Location shots

These are different pictures of my house where the filming will be taking place as it's quite old fashioned i thought it would be a good idea to have my 1920's movie set here. The location was very big and has a lot of room to maneuver. Also as I am comfortable where everything is and it is easier to light the room in the right way and have the blinds shut so that no light is sinking in. However there is building work going on at the moment so i am going to try and not have that shown on camera when i film my silent film. 

Motives

Bella - Your motive for killing:
You were always being shadowed by Drinka she was a better dancer than you and much prettier all the boys wanted her and then she was picked to be on national television as a professional dancer and you couldn't take it anymore, are you the murderer?

Phil R.Upp - Your motive for killing:
You have just found out that your wife is pregant you are overjoyed however you remebered that your wife can't get pregnant as you have tried many times. Has she been cheating on you? You don't know and you are confused are you the murderer?

Adam Phooled - Your motive for killing:
You have cheated on Liza and have slept with Drinka she is now pregant and wants to tell everyone she wants to run away with you and be a family but that is something that could jepordise your whole life. Can you let this happen? Are you the murderer?

Eva Lution - Your motive for killing:
Drinka took your baby when you came to live with your aunt and uncle she treats you like dirt and walks all over you, to her you are an unfit mother and you have no priveledges to see your baby. Can you let your baby grow up not knowing you as it's rightful mother? Are you the murderer?

Ginger Brettman - Your motive for killing:
You have been visiting eva quite a lot and you have a certain fondness for her however Drinka keeps on reminding you of your arranged marrige and threatens to ruin everything you have worked for if you continue with this infactuation. Are you the murderer?

Liza Lote- Your motive for killing:
You have found out about Drinka and you suspect adam as he went missing at his firms party only to have your acusation confirmed by Drinka herself. She is blackmailing your boyfriend and has runied your happy care free life. Can you stand back and watch her take Adam away? Are you the murderer?

Dee Fender - Your motive for killing:
Drinka is constanly flirting with Ginger and keeps on suggesting terrible things you are fighting for his love and life is getting harder and harder Drinka boasts about her money and is always putting you down. Can you carry on with this bullying? Are you the murderer?

I made motives for each of my character except a Robin and Drinka as they all have to hsave a reson for kiling and i found that when I had these the script was easier to write. I thought that as I am doing a murder mystery i wante to be thourough with my research and my planning so that everyone knew what was going on.

Shooting schedule

October-
26th - Filming
27th - Upload the footage to the laptop
29th - Start editing

November -
2nd - Take photos of all cotumes and props
3rd - Storyboard the animatic
7th - Start developing poster ideas
9th - Storyboard the title sequence
14th - Do the animatic for the storyboard
16th - Edit the footage
17th- Look at the text boxes for my film
19th - Design my own text boxes
22nd - Film the title sequence and shoot the poster
22nd- Upload the poster ideas
23rd - Blog
24th - Blog
25th -Blog
29th - Upload the animatic to youtube
30th - Get music ideas

December -
1st - Put in the music to go with the fillm
2nd - Put in the text boxes
6th - Edit the title sequence
7th- Go through all the footage and put in the final touches
8th - Upload this draft onto yuotube get some audience feedback and then change things/ polish things before it is finalised
10th - Polish blog make sure everything is in order
14th - Blog
16th - Break up for christmas and start handwriting the evaluation

The script

i made three separate scripts even though there is to be no dialogue i wanted to make a script so that my actors and actresses could work alongside it and be able to act.

Script 1 -
In this script there was hardly any stage directions and too much waffle it was taking a long time to get to the point of the story and wasting time. Also as Drinka is our victim having her at the beginning of the piece would slow things down. Although a lot happens in the script it was very dry and the way the script was panning out I was finding it harder to fit everything in under the five minutes alloted time.
  Moreover as Drinka is in the beginning the audience would have time to judge her but then I thought about it and decided that it would be better to show her later on in the film so they will get the view of the other characters so their characteristics can shine through.

Script 2 -
The second draft was pretty much the same although this is where I started to develop my ideas. I switched some words around and played about with the script to make it more vague and mysterious and not tell the audience who the killer is and eave it as sort of a blank page. This way the characters could be left very vague as well however their characteristics will be shown when I start filming and editing. At the beginning of the short film I wanted to make it apparent who was what but at the same time leave a lot of un-answered questions.

Script 3 -
With this version of my script I feel that there is a real mystery and get's the audience engaged with who actually committed the deed. I have included more stage directions so that when i start filming i have a clear image in my head of what I want it to look like. As this is a silent movie the script won't be heard but it gives me and the actors a stable foundation for the piece itself. This script definitely allows the actors to be able to act well with the words which is where I think I lacked in script one and two.
   Lastly this script reveals the murder but instead of just making it known to the audience by the character being dragged out we have a flashback of the death. To me this makes it more apparent to the audience what exactly happened and the reason behind the murder.

Throughout the stages of making these three scripts I think I have improved the way I write for characters and how to make a script engaging and following a storyline. Although all three scripts were well written I think that when writing a script it has to be engaging and thorough so the audience knows whats going on especially with a silent movie. You have to show a personality through words which was probably one of the hardest things with my project.

1920's fashion

fashion

target audience

I have sent out 20 questionnaires to anonymous people by doing this it will help me target my audience and market my short silent film accordingly.
1) Age?
The majority of people that took part in the questionnaire were 17-25 years old. This will help my research because as murder mystery's are normally aimed at 30+ it will be a challenge to market a silent murder mystery film at this age group. Also this age group have grown up with colored T.V this means that trying to market a black and white silent movie is going to be hard for the audience i am aiming to attract.

2) Gender?  
As the majority of people that took part in this questionnaire were females this makes the data unreliable however this could also be a plus because I can target my audience easier but also help me make decisions and try and attract a male audience and entertain them with what women have put forward as ideas. A male audience will probably be more harder to target because they probably won't take this sort of film seriously this is something i am going to try and target in my film.

3) Have you seen a short film?
Most of the boys answered yes that they had seen a short film but they were disney animations so very upbeat funny and colorful. I decided that in my short film I can make it upbeat and funny to keep that attraction however color wasn't going to be in it at all and no dialogue so making the audience engage with this film was going to be tricky. Surprisingly most of the girls had watched a real short film and not a disney animation or both so this was good news as my target audience was becoming more easier to target specifically.

5)Would you want to watch a silent film?
Strangely enough two thirds of the people that took the questionnaire would happily watch a silent movie this made me think that maybe I underestimated my age group and that they were all quite willing to watch a completely new type of film and try and engage with it. However everyone had their own ideas of what genre they would like it to be or wether they wanted it to be a hybrid moreover what they expected from a silent short film. The genre that most people voted for was a murder mystery comedy. So to keep this age group and have them engaged and looking forward to this film and thinking wow this was really good I had to make sure that it was comedic but also stuck to a murder mystery outline. The audience expectations were that they wanted it to be engaging have a some bad acting so they can laugh along with the bad drama and have music to set the atmosphere and tone of the movie but also having it quite upbeat so that it doesn't become to serious.

Questionaire

Age:

Gender:

Have you ever watched a short film?

If so what were they about?


Would you ever watch a silent movie?

If you were to watch a silent movie what would you expect from it?

What genre would interest you more for a silent short film?
Murder mystery?

Action ?

Romance ?

Comedy?