Production: Call Sheet (Draft)

Call Sheet (Rough Draft)

Production: Permission forms

Production: Shot list template

Shot List Template

Pre-production: Costume (Antagonists)

Intentionally the costume for the antagonists (Archans) constitutes of black and grey clothing and i've done this so as to conform to the conventions of sci-fi films where we see the antagonists stereotypically clothed in black due to the connotations of death and malevolence the colours bring. As for shoes, boots are sufficient to be hard wearing and stereotypically masculine which should help to emphasise the authority and dominance these characters have over both protagonists and stock characters.

Pre-production: Costume (Protagonists)

The inspiration behind my protagonists' costume is taken from the film, The Maze Runner, which shows the characters wearing dull colours but which enables them to easily be camouflaged in their surroundings. The fact they are camouflaged gives a militaristic reading, thus implying the characters' are trying to survive. This is the reading I want my audience to have.

Female Protagonist possible costume

Pre-production: Costume (Extras: stock characters)

As long as the extras don't wear extremely bright clothing or clothing which is likely to stand out against the dark colours worn by the protagonists and antagonists, I would like them to wear typical, 'everyday' clothing. This can include jeans and trainers although logos are not permitted on the basis that this will act as advertising and will also affect the audience's reading of when the film is set (therefore it will become 'dated').

In the images below are examples of the female character's clothing that these two characters might wear for the film. As you can see, the clothing isn't excessively glamorous, yet it is casual and discrete enough not to stand out from the antagonists and protagonists. Further items of clothing for one particular character includes a long, green, Parka coat. I expect the male character's will similarly wear 'informal', casual clothing also.

Pre-production: Risk Assessment

Pre-production: Special Effects

As a note, special effects will not be used in my film. Although sci-fi films today heavily rely on the use of software and technology that can be used both in the production and post-production of a film, it will not be possible for me to shoot and edit with this in mind mainly because my budget is just too small. Moreover I do not have access to technology that is capable of creating something that will boost the verisimilitude of my film and it's effectiveness.

BBFC Research: Short Film Rating

I've mentioned in my previous presentations and in former posts, how I decided that my film ought to be aimed at an audience of 13 years and over. Having now gone through the BBFC's guidelines for each classification, my film should be classified under a 15 rating. Although the content bridges over the 12 and 15 rating, the fact I use both strong language and a weapon and implement these into my short, it would thus be unsuitable for those under 15. Similarly, the film doesn't have enough strong and explicit content to make it harmful for those under 18 years. Therefore the classification rating for my my short film, Derange, will be 15.

In addition to this, from looking at the UK's demographic classification of media and it's relation to the ABC1 grading, I would provide my film with a social grade of B, C1 and D, meaning I intend to aim it individuals within the middle class, lower middle class and working class.

BBFC Research

The BBFC is a non-for-profit, self-financing, and independent media content regulator responsible for the UK's classification of films. Under a set of regularly updated Guidelines, films are classified by at least 2 examiners. If a senior examiner doubts their decision and thus their classification of a film, the work may be seen by other members of the Board who will offer special advice to inform this decision. There are several categories which cover the classification of film. Below I've included a few which link closest to my film and those which I can look at to make a judgement on how I would rate it. Classifications such as U, PG and R18 do not need explaining in this process of production because my film definitely wouldn't come under those ratings.

12A & 12

• 12 and over
• In terms of theatrical release, 12A requires an adult to accompany any child under the age of 12- to be enforced by cinema staff (if they do not comply, the cinema risks its license being taken away).
• Since accompanied viewing cannot be enforced at home, the 12 certificate remains for DVD/Blu-ray viewing, as opposed to 12A which specifically applied to cinematic viewing.
• Depending on the manner on which its used, who's using the language and the frequency of it, strong language may be passed (e.g. "f***"). Allowance also varies on whether there is any contextual justification for the use of it.
• Sex is usually only briefly portrayed
• Moderate violence is accepted but must be that which is not dwelt on in great detail
• Anti-social behaviour should not be endorsed

15

• 15 and over
• No themes are prohibited, provided they are appropriate for 15 year olds
• Films under this category can include: strong violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex, sexual nudity, drug taking, discriminatory language/behaviour and in some cases, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence.
• As outlined above, these themes can be explored but in the most part they are approached in a way that avoids using strong detail.
• The films should not focus and thus dwell on the infliction of pain/ injury

18

• 18 and over
• No theme is prohibited
• Since these films are aimed at adults, the themes deal with strong issues such as: very strong violence, frequent use of strong language, strong portrayals of sexual activity, strong horror, scene of sexual violence, strong blood, gore and discriminatory language/behaviour. 

Pre-production: Typography

Having selected a few fonts to choose from, I attained feedback from my target audience regarding which font they preferred for the title of my film. Whilst the second font was a close favourite, many people thought the 5th font would be best for the genre. Even though I won't need to use the font until I come to the post-production process and the creation of my ancillary products, it will prove very useful in the future and will leave me more time to complete editing the final product. 

Pre-production: Script read-through 2

Pre-production: Script read-through

*Script read-through between 'Michael' and the two antagonists.

Pre-production: Lighting (3-point-lighting)

During Monday's lesson the class split into groups, working with the camera and looking at how the use of lighting affects how the camera picks up light on a person's face. In the pictures
I've taken you can see that we used a three-point-lighting-system and adapted the lighting on different occasions by turning one light off and looking at how the light falls on the actor's face through this change. It was a very useful exercise and will certainly act as a good reference point for the future. However I don't plan on implementing this in my own short film (reasoning behind this is explained here).

Pre-production: Props

There are only a few props we see in this short film and a majority of them are those which are pieces of iconography conventional of the sci-fi genre. Firstly a backpack will be used in which will act as a bag for the characters to carry their supplies in and a place to store collected resources such as food. There is writing on the bag but the shots I intend to use, which have the bag within shot, will all be medium/long shots so the writing and icon won't be visible. I also chose this backpack because of how the colour ties in with this idea of camouflage which is the main intention of characters who are in hiding in apocalyptic sci-fi films.

Secondly, I've acquired a machete, owned and managed by an expert who will be on site when we use the weapon. A convention of apocalyptic films is that they use weapons and particularly for this sub-genre, they use blades. Therefore it is my intention that in using the weapon, I will be conforming to the conventions of apocalyptic sci-fi films, much like what I'm doing in using the backpack.

Thirdly, Alicia is seen at the start of the short film holding a crumpled photograph of her family. This is the third and final prop we see. By using this the audience should get the reading that the people in the photo were Alicia's family and that by the way she looks on forlornly, they are either deceased, missing or swept up with psychotic pandemic.

Pre-production: Lighting

With the exception of the scene at the end of the short film, I intend to use natural lighting, without using artificial lighting. I have made this choice for a number of reasons. For one, I want to use natural lighting to create a realistic scene. If it happens that I film on a dark day or at least the sky is overcast I don't want to use artificial lights because this won't tie into my story and the events occurring during it. Furthermore, I will be covering large areas at one time and the light beams won't reach far enough for this to prove even effective.

Moreover, if the lighting proves poor during the last scene (my only interior location), I plan on using artificial lighting directed at the actors being shot. Alternatively I might choose to instead use low-key lighting with a blue/ grey filter in order to create an ominous atmosphere.

Pre-production: Location Shots

Pre-production: Location Permission

Pre-production: Production Schedule

Pre-production: Actors (Extras: stock characters)

The other actors that are involved in my short film are the 'psycho-people', otherwise known as the extras. I will have 4 extras whose main job is to stand around, smiling psychotically as I shoot the footage of Michael and Alicia walking through their group, before Michael gets into a fight with the 2 antagonists. There is only one extra who I can say is an important stock character and I labelled him 'extra 1' (male character in the middle of the document). This character watches as Michael dies and so he is an example of the heartless and stupid consciousness possessed by these individuals' personalities. The actor for the character was chosen because he is one of the few drama students who I have faith in with bringing this stock character to life. 

As an added note, the gender-ratio is equal in number for these range of characters and chosen so I can realistically reflect society through this small sample.

Actors: Stock characters

Pre-production: Actors (Antagonists)

Pre-production: Actors (Protagonists)

Pre-production: Make-up ('psycho-people'/ extras)

For the extras in my short film, I've decided on using purple, brown and red eye-shadow below the eyelids for the same reason I chose to do so for the Archans: to look antagonistic and psychotic. I then applied some white powder to the face along with a light grey tone to subtly make the skin pigment look unnatural. Although it's not clear in the pictures i've taken, I applied purple lipstick to the inner part of my lips to create the illusion that my lips would look thinner and closer to how films's present ghostly figures. When it comes to actually filming the characters I would need to make this more obvious. I'm thinking of adding some white powder on the edge of the characters' lips also.

As for hair, the characters would have hair styles similar to the protagonists but which is more controlled and neat. I don't think it will be necessary to picture this since it's easy enough to think of a balance between knotted hair and smooth hair.