Final Film

Script for new shot

(Alfred McGuiness is sat with his back to the camera in what appears to be some sort of office, the camera moves closer towards his chair before moving over his shoulder, showing a file upon his desk. The Secretary enters.)

The Secretary: Mr McGuiness?

Alfred: I have a case about to start, I would like to ask something of you before I go.

The Secretary: And what would that be, Mr McGuiness?

Alfred: You have been a good secretary to me… As such, I want you to take this.

(Alfred picks up the folder and holds it out for The Secretary, who takes the folder)

The Secretary: Mr McGuiness, this is a transfer request… To the London precinct?

Alfred: Like I said, you have been a good secretary to me, I have a friend in the London precinct, his name is Detective Leroy Jenson… Unlike me, I have a feeling his career is going to last much longer, as such so will yours…

The Secretary: Th-thank you Mr McGuiness!

Alfred: Any time, my good friend… Any time…

(The shot fades to black before fading into the opening shot of the montage of Alfred McGuiness walking into the college and up to the crime scene, the soundtrack starts to play and rises and falls  as a voiceover by McGuiness is played alongside it)

~

This is the script for my new revised scene to be played at the start, whilst there is not much dialogue the shots in the scene will be long and slow, emphasising the emotion and feeling of the situation. Everyone in the sequence is very much relaxed and this will show in the shots.

Editing Update

After my first day of editing I placed all of my footage onto the computer and started to cut it down and piece it all together. So far, when edited my footage fits together smoothly and the cuts and transitions work well, however, the total footage time is only 00:02:11 long. As such, I'll need to use the extra shots that I have planned in order to flesh it out slightly. The extra shots I have planned consist of a completely new shot at the start of Detective McGuiness actually recieving his assignment which hopefully will be enough to push my footage time up to the required 00:04:00 minutes, if not, I have a few more extra shots planned to increase the footage time even further, including extra shots in the montage near the start and some new shots during the dialogue between McGuiness and Mr Franklin.

These dialogue shots will come from the rest of my script which I didn't use. I will be adding a completely new shot to the start and extending a few other shots in order to flesh out the time boundries. I will film the brand new scene on Monday and add it to the rest of the footage and see the current timings before acting accordingly.

Third day of filming

Yesterday, I managed to gather all of my actors together and film my final shots. I managed to film that last of the dialogue between Detective McGuiness and Mr Franklin, the shots that reveal the body of the 'Victim' and I recorded the dialogue for McGuiness' internal monologue as he walks into the college. With all of my shots finished, I am ready to upload them onto an editing suite and begin the final stage of my project, which is the editing process.

Possibly the best shot so far from the new segments is the over-the-shoulder shot which reveals the corpse of the 'Victim' which adds a certain extent of mystery and build up in tension as the shot progresses. Even afterwards you cannot see the face of the Victim which again adds to the mystery of the situation, which is what I am aiming to achieve.

Second day of filming

I recently finished my second bout of filming with my actor for Mr Franklin. This was possibly one of the more dramatic portions of the section of the film that I am shooting, using a variety of close ups and extreme close ups of the character, intending to make the character seem more suspicious and highlight him as a primary suspect. I had the actor use a variety of more 'suspicious' actions such as the licking of the lips on the ECU of the lower half of the face, the use of eyes shifting from looking at one direction to another swiftly during the ECU of one half of the face.

I have to film a few more dialogue shots with my actors as well as the final over-the-shoulder shot of the body of the 'Victim' before I can start editing the film. I shall be filming these shots later in the day when all of my actors are free and present at the same time.

Film Animatic

The animatic for my film. Note the use of a montage at the beginning, showing parts of McGuiness but never really giving a clear shot of his face. The music is from the 'Pink Panther' cartoon which struck me as being the very stereotypical detective music. Then finally, I used a series of extreme close-ups of Mr Franklin's facial features, such as his eyes and mouth, to show signs of suspicion. The idea being it is as if the audience have stepped into the detectives shoes and are spotting all of these signs in the way that he sees them.

Example of montage

The training scene from the first Rocky film is a perfect example of American Montage. Like this particular montage I will be using a collection of shots to show the passage of time, however unlike this particular montage I will be covering a much shorter passage of time. Instead showing one character moving around the college and condensing the time down to a few minutes rather than condensing time down from a few weeks or months down to a few minutes instead.

Note the use of tracking shots, long shots and close ups of Rocky as he trains and excercises. I'm using a similar variety of shots in the start of my own film where I have Detective McGuiness move through the college. I'm using tracking shots of him walking down the hallways, long shots of him actually entering the college and close up's of different segment's of his body .

Progress Report

Shots left to complete: I still need to finish the dialogue shots and the final over the shoulder shot of the victim, in total that’s around 8 shots left to complete on Monday which in turn will allow me to start my editing process. The film in total so far without being edited (and without the unfinished shot) is around 0:03:00 in length so I’m assuming when finished and edited I’ll be looking at a time somewhere in the region of 0:02:30 – 0:03:00 minutes in length.

First Day of Filming

I finished my first day of filming earlier this week with a good result. I filmed all of the montage of McGuiness entering the college and heading to the classroom, all that needs to be filmed now is the dialogue between McGuiness and Mr Franklin and the final shot of McGuiness discovering the dead body of the Victim. I also need to record my actor for McGuiness' monologue that plays during the montage of his entrance.

A few notes about the progress of my film so far. Firstly, my film so far appears to be longer than what it was originally in my storyboard, this is if anything a plus, considering how at first I thought I might have to use some extra shots that I had planned to flesh out the scene. When it is all edited it may turn out that I will need to use these extra shots, but so far, so good.

Task done

The animatic for my film has been finished and will be placed upon my blog next week. I've gathered my actors together and filming for the montage at the beginning of the sequence will commence after college on Friday 13th January. Filming should hopefully be finished within a week and editing began.

To-Do list

- Have animatic done by the end of Monday
- Gather actors and commence filming over the next week
- Begin editing by next Friday
- Have editing finished for half-term

Background Music

I'm planning on using the theme tune from 'The Pink Panther' for the background music. The track seems like a stereotypical 'detective' soundtrack and the more stereotypical the song the better due to me making a parody.

Storyboard Sheets