Costume/Makeup Research

In the trailer for 'TH13TEEN' that was posted eariler in this blog, the girl is wearing a white dress and appears to be slightly battered and bruised, she is also scared and in pain. We feel that this is the perfect look for our protagonist during the early scenes, since we want her to appear scared and battered, as well as innocent. This look should be fairly easy to recreate and we have a white dress that will be perfect for the scene. We will also have the girl wearing a red dress during the car-chase scene. We feel red is best since it is the colour of romance and love, but also the colour of blood and possibly revenge. I have posted a still from the trailer below, as well as an image of a red-dress that we feel is perfect.

For our film, the GIRL will need to look battered and bruised. In order to achieve this effect will will use makeup to create a black eye, bruising and cuts and grazes. Holly found a video on YouTube demonstrating how to achieve this effect and then tried it out on herself. I have included a photo below and the result is very impressive, so I imagine that it will be even more impressive when implemented on a different person.

Below are the two video tutorials used:

Location Research

In order to dress our set correctly, we have conducted some location research. The only set we need to dress is the bedroom. I have searched for images of typical teenagers bedrooms and compiled them into the image below:

As you can see, a typical bedroom has posters all over the walls, a computer, a TV, a desk and is generally untidy and a little messy. We shall use this information when dressing the bedroom for that part of our film.

Props

During the filming of Withheld we will need several props along the way. Below, I have created a list of these props, a description of who uses them and when, and a corresponding shot number from our storyboard.

MOBILE PHONE

• A mobile phone, most likely an iPhone or HTC HD7
• Used by the GIRL during the second half of our film, in shots 19-32

SHOES

• A pair of high-heeled shoes worn and then removed by the GIRL
• Removed in Shot 12 and carried until Shot 14 (when she gets in the car)

CAR

• A car (Ford KA in silver-green) driven by RYAN
• The car will be driven from Shot 15

KNIFE

• A knife removed from a knife block
• The GIRL will remove the knife from the block during Shot 6

A lot of these props are also part of costume or mise-en-scene, so they may appear during other shots but won't necessarily be interacted with by a character. We have already collected all of the props that we need, so it will be a simple case of placing them in the correct place during filming.

Test Shoot on Location/Location Research

Due to the nature of some of the shots we are planning to use in our film, we decided it would be a good idea to test some of these shots. The group met up on a sunny Sunday afternoon and we spent it together filming and trying out a few different shots and ways in which we could overcome them, improve them or alter them in such a way that we don't lose the overall effect of our film. We also decided to take a few shots that we knew would work just to appreciate them in reality, rather than looking at them on paper. This was also a great opportunity to do some location research. We already knew which road we wanted to use, but found it to be perfect, and we discovered that my bedroom and bathroom are perfect for the internal shots during the second part of the film. We also need a dark room with a spotlight and a black curtain, but the schools drama studio is perfect for this and we have ensured we will have access to it during filming. Below I have included two of the videos as well as a link to several more.

Before that, however, allow me to introduce the members of CAM-RAW in all their glory for the first time:

WallisMedia YouTube - Withheld Test Shots

Here we have Sam running behind the car as Holly films him through the back window. This is because we are planning on including a shot from the back of the car of the girl running down the road. We feel this worked very well, since Sam is always in shot and it is clear what is happening, we just need to get the speed perfect and make sure the girl is closer to the car in the final film.

This is a shot of me running towards the car whilst it is static as Holly films me in the side-view mirror. This was to test if the  shot would work, as we really wanted to include a match-on-action in a mirror.

This is a shot of Josh running alongside the car, being filmed in the mirror by Holly. We decided to film this since we realised it was going to be quite difficult to shoot and that we would need to figure it out exactly. From this test, we have discovered that our actress will need to run closer to the car and we will definitely have to keep the speed of the car constant and at a speed she can keep up with over a short distance.

Overall, we are very, very happy with the results from these tests! We are now ready to start shooting the film with a very good idea of where we ned to be positioned and how we're going to do it.

Animatic

The storyboarding stage may be followed by simplified mock-ups called "animatics" to give a better idea of how the scene will look and feel with motion and timing. At its simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence. More commonly, a rough dialogue and/or rough sound track is added to the sequence of still images (usually taken from a storyboard) to test whether the sound and images are working effectively together.

 - Wikipedia


We have a created an animatic for the opening of our film. We have used the same images from the storyboard in order to link the two perfectly. This animatic has given us the chance to truly imagine what our final film will look and sound like and how it is going to come together. We have also used, what we believe to be, the correct timings for each shot. The timings are mostly from what we visualised the film to be like in our heads, but by adding rough sound effects and dialogue we have been better able to appreciate the timings how the final piece will come together upon completion. This will also be very helpful during the filming and rough editing stages of production. I feel that it is important to note that some of the timings and shot lengths may change slightly in the final film. This is because we have slightly over estimated the shot lengths in order to ensure we met the two minute film time we are allowed. If anything, the shots would get slightly shorter rather than longer. As well as this, we may add a few more shots or even take some away. This wil not effect the end time of the film, however, since we will split shots that are already in the animatic in half in order to accomodate new ones. This is a just a rough mock-up so things may change a bit upon completion!

Storyboard

Storyboards are graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or image displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity.

 - Wikipedia


Below, I have embedded a copy of the storyboard for 'Withheld'. As you can see, the images are all hand drawn. We felt this was a much better way of approaching it than using software such as 'Storyboard Pro' since it allowed us to show exactly what we wanted rather than being held back by restraints the software may have imposed on us. Once all the images were drawn we scanned them and then pieced them together to create this. We have also included camera angles and a very brief description of what each shot will show in order to allow the reader, and ourselves, to get a better idea of what we're trying to achieve. The storyboard includes all of the shots we believe we are going to need, judging it by our visualisation of the final product, however this may alter slightly during filming if we feel adding another shot or removing one adds to the film in a very positive manner. For the time being this storyboard is entirely accurate, but as I mentioned, things can change during filming and editing so shots may be removed or added in the final edit of the film.


Withheld - Storyboard