Equipment list

Most of the equipment listed below will be provided by the Hurtwood House media department and also their Drama deprtment :

1x Roll of LX Tape
2x Redhead video lights + tripods
1x Sony PD170 Mini DV camcorder
1x Fluid Head Tripod
2x 500 min Camera batteries
1x Sennheiser directional Microphones
1x Extendable Microphone Boom Pole
1x Rycote Softie
1x XLR Lead
3x Media (Mini DV cam tapes)
1x Spare AA Battery for Microphone
1x Haze Machine

Our Costume requirments

We have decided that we are going to try and match our character of Elizabeth Carter as much to the young girl from the ring.

In order to do this we have looked at lots of images of her throughout the film and and seen the various different costumes she is in.

She is usually always bear foot, wearing a white loose dress and and her hear dreaping down with a shine.

We decided that we wanted our character to look exactly like this except for wearing a white dress, and to create the shining look to her hair, we will straighten it down and put some wet look jel in her hair. We will then wet it slightly with water. We will also rub a small amount of mud into her feet to make them look dirty.

The account of our shoot day

On the 28th of January me and my group set out to film the opening sequence of our thriller, 'Elizabeth’s Diary'. The day began with the last minute planning of our group. The first thing we did was do gather together all of the props that would be needed and also our actress (Elizabeth). As a group we then went to the film studio where we had a look at the basic outline of the set, and decided what we thought would be the best way to set it up, to look as we had all imagined it. For the rest of the morning we were busy preparing everything to start shooting. This included doing all of the makeup, preparing all of the props, painting the set with blood and then setting up all of the props on the set. Once we had done this we then needed to visualize how we wanted the scene to look, and based on this, set up our tracks. I feel that although we hadn’t planned to spend any of the morning doing these things, this was incredibly useful, as the majority of our piece is fully dependent on the set to create the tension. However there was one area which was unorganized. We had only gone to get the props the day before, which left us only one night to prepare the props to suit the piece. If we had done this a week in advance, we may have even been able to set up some of the set the night before the shoot, allowing us more time on the day.

I feel that the strongest point of the day was the type of shot we used. The whole two minutes of our scene was one track, from one side of the room to the other side, where the hanging took place. This was a major risk that our group decided to take, which either could have been incredibly effective, or in a different circumstance, look a bit daft. This is the reason for why we had to spend the whole morning setting us the set, as every single specific detail had to be perfect in order to pull it off. Unfortunately though, I feel that there was one major disadvantage to this that was if the film didn’t look good in the editing sweet, then we didn’t have any back up shots to use.

We used the Film Studio as we thought that we would be able to set it up to look as much alike what we imagined Elizabeth’s den (where she hangs herself) to look like. The biggest advantage of using the film studio was that we could easily go and pick something up from around the school, if we thought that what we had was either ineffective or just not enough.
The most important things in our scene were the props we used. We decided to but loads of dolls and teddy bears etc and then make them look distraught. This was because we wanted to create an image of Elizabeth being a distressed, crazy and mentally sick child, who is obsessed with torture.

Originally we decided to choose Petrie as our actress. The reason for this is because she had a strong resemblance to the girl character out of the ring. However for the scene that we shot this ended up being quiet irrelevant as we rarely see the character of Elizabeth and when we do see her, it is either her reflection or her feet. If we were to continue filming the film further thought, we would need to use Petrie to act the character.

We decided to use a very simple style of lighting, to make the scene as naturalistic as possible. we used one white light above the set and then had a bulb lowered into the room, to creating the feeling of a room in her house. This was because the room used was later in the film discovered to be Elizabeth’s den. Fortunately this turned out to be very successful, and left our set feeling very much like we wanted it to. We had to use a strong light which shined through the door when Elizabeth opened it, to create her shadow and show the audience she had entered the room.

The final stage of our shooting day was to do the sounds. This took a very short amount of time as we just had to pick up the sound of footsteps, the noose, the door and her choking. This didn’t work very well though as it was incredibly hard to find an atmosphere that was completely silent. However this didn’t matter much as in the post production process of editing, we can look through all the sounds on the Mac and find the suitable ones from there.

On the day I was given the role of general helping. For example I was made to control the fans, help organize everything, help set up the set, give ques etc. The reason for this is because I am the producer, so in the pre production and post production process I am kept very busy. As a team on the day, and over the whole period we worked very effectively together, being one of the most organized groups and constantly developing new ideas, some of which worked and some of which didn’t. On the day we didn’t have one moment where we argued and we didn’t have one moment where we disagreed.

Overall I feel the shooting day went incredibly well. I feel the main reason for this was because we were all determined to make the day work and to work as a team to achieve our maximum potential. Unfortunately our footage didn’t resemble our storyboards in any way, but we did stick to our original idea and came out with some footage which has worked just as we wanted it too. Overall it was a great success.

Our Working Storyboard

This is our most recently done storyboard. Unlike the other storyboard, this is a one shot sequence that has a duration of around two minutes, which is a massive change to the first storyboard, yet with the same concept. The main reason why we decided to do this using one shot was to create an element of tension in the build up to the climax of the scene. In the actual scene we are going to lay toys and pictures, covered in fake blood to give a more intresting look to the mise-en-scene. This will also capture the stereotyipical view of a horror scene.

Our Origional Storyboard

This is the first storyboard that we produced after our first idea.

Floor plan

Seeing as one of our versions is a one shot version and we are filming in the film studio, we need to make as much space as possibe to fill out the time. To do this, we have decided that we are going to shoote the sequence in diagonals, to squeeze out as much room as possible, however this does make the filming space smaller due to the 180 degrees rule. We have also measured out half a meter and one meter in the corner, again to squeeze in as much shooting space as possible.

Lighting plan

For our lighting plan we decided that we wanted to create a feeling of earlie morning. One of the things that we have not shown in this diagram of the lighting requirements is the fact that we want to use a haze maching. This will give the earlie morning fog and mist effect. We are also using low key lighting from above, to enhanse and support this effect.

We have also put the Camera tracks in, as in the first sequence, we track the girl walking towards the noose and then hanging herself, so there will be lots of movement.

Treatment for our thriller

Treatment: Our idea started off with a girl who had the power to be able to kill people through what she writes in her folder. It involved a character called Elizabeth who was bullied at school and ended up killing the people who bullied her through this mysterious power she has.

Our Opening sequence involves Elizabeth (acted by Petrie) in the build up to her death. At the end of the sequence, we see her commit suicide by hanging herself. The sequence will be filmed in the film studio but is set in a barn / warehouse.

The reason that we decided to shoot in the film studio is because we could set it up to be however we desired, and if we were not happy with the set, we could either change it on the morning of the shoot, or edit it to look different in the post production stage. We decided that we wanted to make it look like a barn because we wanted a location where in real life, someone would be unlikely to be disturbed. The barn also has some significance in the film later on.

Our sequence generates tension through the build up to the climax where she kills herself. The tension is created through the audience not knowing what is going to happen, until it happens. The sound used of the footsteps, and voice, and the suffering is also used to create tension.

We have tried to make the sequence as simple, but effective as possible, so we only need one actress, who is Petrie Kimber playing then role of Elizabeth. We also only need to have four main props. The most important one is the diary, as the whole sequence and movie is centered around this. Then we need the noose and stall as we are shooting a hanging scene and we are also going to need hay, to create the set. We are going to need to use Genie gr12 mechanical crane to be able to achieve all of the high angle shots.

Our roles as a group.

Davina = Director and helping with folder (Floor plan, lighting plan, location, production logo), helping with organization in post production


Ross Gordon = Producer, helping with folder and compiling the folder, Equipment list, Group roles, Cast list, Treatment, Prop list, helping with organization in post production


Alex Hall = Helping with the folder ,costumes, storyboard 2 and some of 1, shooting schedule, helping with organization in post production


TK = Storyboard drawing and artistic elements to the sequence, Editing,Content page.


We have tried to share out all of the jobs as fairly as we can so everyone has something to do!

Our cast for the Opening sequence

Luckily for us, we have only had to choose one person for our cast. This is the character of Elizabeth Carter. Seeing as we decided to base the character of Elizabeth Carter on the girl out of the ring we decided to select someone who with the right makeup on, could possibly look like her. We decided that the perfect person for this, especially because she is a great actress as well would be Petrie Kimber. Another reason we decided to choose Petrie as our actress is because she appeals to the target audience, which are males aged between 16-25. The majority of boys aged in this age bracket will find her attractive, and some may go and see the film to watch her in it.

Our new Production Logo

Thanks to Davina's hard work and knowledge of artistic websites we have now produced our first attempt at our production logo.

Our essential props list!

There are three main essential props involved in our Thriller. The first is the most important. This is the dairy. The reason why this is so important is because the majority of the film to come after the title sequence is based around this, and it is important to esablish this in the opening scene. The second prop is a noose. This is emportant as it is the climax of the scene. It is the prop that creats the tension, and effects the audience in the most significant way. The final prop is a stall, which makes shooting a hanging scene possible, as Elizabeth can kick the stall away to hang herself.

Our Target Audience

For our thriller sequence we have decided to aim our film at the target audience which would earn us the most money. We decided that as young males, aged in their late teens and twentys were spending the most money on films these days, it would be a smart idea to aim our film at them. Our film is aimed at very much male orientated audience. This is because it is a gory thriller, with things constantly happening and a slight twist towards the end. It is for all social classes except i think it will be viewed more by people of the lower social classes, again due to the gore involved.

Research for Thriller Sequence

To research for my thriller title sequence i thought about what i would be able to base the specific scene on. As the scene is about a hanging, i decided to put some research into films which involve a hanging. The problem with this is that there aren’t many. Eventually i found 'The Shawshank Redemption' which involves a suicidal hanging scene, and from this clip we decided how our title sequence could possibly be shot. Unfortunately, despite my continuous efforts, I couldn’t find any other valid research which would help me.

Storybording

As we have now got a title sequence idea, and all of the main narrative elements, key images and main themes decided, it was now time to sort out our story board and camera shots.

Unfortunately this was not as easy as coming up with the ideas. Overall we spent about a week trying to figure out what we were going to do with the camera, and how we were going to shoot the sequence. First we tried tackling the order in which the scene would run. We did this by all putting our ideas forward, until we eventually found one. We then sat down and thought about how we could show this. We went through the scene from start to finish, looking at all of the shot possibilities and seeing what we though would work and what wouldn’t work.

Once we had done all of this we wrote up in order all of the shots that we would have and split the shots up into four sections, from the beginning to the end in order. We would then each take one section and draw up the storyboard for that particular section. The picture above is a blank atoryboard.

Once we had all written up the storyboards, and pieced them all together to make one, we gave it to TK and she drew in the pictures. Once this was done, the storyboards were complete.

First Production Meeting

For our first production meeting we decided to mould our idea for our film together and come up with a title sequence that we all liked. We already knew what the synopsis of the film was going to be and all have fairly similar ideas for what the opening scene was going to be like which made the decision making a lot easier.

We decided that we wanted to do a short clip with the main theme of death. The clip will last about two minutes and is about the protagonist in the film (Elizabeth) killing herself. We decided to do this, as the film is about the investigation into Elizabeth’s death. We also decided that as the diary is such a strong part of the story we would also end the sequence with the close up of the diary closing, ant throughout the title sequence there would be a voice over of her last diary entry.

We wanted to base our character on the girl out of the ring, so during our first production meeting we decided to narrow down possible actors for the part of Elizabeth.

Thriller Synopsis of Elizabeth's Diary

The thriller is based on the character Elizabeth Carter, who is a loner and constantly gets bullied by her peers, Davina Thorne, Alex Hall, Ross Gordon and Tinuke Kola-Abiola. Elizabeth Carter is constantly being bullied at school due to her autistic disability. She is an incredibly keen writer and reverts to her black diary for comfort in expressing her feelings about her peers.

Suddenly two of the four bullies die, in horrific ways. Elizabeth discovers that the deaths match the way she wanted them to die according to the writing in her diary. Once she discovers this, she turns suicidal and delusional.

A few days after the deaths, Elizabeth is announced dead. An investigation is put into her death where they discover she committed suicide.

Just when everyone thinks everything is solved, they find a new picture in the diary, and another bully dies. Once again, an investigation is put into this, with the same investigation team. They eventually link all the evidence back to the forth bully, and then the twist that it was her all along, unfolds.

Davina, the forth bully is then announced missing, and is nowhere to be found.