Script Rewrite (Final Draft)

This is the final script for the film including the changes that were made to the plot line and subsequently to scenes in the film.

Change to Storyline

The storyline has been changed slightly, we now are going to include a flashback scene where the hitman kills Quinceys business partner, and instead of the gun hitman is sent by Quincey not being loaded, the story will now feature Quincey approaching hitman from behind and shooting him in the leg before he has chance to fire, Quincey then kicks the gun away from hitman.

These changes have been made to firstly fill gaps that would otherwise have been left in the plot line and also it increases the reality of our film and the overall production quality.

Film Names

Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.

Hit and Miss
Hate Mail
Justice
First Class Revenge/Retribution
Associated
The Associate
Resurrection
Tracked Down
The Set Up
The Business Plan

Production Logo

A production logo is the company logo that production companies use on everything to do with a film they are making such as, posters, trailers and merchandise. One example of a mainstream company and its production logo is Warner Brothers. Large production companies like this can and do adapt their logo in correspondence to the type of film that is being released. For example as the Harry Potter film series progresses the logo becomes darker and could be seen as more intense, this is to represent the films and the stage they are at.

Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets production logo

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows production logo

This is production logo that we designed for our film, as we a making a short film we needed a recognisable production logo that is also memorable, the reason we chose Post Productions as a name was because it links to the postal element in our film, because the post scene in our film is quite a significant scene. Another reason was the fact that Post Productions is also a pun on film making, making the name and logo memorable. This will be the first image shown in our film, it will simply fade in for a few seconds and fade out, with time for the audience to be able to read and acknowledge it. The next shot will be the prologue to the film.

List of Challenging Shots + Research Into How To Do Them

Numbers relate to numbers on the story board*

Focus pull 3- When the package has just been received and the pull is needed to go from Quincey in the background to the package in the forefront.

Tilt shot 5/6- When we film Quincey doing work at his office, the tilt shot may be tricky due to us having to match the same speed of the tilt as the tilt of Quincey's head looking towards the clock.

Long/Mid shot 7- Where the car is shown driving past, we will need to stand far enough back to show the car for a long enough time, not letting the car zoom past too fast to not even be able to see who it is driving it.

Mid shot 9- When the hitman is driving the car, when in fact the actor playing the hit man cannot drive, so we will have to change the driver but make sure it always seems the same.

Mid/Long shot 10/11- Shows Quincey from behind the bush walking round a corner and carrying on walking towards the corner, we could do this by having Quincey walk directly towards the camera and then fade out of the shot before Quincey walks into the camera, or we could have Quincey walking past the camera to one of the sides eg. past the camera to the left.

Close shot 15- We will have to get the face fully lined up in shot first then have the second character the come into the shot standing in the right position to still be able to see them. also the other person needs to be far enough back so that he is faded enough.

High angle, Focus pull, 16- we need the shoes shown close enough to identify them as the ones that delivered the package but also enough out of shot so that the viewer can see the hit man out of focus through his legs, plus the correct distance so that the focus works well.

Close up 18/19-the shot when the gun is fired at the hitman, we decided that we could have done it 3 ways 1) fades to black then shows the gun post gun shot 2) a blurred shot of the hitman falling after the gun is shown being shot. 3) a fast amount of shots that are edited together. Also this could look good in black and white, with the black looking very dark covering a to of the shot, this will look good because it will make the past scene look like more of a memory faded and fussy.

Mid shot, low angle 21/28- The shot needs to be the right height for the viewer to see both the hitman on the floor and Quincey sitting down with his head fully in shot.

Close up 24- we need to have the shot of the gun being hit out of the hand of the hitman fully in  the shot, and so the viewer can fully view what is happening and so they can see that it looks realistic.

long/mid shot High angle 26- the low angle effect on this will let the viewer be in the shots of the hitman looking up at carlos about to shoot, but with this we will have to make sure that everyone is in shot fully.

Close up, High angle 30- the gun needs to be close enough for the rest of the shot to be out of focus but far enough back so that the viewer can still can still see that it is a gun that Quinceys holding, also we may need to compensate for the fact that we could have the recoil of the gun in the shot.

Close up, High angle 31- in this shot we need to be careful for having the blood, due to our film being only a 15 certificate the amount of blood or how it is presented will need to be kept an eye on very closely, plus how to make the blood splatter look realistic and actually look like it have come at a result of a gunshot.

Shot 18/19


Shot 18/19


Shot 7 + 9

Script 1st Draft

Full Films Story Board

Film Questionnaire

The story starts with the first character, who is shown and described as a hitman, he is held up in his safe house when he receives a phone call from his boss, who says that a package has been delivered, he goes to his front door, to open the parcel, inside is an image of a man who is his target, Quincey Kent, also is a handgun and an address of where to find the man.

The story then switches to the target, he is described as a businessman, the kind with 'fingers in many pies'.

The story then switches back to the hitman who begins to make his way to the address given as quickly as possible, on the way he has trouble finding the address as this is not a place he has ever been to before.

The hitman then finds the address and waits on the business man who is set to walk past. Once the target walks past the hitman on his way home from work, the hitman follows him through an estate being careful not to be spotted, the pair then reach a dead end, as the target has suspected he was being followed so he lead him this way, the hitman then draws a gun on his target and with no extra thought fires. The gun isnt loaded, and with a smug grin on his face the original target pulls a gun from his jacket and shoots the hitman in the leg, the hitman falls to the floor, and as the businessman stands over him is told that he is actually the target and that it was the businessman that had set this up by sending the package,  the reason why the events unfolded in this way is that the hitman was once hired to kill the businessman's friend Carlos Luigi Sanchez many years before and it has took while now for the businessman to track down the hitman to get his revenge. Quincey then finishes the film by shooting the hitman in the face. 

This is the basic storyline, would you please answer some questions about this that we have prepared?

1. What is your Name?

2. How old are you?

3. Did you understand the storyline?

4. What were your thoughts on this storyline?

5. What age certificate would you expect this film to be?

6. What Genre would you class this film as?

7. What would you expect to see from this type of genre? (Type of Locations, Props, Action, Music)

8. Who would you say that the target audience of this film would be? (Age, Gender, Interests etc.)

9. Are there any parts of the storyline that you didn't understand?

10. Is there any parts of storyline you would change or is there anything you would like to add to the story?

11. Where would you expect to find this film? (Cinema, DVD etc.) and would you come and watch this film?

Title Sequence Analysis

Skyfall (2012) — Art of the Title

This title sequence from the James Bond film Skyfall (2012) is a very cinematic titles sequence, this is used to tell a story of its own, or to give the audience an overview of this storyline for the film. For example a section of this title sequence involves a graveyard, this represents James Bonds past and the fact that his parents died when he was young, this is a reference of foreshadowing to a scene later on in the film when James Bond returns to his place of birth and to the church and graveyard where his parents are buried, this is a good use of effect from the title sequence as it makes the audience want to know what the relevance is between the titles sequence and the film itself.

Also in this sequences the scenes are rendered in stark black and off-white contrasting colours, with deep blood red, and sea blue which hints at the crime/killing themes that the film expresses. Likewise our film has the same themes of crime/murder/revenge so this is a good title sequence to relate to as the same styles of film are presented.

The whole title sequence revolves around the title character, James Bond, this is an important feature that we will integrate into our own title sequence, this is to show to the audience who the most important and influential character is in the film, in James Bond films however this is obvious but in small films like ours it is important to express who the main character is.

As this is a long title sequence at almost 4 minutes, as James Bond films predominantly do have long title sequences, alongside the story that it tells, a number of the people who worked on the film are mentioned through the use of superimposed words over the images shown on screen, these include the most important people who worked on the film including the starring cast, director, producers ect. As our film will only be 5 minutes in length we won't have a long title sequence, so ours will only include a small number of personell and information, we will only show the cast and director, in between shots of one of the protagonists.

Title Sequence Research

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Similar Short Film Analysis

Short Action Thriller - THE DEAL from Perspective Pictures on Vimeo.

This film could be seen as similar to the film we are looking to create. The story line of this short film follows a man who is dealing drugs, to two other men this story line isn't exactly similar to ours, but in the end there is a betrayal where the two people who the lead character give the drugs to, try to kill him, but another man appears and kills them. This is like ours because the climax of our film also involves a shootout.

The Genre of this film is the same as ours, both are Action/Thriller films, and our film will have some of the themes and features that are presented in this short film. For example we will have the same use of props as this short film does, the use of handguns will be present in our film just like the ones present in THE DEAL, as well as this our film will feature cars being used as a prop, for when our character the hitman is making his way to his climax in our film just like the characters in this short film when they are making their way to the deal. We will also be using fake blood and make up in our film just like in The Deal this gives the film better production value and is a way of making the film more realistic and believable.

The cinematography and editing used in The Deal are also features in which we aim to recreate in our own short film, as we have a very limited budget to make our film the editing must be used to create a sense of action. Fast paced and frequent edits help to create an intensity to the film and to also create a sense of speed and panic to each scene, this is present in the climax of The Deal during the shootout, whilst watching you get a sense of excitement, something which we aim to achieve when producing our own short film.

The diagetic and non-diagetic sound used in The Deal is used to the same effect as we wish to produce in our film. Firstly the non-diagetic sound in this film, or the films score, is very tense, suspense filled music, this is used to give the audience a feeling of intensity as the action builds to a climax. When the climax of the short film does come the non-diagetic sound changes, the tempo of the music increases to reflect on the action increasing on screen. This is something that we want to incorporate in our film, as the action builds up in the same way as our film progresses, I believe that this gives the film better production value. Diagetic sound is also used to good effect in The Deal, for example, the sound effects used for gun fire give the film better production value and a more realistic feel, as well as giving the audience a thrill as most of the film had been quite quiet, and then for a loud gunshot to appear the audience would feel slightly on edge, as it is a surprising factor, this is a feature that will be used in our film, as obviously we will have sound effects for our prop guns, so we will aim to make the effect as thrilling as possible for the audience.

Prop List

In order to make our film look realistic we will need to use props. We will need the use of the following list of props to make our film look as good as possible.

• HandGun x2- for the scene where the 'Hitman' character faces of with 'Quincey Kent' and gets killed, also for when we see the flash black of 'Quincey Kent's' friend being killed.
  
• Motor Vehicle - Needed for the 'Hitman' to enter and travel to the location he is ordered to by the mystery caller, shot will be filmed of the 'Hitman' entering then a few of the looking from the inside of the car to the outside.
  
• Fake Blood - Needed to show wounds when the 'Hitman' kills 'Qunicey's' friend and when the 'Hitman himself gets killed.
• Mobile Phone - for the opening scene where the 'Hitman' gets a phone call/message from a mystery man.
  
• Package including a gun, image and message - for the same scene as the phone, the 'Hitman' get ordered to look outside his door and pick up the package. 
  

Costume also plays a big part in the film looks. Costume can help to give the audience an idea about the type of film being show and an idea about the characters personality. All of the characters in our film are going to wear suits. Quincey Kent and his friend that get killed are both going to wear suits as they are both businessmen and a suit is the stereotypical dress. The 'Hitman' is also going to wear a suit as this has also become associated with this type of character mainly through the films Hitman and James Bond mainly because it helps the 'hitman' character avert attention and blend in.

Requirements

• Camera
• Maybe a GoPro
  

In order to film our film we are obviously going to need a camera. For the majority of the film a standard HD camera will be sufficient, however for some scenes we would ideally like the the use of a GoPro camera if available to get some good Point Of View shots in the action scenes.  

A2 Media Progress Diary

Progress Diary (1st September-19th September)

Since the first week of college we have been very busy planning and completing blog work. We have completed most of the important blog work. To start all three of us came up with two ideas for a film. Once we decided to use one of James's idea all of us conducted some in depth genre research into the action thriller genre. This included some background research about the genre, history about the genre and analysing films from the genre that would be similar to ours. This was all completed by the first week. On the second week we cracked on with some more blog work completing research about our target audience, the certificate of our film and a potential distributor. This was put together into a treatment. Currently in the third week back, James is well under away writing the script and Max is creating the story boards. I am doing some research into title sequences and creating a prop list. In the next few weeks we plan to carry out a preliminary exercise to improve our filming skills further, create an online questionnaire for the public to access, as well as a video questionnaire where we will film the public answering our questions, we will also be completing more blog work.

Title and Credit Sequence research

Title Sequence Storyboard

Similar Short Films

Vengeance Rides a Train - Episode 1 - D90 Short Film Series from Akira Wing on Vimeo.

This film could be seen as similar to the film we are looking to create. This short film follows a man who in his own words 'isn't used to being hunted'. The film follows him onto a train and here we see multiple flashbacks that show the audience that his brother has been killed by a man in a suit which we assume is the man that is hunting the man on the train. The story we have chosen does feature some similar themes. As well as being ann action thriller, like ours, it has a similar story. Ours following a man who is shown as a 'hitman' who is later killed by his target which is later discovered to be the actual 'hitman'.

This film uses non-diagetic sound very well. The sound effects use help to build tension and suspense when the action on screen is minimal. This is something that I would like to incorporate in to our film to give it better playability and production values. On effect I really liked was when the suited man answered his phone. He drew the phone out of his pocket and the sound effect used made it sound like he was drawing a sword out of its holster, this showed the violent nature of the character very well.

One other characteristic of the film that I think we should incorporate into our film is the shots used around the death of the man. The film shown a man being tracked down by the 'hitman' character then being shot. This is filmed in a very simple way using a range of good shorts and editing techniques. This allows the shots leading up to the man being shot seem realistic and dramatic, however also it allows audience to see the illusion of the character to be shot without the use of make up for blood and wounds. This is a very good technique for a film of a limited budget, like ours.

Individual Analysis of a Title Sequence

Hostage title sequence - Watch the Titles

This films title sequence would be quite similar to ours would be, if we had a higher budget, our films title sequence would mimic the Frank Miller's Sin City-inspired title sequence for Florent Siri's 2005 thriller Hostage, featuring Bruce Willis, places the viewer right in the centre of a high profile crime scene taking place in one of L.A's upscale suburbs. 

The action scene which are rendered in stark black and off-white contrasting colours, with deep blood red which hints at the crime/killing themes as the only supporting colour is frozen  in time. As the camera pans across the scene, this also shows a murder scene after after the first part of the build up has stopped, so at this point the viewer should have realised that this is a a crime film, alternating between wide and close shots, the tension builds slowly but surely, culminating in the film's climactic opening scene.

Our film has a Crime, Mystery and Revenge theme throughout and this, title sequence gives off those exact themes to show what will be in there film before the film actually starts.