STYLE AND TONE IDEAS

Because our film is mainly set on the streets of London at night, we felt noir would be the best style of film to try and emulate. An inspiration for us is the film 'The third man', which employs lots of chiaroscuro (high contrast, lots of shadows) throughout the film. Although the film has no colour, many stills refer directly to how we imagined our opening to look, especially the picture below.

This still is almost identical to how we wanted our final shot to look, a backlit, silhouetted male/female walking into an alleyway. Even the reflection of the pavement from recent rainfall is something we wanted to take advantage of because of the incredible effect it gave. This particular film is set in Allied-occupied Vienna, which means the set shown in the picture above is quite decrepit but still urban - shown through the buildings and roads.
We want to modernise the noir genre for our opening, replacing the old fashioned dress of 1930s-50s with urban street-wear shown in our 'costume ideas' post. Immediately this style will be modernised through the use of colour, we want to use vivid, saturated hues to show the vibrancy of life in London at night.

A film that has already modernised the noir style is Drive, by Nicolas Winding Refn in 2011.

Although this is a theatrical poster and not a film still, I thought it emulated well what we are trying to achieve in our opening. The use of bright lights from street lamps and car headlight in an otherwise black city is a different way of attempting chiaroscuro - using the contrasts in light and dark to convey modernity as well as an eerie feel.

The colour palette used in Drive is also useful for us because most Noir films are in black and white. In the film vibrant hues are used - especially blues, which is what we are trying to convey.

The title sequence of Drive almost exactly shows the urban theme we want to convey, with the crane shots of the city and empty shots of the roads from P.O.V as Ryan Gosling drives his car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDCt1V8T3To
(embedding has been disabled)

Although this as an opening sequence shows Ryan Gosling as isolated in his car in the dead of night in an empty city, and we want to show the chaotic nature of a night out in London - we feel like the colours and style of this film is something we really want to try to produce.

SETTING IDEAS - EXITING THE CLUB

For this particular sequence, I knew I would have to co-ordinate 7 people (Emma and Blake + the five actors) and because most of them lived in and around Wandsworth I made a practical decision to shoot the walking home sequence there.

For the 'outside of the club' scene where Joanna Murray's character 'throws up' we needed a place which could:
A) Pass for the outside of a club
B) Was easily accessible
C) Was in the same area as everyone and meant we could easily co-ordinate the cast

There were two ways in which we could have gone with the outside of the venue, which would cast the girls who exited in different lights. We could either find a high end building from which they would walk out of or a more grimy, run of the mill building that would portray them as not 'glitzy' and 'glamorous' but more intoxicated, young and foolish.

After much deliberation, I realised that it would probably be easiest to use my father's office as the entrance to the nightclub because it was; adjacent to Clapham Common tube station meaning people could easily get there, had that 'grimy' 'dirty' feel to it with the brick walls and industrial windows.
Here are some pictures I have procured from Google Maps streetview (obviously these were taken in the day time, it looks more ominous at night)

In the second picture you can see the large double doors I am thinking will be a good place for the girls to exit from, not only because they look quite substantial and realistic, but because the single front door has my father's company name written on it!

Obviously we will move the cars and trashcans too, but I think, shot in the dead of night, with the lights turned on inside and a pounding house beat playing in the background, the scene could prove to be quite realistic.

SETTING IDEAS - beach scene

Our opening scene is set on the shingle of the Thames. Here are 3 locations we have found in London which would be perfect for the shooting. The calmness of the setting is something we have to portray through this opening scene - because we want it to contrast to the 'night before' club scene. There must be a feeling of isolation for the girl, given by an empty shingle beach, however we wanted to stay local in order to comply to the urban theme of our film.

These are three best locations we have found along the Thames: Blackfriars Bridge, the embankment beach and a small area of beach outside the Oxo tower. Another attribute these 3 areas have is the overhead covering of a industrial bridge - which immediately locates the scene in an urban space which is something that we want to make clear in our opening.

Here are the three areas on a map, showing their proximity to eachother. This will make it easier for us when doing a recce.

COSTUME IDEAS

These are 'mood boards' showing what we feel the characters in our opening scene would be wearing.

Our key character is the main protagonist (woman in her late teens/early twenties) - as our opening revolves mostly around the kidnapping, the party in the club and if we choose narrative overview B - the morning after.
We want to dress most of the people in our makeshift club in similar attire, stereotypically dressed to explain to the reader the situation and perhaps make it relateable to younger audiences.

This mood board was relatively easy to create, because we experience this kind of dress first hand at parties we attend. Collating our ideas of what the average late teen would wear on a night out - this is what we came up with. A key concept is glitter, a trend that has been popular since summer, this can be portrayed in both makeup (top left) or in clothing (the bottom left skirt). Crop tops are an obvious choice for showing a girl of this age - whether they are low cut, plain or incorporating mesh which is a popular choice among people of this age. We have incorporated this type of clothing with many of the 'classic' accessories like Nike drawstring bags, Nike air max, large hoop earrings and fake nails. Many girls our age have belly button piercings, which is not compulsory but may suggest a more urban vibe to our opening. Again, if our main character smokes we will create a more gritty image by accessorizing her with less classy - see below - cigarettes.





If we choose to have a 'business woman' i.e. narrative overview A - this is what we picture her wearing.

We wanted her to seem sophisticated and classy, styling her in a classic blazer and midi length skirt, coupled with an expensive tote bag (if we can get our hands on one!) Depending on the weather perhaps a burberry-esque mac, and if the weather is bright some statement cat eye sunglasses.
We want to give her the appearance of wealth, with impeccably manicured nails, a state of the art phone and if we decide she is a smoker - the most expensive cigarettes possible that exude wealth: i.e Malboros or black/coloured sobranies.



Shown in the late teen/party moodboard at the top of this post is a simple necklace with an initial pendant on it, if possible to obtain one of these - we would like both older and younger versions of our main character to be wearing this. This choice would in turn make it easier for the audience to realise they were the same person.

This what we would like the majority of our 'clubbing' males to be wearing, clothes that suggest an urban, London theme. We have chosen major brands for the clothing e.g. Carhartt, Palace, the North Face and common shoes choices like New Balance and Nike air force which we feel represent our age group the best. In terms of accessories, we have picked bucket hats and chains - which not everyone has to wear but we feel would give a more edgy urban vibe to the film.

NARRATIVE OVERVIEW - for the day after

Here is our second option for our film opening, the present day scenes are shown in white, and the past is shown in blue.

o  A soundbridge of rippling water coupled with a black screen fades into the opening – a young woman in her early 20s/late teens, looks out across the Thames water, relaxing.

o  She is visibly beaten up/makeup run down her face, mangled hair.

o  There are shots of the water, slowly intercut with views of her surrounding – Hungerford bridge/tower bridge.

o  Maybe she has a cigarette – an cheap type, perhaps pall mall, and looks around – breathing deeply.

o  Flashback to the night before - maybe '2AM' is shown in the bottom right hand corner. 

o  This is a New Years event at a club

o  The place is packed full of people dancing, the camera passes through the bodies intermingling on a tracking shot.

o  Heavy dance music is being played, people are sweating- a sense of claustrophobia that contrasts to the calm scene by the thames.

o  The camera turns at some point during the chaos and reveals the woman from before on a night out. The viewer knows this is the same person because of a necklace with a pendant of either their name, or their first initial.

o  His face is unclear, but a tall (slightly awkward feeling) man is obviously trying to dance with her. He kisses her neck and touches her body as she slightly recoils.

o  The scene of the two is often interrupted by people pushing past, again accentuating the feeling of chaos.

o  Shouting is heard from another part of the room, the camera turns and reveals her friend explaining that they are leaving.

o  The main character leaves the ominous male standing by himself as she leaves to catch up with her friends.

o  She bustles with her friends out of the club with a cigarette to her lips.

o  Closeups of the friends as the move along the pavement away from the building, laughter and joviality is portrayed through the amicable nature of the scene, perhaps they have their arms on each others shoulders.

o  Sense of blurriness as cars pass, creating lines of colour – experiment with shutter speed to get this effect?

o  Main character’s phone rings

o  Goes off into a sidestreet trying to hear whatever the person is saying better.

o  Wide shot from back of alleyway of  girl entering to hear the person on the other end of the phone

o  Final shot of a dark figure entering the alleyway, the viewer is unable to see who he or she is.

[Screen cuts to black with the film name flashing across it.]

NARRATIVE OVERVIEW - for business woman

Here is one of our options for our film opening, the present day scenes are shown in white, and the past is shown in blue.

o  A soundbridge of rippling water coupled with a black screen fades into the opening – a woman in her 30s sits on the shingle, looking out across the Thames water, relaxing.

o  She is perhaps eating her lunch, a salad.

o  There are shots of the water, slowly intercut with views of her surrounding – Hungerford bridge/tower bridge.

o  Maybe she has a cigarette – an expensive type, perhaps malboro, and looks around – breathing deeply.

o  Flashback to 10 years ago.

o  This is a New Years event at a club

o  The place is packed full of people dancing, the camera passes through the bodies intermingling on a tracking shot.

o  Heavy dance music is being played, people are sweating- a sense of claustrophobia that contrasts to the calm scene by the thames.

o  The camera turns at some point during the chaos and reveals the businesswoman from before as a woman in her early 20s on a night out. The viewer knows this is the same person because of a necklace with a pendant of either their name, or their first initial.

o  His face is unclear, but a tall (slightly awkward feeling) man is obviously trying to dance with her. He kisses her neck and touches her body as she slightly recoils.

o  The scene of the two is often interrupted by people pushing past, again accentuating the feeling of chaos.

o  Shouting is heard from another part of the room, the camera turns and reveals her friend explaining that they are leaving.

o  The main character leaves the ominous male standing by himself as she leaves to catch up with her friends.

o  The slam of the door as the group leaves brings the present day business woman back to reality.

o  She gets up from the shingle and walks along a bridge (whether it’s Hungerford, Tower bridge or the millennium is irrelevant)

o  Perhaps lifts a cigarette to her lips, which is intercut quickly with a scene of past-main character, adjoining the two.

o  Younger past woman bustles with her friends out of the club with a cigarette to her lips.

o  Closeups of the friends as the move along the pavement away from the building.

o  Sense of blurriness as cars pass, creating lines of colour – experiment with shutter speed to get this effect?

o  Main character’s phone rings

o  Goes off into a sidestreet trying to hear whatever the person is saying better.

o  As past clubber-girl walks into the alley, it flips back into present tense, the business woman is walking along the same street and happens to walk past exact same alleyway

o  Pull focus wide shot from back of alleyway shows her tentatively looking inside, as if the place pains her.

o  Same wide shot from back of alleyway of younger girl entering to hear the person on the other end of the phone

o  Final shot of a dark figure entering the alleyway, unable to see who he or she is.

[Screen cuts to black with the film name flashing across it.]

AUDIENCE RESEARCH - QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

These are the results we obtained from our questionnaires. We have chosen the most relevant answers to put into graphs, as some of them we had already asked in our online survey.

These results show that the majority of people chose suspenseful music that builds up, with most of the people that chose it being female. For us, this is a good answer as we were leaning towards making this choice for music anyway. Many people didn't know what contrapuntal music even meant, but after telling them how it was happy/cheery music placed within a scary/suspenseful scene - most were enthused and said that would be a good choice. These two favourites suggest to us that maybe we could employ both into our opening, careful not to have too much of a clash of music however. Eerie children's' music was the third choice, an outcome that relieved us because we feel sometimes this type of music with a horror scene is overused. Classical got no votes, but it wasn't an option we were leaning towards anyway.

The graph shows that the majority of people would prefer a female protagonist to a male i.e the one that gets kidnapped, conforming to the age old 'damsel in distress' plot. The majority of people also said they would prefer a male antagonist i.e the kidnapper, however this option was quite closeThe dynamic of weak-female-strong-male is overused, so we are deciding whether to challenge this and surprise the audience by casting a male protagonist or a female antagonist.
However, if this dynamic is what people want to see, and is what would generate the most ticket sales in the real world - it seems counterintuitive to do the opposite.

The most common option circled here is 'twist' which is something me and Emma both agree makes, most of the time, an interesting and thought provoking film. 'A sense of being followed' and the general 'moody scenes' choice were second. These are two things you could expect from a thriller, especially a psychological one. It is interesting that the 'car chase' was chosen 80% by males, and being joint third, shows that a lot of males that we asked thought this was a key concept that a thriller needed. Violence and gore were less popular and chosen mostly by males, with gore conceding the least votes - 1, and 100% male.