Rough Cut 1 Task:30

Location Task:20 (Film)

Scene 1 - Drama Studio


This location is in the Drama building at school which means we have access to it when we need it. Further more their is a full stage lighting set their so we can get a technician to adjust to how we need it for the mood of the scene and exposure settings on the camera.

Scene 2 - Alley way




This location is very close to our house scene so it will make it very easy to access with all the actors and moving the equipment to it. The benefit to this alleyway is that it has a fence for the drug dealer to stand against and the addition of a warm street light means it will give it a moody look.

Scene 3 - Interior





For the house we had looked at show homes and the crews houses and ended up using our Directors house. This was due to multiple reasons from the fact it is close to school and the alleyway but also it was free the majority of the time that it would be needed. To have the style and look of the house we had to move around the furniture to make it appear less organised than it originally was.

Crew and equipment list Task:25

Crew:

Zack Vincent: Director of Photography/Editor/Colourist
Fin Davis: Director/Co-Writer/Co-Editor
Ben Hicks: Co-Writer/Actor/Production Designer
Jake Clutsom: Sound Designer/Boom Operator/Gaffer

Equipment List:

Rode NTG2 x2

DR-60DMKII Sound Recorder
VideoMic GO for hot shoe on camera
Canon 6 D x1
Canon 5D Mk III x1
Tripods x2
Shoulder rig x1
Tripod on wheels x1
Table dolly x1

Boom Crane x1

Portable Light x1

ATH-M50X Studio Headphones for monitoring audio x1

Makeup and Costume design Task:23

For the shoot we need some slight makeup on the daughter  to show how she has taken an overdose and even a substitute for sick as her mouth will be frothing after the whiskey and cocaine.

To achieve this makeup look we are using a friend who knows a lot about makeup but also needs some experience outside of school for her coursework. To make Jess appear unconscious our makeup artist will use different makeups to darken around our actors eyes and also make her skin paler than usual. This effect is also used in other films to make the actor appear how the director wants them to be. 

As for costume design we have told our actors to wear specific attire to the shoot day.

Antony: Our protagonist  will be wearing mostly black as this follows conventions of drug addicts and people that don't necessarily want to stand out in the crowd.

Jessica: The daughter was told to wear general clothes that would maybe appear like she has gotten back from school or similar. To follow this student look we also asked her to bring a bag for her work etc to make it look more realistic.

Lucy: As for the Ex-Wife we have told her to wear her every day clothing as she was not of any particular look in the film and was just the mother etc. However as she told us she will be wearing a White Blouse we have got another blouse that has a hole cut into it and fake blood around the edges. This will allow us to show her stab wound, so after the stabbing scene we will ask her to change the blouse and this will show the effect of the stab wound with a quick cut in the shoot.

Drug Dealer: As this shot will be in an alleyway we have got our actor to wear dark attire with a brown jacket and baseball cap or similar to cover the face under the street light.

Inmates: All our inmates were asked to wear plain attire if possible and clothes they would normally wear on a day to day bases. 

All of the makeup and fake blood will be provided and applied by Jasmine Fassenfelt.

Costume List:
• x2 white blouses
• Black jacket
• Black jeans
• Black/ Blue hoodie
• White t-shirts, blue jeans (for all inmates in therapy scene)
• Black baseball cap
• Black jeans
• Black/ Brown jacket (for drug dealer)
• Normal clothes for the therapist

Film Shoot Reflection Task:27

After finishing our shoot weekend I can now talk about how I feel about filming and what it was really like. Its all good looking at how and what to do but when your actually shooting its totally different. 

Overall I feel that the shoot went really well considering it was our first attempt and with two professional actors. As a result of this shoot I can say that we succeeded in producing a high quality outcome that if put into film festivals would have a good chance of winning or getting highly ranked. 

After all the planning with every thing from the script to even ordering the correct audio devices that would be vital to pull the film together has really paid off and it shows in the final outcome. 

In addition to this, my knowledge in film making and shooting as the DOP has really expanded and how I could take our ideas of what we wanted in to a physical outcome has made me want to already produce another film or similar.   

As the Director Of Photography on set, It was my job to take on board ideas from the crew and Director Fin Davis along with my own ideas to produce shots that we had prior researched. In addition I was trying to join multiple shots together with certain shots that flowed but also worked with the set we were on.  

Due to the sound design from Jake Clutsom and the Mise-En-Scene from Ben Hicks being all done correctly and professionally It allowed my job to flow better and let me concentrate on the Exposure, Focus, and movement within each shot as I knew the set would all be ready.

Although what we ended up was of high standards for our first shoot, I still have some improvements and equipment I would like to change when moving on to our next film.

Starting of I would have preferred more time for the shoot to review and retake shots. Unfortunately we originally planned to have a three day shoot as the actor we had was on a tight schedule. Upon shoot day he let us know that it would have to be a two day shoot due to an important meeting. Now although we got the shoot done in the two days we didn't have the time to review the footage at home and retake any bad cuts of similar. This would have been extremely helpful as we had some shots in the film that we either didn't like or were wrongly exposed etc.

Another addition would be some higher end equipment to improve the look of the film and also aid us when shooting. For example at the time I only had access to a Canon Dslr which was down graded to 720p on the shoot day. However it would have been a lot better if I could have had a 1080p or even 4k camera to allow for a better quality film and also the adjustability in post. 

Some equipment such as professional soft box lighting and a follow focus rig would have allowed the scene to be light correctly and the camera focus to be a lot smoother and more appealing to the eye. 

Apart from these few errors we had and some tweaks that could have been made I believe the shoot day with both the crew and cast went extremely well and resulted in us having a high standard short film.

Possible Names Task: 16

As our film is based around alcohol, drugs, therapy, addiction and lies. We needed to come up with a title/ name for the film that matched this style and them the best it could with maybe a hint towards the plot of the film.

Class A

This Is the first idea as the abbreviation for certain drugs can be Class A. Also cocaine which is a key part of our film is also under this abbreviation.  Although the name is very relevant We believed that it was fairly cliche and would be better for the name to separate the drug and the film.

The Addict

This title matches the fact that the protagonist in our film is in therapy due to his 'Addiction' To drugs. I like this title but actually prefer the previous one as this appears to be not thought about enough and very simple.

The next two ( Paradise White and Powder Line) to me are good but have the same boring and simple style much like 'The Addict'.  Which we don't want if we are going to be producing a high quality film.

The final title is White Lies. This connotes both cocaine (white) and the lies that are a big part of the protagonists life in our script. So it has a cliche name like Class A but also appears to be more thought after as its not an item or abbreviation for a drug.

When Fin/ Ben ( Scriptwriters) finished the script they had the title set with Class A but before having that as our final result and title we needed to gather survey results from our target audience. When compiling the results we saw that White Lies was the strongest contender and the other four were behind yet fairly equal.  So as we liked the title and the audience also did we decided to follow O-Jay's quote " You've got to give the people what they want" so we went with that as our title. 

Final Script Task:18

Class A
By
Ben Hicks & Fin Davis

CHARACTERS:

ANTHONY 

Protagonist, once successful businessman, became a drug addict due to stresses of job, which has torn his life apart. 

LUCY 

 Ex wife of ANTHONY, a much more likeable person than ANTHONY, no problems with drugs, but is forced to leave JESSICA with ANTHONY due to court settlement which states that they have shared custody of her after divorce. She split from him because of his drug addiction.

JESSICA 

 The 14-year-old daughter of ANTHONY and LUCY. 

THERAPIST
PRISION INMATES X 6
DRUG DEALER
999 RECEIVER
* * Denotes faded dialogue. + + Denotes voice-over from phone

INT. PRISON COMMON ROOM - DAY PRISON COMMON ROOM

* THERAPIST * This is the sixth of ten meetings for this particular group of inmates. As you know here at prison, we operate on the principle of therapeutic community. That means that this ward is society in miniature, and since society dictates who is sane and who isn’t, you must measure up. Our primary aim here is to restore you to the outside world. So... we’re going to work with this but we don’t need to stick strictly to it. What are qualities that you think are important in healing yourself? Getting yourself back in to society? So, just like with the anger activity we did last week, just let your ideas flow and then we’ll all share and talk about it a little. Lets start with... ANTHONY.

THERAPIST ANTHONY?... ANTHONY?

THERAPIST “So, what’s your story?” (bluntly)

ANTHONY takes a drag of his cigarette and slowly blows it out in to camera.
~END OF SCENE~

FADE IN:

FADE IN: EXT: NARROW ALLEYWAY - NIGHT
A man lent against the wall in the alleyway. A dim street light glares over him. He has his hood over his head, covering the top- half of his face. Smoke from his cigarette slowly disintegrates into the cold air. 

ANTHONY comes walking up the alleyway, hood up also.
The man is holding a small bag which looks to contain some sort of “CLASS A” drug. 

ANTHONY reaches his hand out to the drug dealer. Money is exchanged for the package very quickly but subtly.

~END OF SCENE~

FADE IN: INT. A MESSY FLAT - NIGHT
The flat is unkempt. The lights are dimly lit with the orange glare of street lights spilling through the curtains.

ANTHONY throws the bag of drugs onto the coffee table along with his phone and keys. The table is cluttered and among other items, there is a large kitchen knife that is laid carelessly on the table.

ANTHONY walks over to a drinks cabinet. Twitching, he then pours himself some whiskey. The bottle is almost empty. He then walks back to his seat, glass and bottle clenched in either hand.

ANTHONY takes a small sip of the whiskey - just enough to wet his lips, placing it on the coffee table. 

ANTHONY slumps back on a worn leather sofa; head back looking mindlessly up at the ceiling.

ANTHONY leans forward and carefully opens the small sachet containing cocaine. He empties a small portion onto the table. The bag splits open, spilling the contents over the table.

ANTHONY (weakly) Ah, shit...
Of the mess created, he splits three lines with the large kitchen knife, he then snorts the middle of the three lines. He resumes his slumped position on his sofa, when his phone, which is placed on his coffee table, lights up vibrating. He looks over at the phone and sees the name ‘LUCY’ flashed on screen. His eyes roll with discontent. He leans over. 

ANTHONY then picks up the phone reluctantly. Takes a breath.

ANTHONY (Tiredly) What do you want?

+ LUCY + (Muffled) Oh ANTHONY, finally, I’ve been trying to call you all day! (his eyes role) I’m on my way to drop JESSICA off.

ANTHONY (Sitting up shocked) Wait, what! Why?

+ LUCY + What do you mean why? She’s staying with you this weekend... like we discussed? Remember the court settlement... We have shared custody of JESSICA, remember?
Whilst this is being said, ANTHONY goes over and looks at the torn calendar on his wall.
A red pen has circled around the date ‘7th of July’ with the words ‘JESSICA COMING’ scribbled in black.

ANTHONY puts a hand through his hair in worry. His eyes are shut; head back, thinking.

ANTHONY (Worryingly) Fuck... Can’t we arrange this for tomorrow? I’m kind of busy now.
As ANTHONY says this, he is looks at the bag of cocaine.

+ LUCY + (Frustrated) Oh, you are a joke! (authoritatively) No, you have to have her tonight. We are two minutes away. I don’t care who you are with, but get them out before I drop her off! You have two minutes! (She hangs the phone up)

A worried expression fills ANTHONY’s face. Muttering profanities. ANTHONY paces around tidying the floor up, he then spots the cocaine on the table. He paces over, sits down on the sofa looks around and tries to put the cocaine back in the bag, however he's just making more mess as its missing the small opening. He then scrunches the bag into his pocket and then quickly begins to scrape the cocaine into the glass of whiskey using the knife. In his carelessness, he cuts his finger open with the knife. The doorbell rings and there are three knocks at the door.

ANTHONY’s head jerks up. He places the glass back onto the coffee table. He then reveals a white handkerchief from his pocket and he uses it as a make-shift dressing for his wound and proceeds to
hide the knife under a magazine. He then rushes over to the door and opens it. JESSICA walks in and stands, hands on hips, with a luggage bag, chewing gum. Anthony goes in to hug her and she brushes it off.

ANTHONY (Smiling)
Hey beautiful... how are you?

JESSICA (Bored)
Fine...

JESSICA strides in, bag slung over shoulder. She walks over to the living room, effortlessly sliding her sports bag to the floor. She sits on the sofa as her smartphone lights up her face.

ANTHONY So... (awkward silence) How’s school going? (Smiles)

JESSICA (bluntly, chewing gum) Yeah, fine.

ANTHONY (awkward silence) Good... Good. That’s great news.
Look, JESSICA. I know you feel like I don’t care about spending time with you... but honestly I do. I mean, your mum and I have had our issues but that changes nothing between us. She’s probably said stuff about me. But I’m your dad and you are my little princess! Nothing is going to change that... nothing.

JESSICA looks up at ANTHONY, she smiles. JESSICA
Do you really mean that?

ANTHONY Oh, come on JESSICA! Look, I love you! You won’t understand until you have kids of your own. Look, I know I've been busy with work and what not but... I’m going to start spending more time with you.

JESSICA Okay, well I’ve got two words for you. Prove it.

ANTHONY Okay, how about tomorrow we go to the cinema, remember when we
used to go, all three of us? (smiles)




JESSICA Yes, okay. Sounds alright. What are we gonna watch?

ANTHONY gets up and walks over to the door of the living room.

ANTHONY Have a little think about it.

ANTHONY has a brightened look on his face. He quickly walks to the kitchen, with a grin on his face. He goes to the sink and turns the tap on. Meanwhile, JESSICA gets up to look around the door to check where ANTHONY is, she then goes back to the sofa.
In the kitchen, ANTHONY is seen rummaging through the bottom draw, he takes out a first aid box and places it next to the sink, pushing items out of the way. ANTHONY then removes the handkerchief and washes his cut finger. He then dresses his finger with a plaster.
MEANWHILE... The tap is running in the background.

JESSICA sits on the sofa, still searching through her phone. As she looks up from her phone, she sees the glass of whiskey previously poured by ANTHONY and the bottle next to it. She takes her gum out of her mouth and places it on the table. She slowly reaches out to the glass. Clenching the ‘whiskey’, she looks in the glass. She takes her phone out and opens the snapchat app and begins to record herself. She then proceeds to drink all of the whiskey. She the shudders due to the bitter taste.
JESSICA places the empty glass down on the table, and goes back to her phone and types a caption for her snapchat. “Havin’ my fav Friday drink” She slowly starts to feel dizzy. Her eyes roll trying to keep them straight. She places her phone on the table facing up along with the glass, snapchat video still playing and then, JESSICA falls back in a slumped position in the chair.

INT: KITCHEN - NIGHT
ANTHONY, still in the kitchen goes to the kettle and fills it up. Places two cups on the side by the kettle and puts it on.

ANTHONY Jess darling, would you like a cuppa?
No reply, inquisitively ANTHONY then exits the kitchen and walks through the hallway. Just before he gets to the door he calls softly one more time whilst still in motion.

INT: LIVING ROOM

ANTHONY Jess?

He gets to the door and pokes his head through and sees JESSICA slumped on the sofa with a milky substance gathering at the sides of her mouth and a small trickle down her pale colourless face.
ANTHONY No!

ANTHONY runs over to the sofa

ANTHONY (running over to JESSICA) Oh fuck no, no! (panicking) JESSICA! JESSICA!

ANTHONY, panicking and breathing heavily, ANTHONY lays her down flat on the sofa and begins pounding his hands down on her chest frantically.

ANTHONY (panicking frantically, crying now) Jesus, fuck! (screaming) JESSICA! Pleas, don’t do this, don’t do this! JESSICA!

ANTHONY still trying his best to resuscitate her slowly starts to give up. His eyes are red and swollen from crying. He slowly sits back on his knees, head looking up, eyes shut. ANTHONY sits there crying.

ANTHONY (crying) Jesus Christ!
(Cut to black) ~END OF SCENE~

INT: LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

The living room is still dimly lit. JESSICA’s body is still there. ANTHONY sits in the corner of the living room, sobbing. He isn't visible. Anthony’s silhouette is visible and smoke is seen slowly blowing out of his mouth. His phone begins to ring, looks over but can’t see the name. He leaves it until it eventually goes to voicemail.

+ LUCY + (FROM THE ANSWER MACHINE) Hey, it’s me. I’m coming over to drop JESSICA’s homework off... (laughing) that girl tries to get out of everything. Anyway, I’ll be there in a minute.
While this message is playing, ANTHONY carefully listens. Still dazed and blurry-eyed. When LUCY mentions she’s going to “Drop JESSICA’s homework over” he tries to stagger himself to his feet and get to the phone. When he picks the phone up, he is met with a dull tone that signifies that LUCY has already left.

ANTHONY No, no, no, no, no, no!

ANTHONY, panics as he tries to think about what he is to do next. He stands up, hands on head, looking at JESSICA’s motionless body. He begins to pace around frantically. He stops. He begins to slowly drag JESSICA’s body to the back of the sofa. As he’s doing this, two thunderous knocks rattle the door like an earthquake. LUCY, without thought opens the door and walks in.
LUCY (calmly/jokingly) Hey, why’s it so dark. JESS darling, you forgot you bloody home work... You’d forget your head if it wasn’t...
With this line, LUCY turns on the living room light. She looks over to see Anthony with JESSICA’s lifeless, pale corpse in his arms. Her face is in shock... His face is in shock.
She screams a piercing shrill

ANTHONY walks over to her and stands there with a look of utter despair and resignation on his face. Speechless. LUCY runs past him and takes JESSICA’s hand.
LUCY (crying with panic in her voice) JESSICA! Can you hear me?

LUCY puts one hand covering her mouth and the other holding JESSICA’s hand. LUCY starts crying frantically. ANTHONY walks over to LUCY and JESSICA.

ANTHONY (Quietly) LUCY, I can explain.
As ANTHONY reaches his hand out onto her shoulder, LUCY quickly swats his hand away, standing up in anger now.
LUCY
(With great vengeance and FURIOUS anger)
Don’t you fucking come near me! Explain? How could you, explain this? You absolute lowlife!

ANTHONY puts his head in his hands.

ANTHONY She’s taken my coke... I was out in the kitchen and she took it!

LUCY How could you leave drugs lying around the house? You knew I was dropping her off!

LUCY pushes ANTHONY back and reaches into her bag and pulls out her mobile phone. She begins to dial 999.

ANTHONY (worryingly) Hey! What are you doing!
LUCY (crying) Don’t you fucking come near me! – (Talking on the phone) Yes, I need the police and the ambulance. Quickly!

ANTHONY tries to grab her mobile phone but LUCY lunges away. ANTHONY has a panicked and angry look in his face. He takes a step back and franticly looks around.

* LUCY *
Yes, hello, I need the police and paramedics! (crying) My daughter has overdosed and my husband let it happen! He’s now shouting. I’m at 52 Church Street. Please, hurry he’s here in the house! My husband is still in the house! Please, Hurry! Plea-

ANTHONY spots the knife handle on the table protruding from under a magazine. He picks it up. Looks down at it and then, without thought he lunges towards LUCY and stabs her in the abdomen.

ANTHONY I’m not your fucking husband.
As he plunges the knife into her stomach, his face turns from anger to shock. LUCY drops the phone to the ground and holds on to ANTHONY’s arm. She looks at ANTHONY in the eyes with a look of overwhelming sadness she collapses to the ground.
The 999 receiver is still audible on LUCY’s phone in the background.

ANTHONY stands there motionless in pure terror. His face pale as if he was already being sentenced to death.
As ANTHONY stands and stares at the scene he's just created in disbelief. He walks over to the phone, turns it off and throws it back to the ground. He takes a step backwards and continues to look at his ex-wife and daughter both on the sofa.
ANTHONY drops to the ground on his knees. The camera slowly dollies in on to ANTHONY’s face until its an extreme close up of his eyes looking down the lens. A loud tapping can be heard... possibly the door? Then a female voice...
O/S THERAPIST ANTHONY... ANTHONY... ANTHONY?

~END OF SCENE~


MATCH CUT IN (Anthony’s eyes): INT. PRISON THERAPY ROOM - DAY 

ANTHONY’s eyes open. Pokerfaced, he sits there staring down the lens.

THERAPIST (tapping on her folder) Anthony?
There is an eerie silence. Anthony sits there, face still pokerfaced. His tired eyes look straight at the camera lens again.
ANTHONY (roughly)
I don’t want to talk about it... CUT TO BLACK/CREDITS 

~END~