on the ground
- non-diegetic music reaches climax
- Sound- diegetic-voices shouting
"It's not Ellie!"
- Non-Diegetic music continues to anti-climatic state
Shot Number, 28: Jump-Cut to Ellie's family in home-seated on a sofa, embracing one another
- Non-Diegetic music continues to anti-climatic state-background-faint
Detective: "Last night we found the body of a girl in the forest behind your house..."
- Non-Diegetic music continues to anti-climatic state-background-faint
Detective: "However, the body found wasn't Ellie's, but a girl who went missing two years ago from a town not far from here, although there is no evidence as of yet, we believe the two cases may be linked. The main reason for this being the similarities in appearance the young girl shares with your daughter."
- Non-Diegetic music continues to anti-climatic state-background-faint
Detective: "Our main priority now is to get Ellie home, safe and sound."
- Scene switches to a briefing room in the police station-Detectives all sat in front of a board
- Picture of Ellie Projected onto the board-as well as photographs from the crime scene etc.
Detective:"It is our job to find Ellie before anything happens to her, we need to act fast because if the two cases are linked, there's no telling how much time we have before the kidnapper strikes again."
- Music changes-non-diegetic- theme tune of the soap opera
- Ending credits-TITLE, Broadcaster, 'Coming Soon', Sponsors etc.
On the first day of filming I decided to shoot the scene where the detective is addressing the press and de-briefing them about the missing girl Ellie and asking members of the community to come along and join the search party. In this scene there was the detective, Ellie's parents, the press, journalists and members of the police force.
My first job was to prepare the room to ensure it emulated that of a conference room, after setting the tables up where I needed them, and projecting a picture of Ellie and her family on the board, I was ready to start filming. As the cast entered I handed them their set props, i.e. Notepads, Laptops, Cameras, Paper and Pens. Once they were in position I started my filming.
For the most part of the shoot, I changed different shots to replace them with what I thought was more fitting. It was hard at times to in keep with the shot list as the shots didn't always have the desired effect. Altogether the filming took around two hours, this including setting up time, and a lunch break for cast members. The shots I filmed were: 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16. From my previous experience during my AS Media Studies last year, I realised the importance in filming over a few days, rather than consecutively, this enabling me to get certain parts done and if needs be changed before my next filming. The shooting was fairly straight forward although we did encounter some problems with the actor playing the part of Detective remembering dialogue, and suffered from interruptions throughout the process of filming due to the location being within the school. For future reference I believe it will be important to ensure the location is quiet and peaceful before proceeding to shoot for the trailer. Other than this minor problems, we managed to over come them and produce some good material from the day which should hopefully be used within the trailer. After having filmed for the day I uploaded the footage so far onto the Apple Macs to review the filming. I found around 20 seconds of footage that I think may be incorporated into the soap opera trailer, making the day a success.
My first job was to prepare the room to ensure it emulated that of a conference room, after setting the tables up where I needed them, and projecting a picture of Ellie and her family on the board, I was ready to start filming. As the cast entered I handed them their set props, i.e. Notepads, Laptops, Cameras, Paper and Pens. Once they were in position I started my filming.
For the most part of the shoot, I changed different shots to replace them with what I thought was more fitting. It was hard at times to in keep with the shot list as the shots didn't always have the desired effect. Altogether the filming took around two hours, this including setting up time, and a lunch break for cast members. The shots I filmed were: 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16. From my previous experience during my AS Media Studies last year, I realised the importance in filming over a few days, rather than consecutively, this enabling me to get certain parts done and if needs be changed before my next filming. The shooting was fairly straight forward although we did encounter some problems with the actor playing the part of Detective remembering dialogue, and suffered from interruptions throughout the process of filming due to the location being within the school. For future reference I believe it will be important to ensure the location is quiet and peaceful before proceeding to shoot for the trailer. Other than this minor problems, we managed to over come them and produce some good material from the day which should hopefully be used within the trailer. After having filmed for the day I uploaded the footage so far onto the Apple Macs to review the filming. I found around 20 seconds of footage that I think may be incorporated into the soap opera trailer, making the day a success.
Throughout the planning process I auditioned many people to play the roles within my soap opera trailer, after looking through all of the audition tapes I have decided to cast:
Zak Douglas as Detective Jamie Douglas:
I chose Zak to play this part as he had the most suited look for this character. With his emotional backstory, the character needed a hard, unkempt appearance which I think is replicated by his image. Also his confidence reinforced the position of authority the detective is in, therefore this would make the character more believable for the audience. With his previous acting skills and abilities, I felt that Zak would fit perfectly into the role and the story of the character.
Bethany Dugmore as Ellie Dean and the other body of the dead girl found:
I thought that Beth was most suited to play the character of a young girl, with a fresh face and long dark hair she fitted perfectly into the criteria I wanted. As the two characters Ellie Dean and the dead body of a girl are meant to be similar in appearance, I thought it would be easier to cast the same person to play both parts, whilst making minor changes to their outfits and makeup on the day of filming.
Nicole Morris as Ellie's Mother:
I chose Nicole to play the role of Ellie's mother as again her appearance seemed to portray a stereotypical mother figure with long curly hair and jumpers/cardigans etc. With her previous acting abilities and shows as experience, I thought she would be the most confident to play this role and have good acting abilities to suit the emotional journey the character goes on.
John Thomas as Ellie's Father:
John Thomas was chosen to be the father as I felt he had a kind nature and most suited the stereotypes of a father figure, being able to act worried and emotional whilst his daughter has gone missing. Also his older looking appearance made the character more believable to audiences in thinking he has a daughter.
Nathan Hodgkiss as the Kidnapper:
I chose Jack as the kidnapper figure due to his appearance, tall stature and muscly build. I felt he looked the most intimidating out of all the people who auditioned, making him suit such a formidable role within the soap opera. This appearance will enable audiences to see him as intimidating and scary, much like Ellie will see him and therefore make her fear more believable too.
After choosing these main cast members, I then chose extras who will appear as the detectives, search party and press members throughout the trailer:
Harun Hudson, Stuart Platt, Lyeon Wakoma, Kristina Obulaite, Luke Cross, Jenny Baker, Claire Moody, Rosie Tkazcuk, Colm Keogh, Montel Beecher-Brown, Daniel Williams, Simon Charles, Joel Chaproniere
Zak Douglas as Detective Jamie Douglas:
I chose Zak to play this part as he had the most suited look for this character. With his emotional backstory, the character needed a hard, unkempt appearance which I think is replicated by his image. Also his confidence reinforced the position of authority the detective is in, therefore this would make the character more believable for the audience. With his previous acting skills and abilities, I felt that Zak would fit perfectly into the role and the story of the character.
Bethany Dugmore as Ellie Dean and the other body of the dead girl found:
I thought that Beth was most suited to play the character of a young girl, with a fresh face and long dark hair she fitted perfectly into the criteria I wanted. As the two characters Ellie Dean and the dead body of a girl are meant to be similar in appearance, I thought it would be easier to cast the same person to play both parts, whilst making minor changes to their outfits and makeup on the day of filming.
Nicole Morris as Ellie's Mother:
I chose Nicole to play the role of Ellie's mother as again her appearance seemed to portray a stereotypical mother figure with long curly hair and jumpers/cardigans etc. With her previous acting abilities and shows as experience, I thought she would be the most confident to play this role and have good acting abilities to suit the emotional journey the character goes on.
John Thomas as Ellie's Father:
John Thomas was chosen to be the father as I felt he had a kind nature and most suited the stereotypes of a father figure, being able to act worried and emotional whilst his daughter has gone missing. Also his older looking appearance made the character more believable to audiences in thinking he has a daughter.
Nathan Hodgkiss as the Kidnapper:
I chose Jack as the kidnapper figure due to his appearance, tall stature and muscly build. I felt he looked the most intimidating out of all the people who auditioned, making him suit such a formidable role within the soap opera. This appearance will enable audiences to see him as intimidating and scary, much like Ellie will see him and therefore make her fear more believable too.
After choosing these main cast members, I then chose extras who will appear as the detectives, search party and press members throughout the trailer:
Harun Hudson, Stuart Platt, Lyeon Wakoma, Kristina Obulaite, Luke Cross, Jenny Baker, Claire Moody, Rosie Tkazcuk, Colm Keogh, Montel Beecher-Brown, Daniel Williams, Simon Charles, Joel Chaproniere
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Monday, 9 December 2013
Friday, 6 December 2013
These are the casting auditions I held to get my cast together for my Soap Opera Trailer, I made each person read from the dialogue that will be used throughout my trailer to get an understanding of their acting abilities and their voice on tape. With this information I can now deduce who I want to play the main detective role and where everyone else should be placed, I may also have to do more auditions at a later date to determine who will play family members and the young girls within the trailer, as some of the people I have auditioned may not be suitable for these parts either.
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