Our Film Title (Oliver Jewers)

During discussion, my group and I had come across many potential titles that we could have for our film. After a number of ideas, we eventually came to the final decision that our film would be called 'Metropolitan'. We chose this as it stood out above all previous names for titles, metropolitan (meaning an important state or colony) would stand out and match the colossal scale of our films story and how the events in the film could shape a new society or metropolis.

Other potential names for our film:
1st Option - 2027 - This was one of our first ideas, it would represent the year in which the events of the film would take place. We thought that this title would be interesting as the audiences would be interested and wondering why the date is significant, therefore they would be drawn into seeing the film to find out more about what would happen in the film.

2nd Option - *The name of the main character*
We never chose a name for the main character of our piece, we believe that it added to the mystery of the character and the mysterious secrets kept from the audience throughout the film. Therefore, the choice to name the film after the characters name proved irrelevant in the end. I also believe that this is a very mainstream title as it is commonly used in a lot of action films (John Wick, Jack Reacher etc), our group thought that it would be inevitably uncreative and boring.

The title 'Metropolitan' was decided after researching into names and stumbling across the film Metropolis, which follows a similar story to our own. They are similar words with similar meaning and we thought it fit perfectly with the story and themes of our piece.

Oliver Jewers

Location Scouting (Oliver Jewers)

The purpose of this task was to find out the potential places in which we could film our piece in, it helped us to consider the size of rooms and whether they would be suitable for our scene or not.

1^st section of our piece

The location of our piece takes place indoors. More particularly a dark and gritty home which has been affected by the run down society and represents the low quality of life in this universe. So when filming our piece, we will use a home which we will decorate with mise to create this atmosphere.

1^st Option

This is our first option, a terraced house in a suburban area. This would be a good place for filming as the smaller rooms are more representative of the claustrophobic atmosphere we want to use in our piece. Also it represents the main protagonist as they are being hunted and commuting to a hidden place, away from anywhere where attention could be possibly drawn to them. Drawbacks of filming here is that it doesn’t contain all the props we may need, transporting them could be a difficulty and time consuming.

2^nd Option

This is our second option for filming, a rural detached house. It would be suitable as it would already contain various props which we could use in our piece, making it easier to organise. However, it put restrictions on what we could film as the style of the house does not suit the mood or target location of the film. Therefore, it reduces what we could film and could impact its overall quality and realism.

3^rd Option

This would be a good place for us to film in as it also represents a good area which suits the aim of the film, this would create a good and realistic atmosphere matching our plan. Also, the houses rooms are suitable for the areas which we want to film, in size and proportions. Drawbacks of filming here would mean that we would be unable to use certain props and ideas.

2^nd Part of Our Piece

Our opening also consists of an establishing shot at the end to show where the film will be taking place. For this we have two potential options that we can use for this:

1^st Option - Chelmsford

This would be good for our opening as it is local and therefore it is easy to shoot in as we can get there with relative ease, this would make the film process a lot less time consuming for the whole group which would allow us to put our focus into other aspects of our film. The drawbacks of filming here are that it may not look as professional or capture the large scale civilisation that dominates the lands in our piece.

2^nd Option - London

This would be the most ideal area for filming, it would provide the large scale industrial look we are going for and therefore it would suit the mood and atmosphere of the film over Chelmsford. The drawbacks of this are that it is difficult to transport our group there due to the distance so it would be hard for our group to get there to film, this would take up planning time which could otherwise be spent somewhere else. In addition to this, if we were unable to get enough footage or if the data was to be lost, we would have wasted a large amount of time and the trip to London would have been pointless.

Knowing the potential areas in which we can film will help us when constructing our film opening as it will allow us to be more organised and prepared for the filming date, making it much easier on the day to construct our set and choose what we will film

Draft Storyboard (Joe Fisher)

Scenes one through to eight

Scenes nine through to twelve

Storyboard first draft:

Shot Number	Shot Name	Length	Mise en Scene
1	Mid Shot	0:10 – 0:25	Shows television turning on before slowly panning over to the desk.
2	High angle shot of desk	0:25 – 0:30	Very slowly zooms and shows contents of the desk. (Potentially our main character approaching)
3	Aerial Shot of the top of the desk	0:30 – 0:37	Character taking cloth from the drawer which reveals his weapons on the desk as well as a case file.
4	Aerial Shot	0:37 – 0:38	Short still of the case file
5	Extreme Close Up	0:38 – 0:46	(Camera on desk) facing up at the characters hands as he polishes/cleans a scalpel.
6	Close up	0:46 – 0:49	Character cuts finger and drops his possessions in pain.
7	Extreme Close Up	0:49 – 0:55	A drop of blood from the characters fingertip is shown.
8	Close Up	0:55 – 0:59	Blood slowly drips onto the photograph.
9	Mid Shot	0:59 – 1:02	Character opens the case file and the camera slowly zooms towards it.
10	Extreme Close up	1:02 – 1:05	Close up of home address in the case file.
11	Mid Shot from the characters right side.	1:05 – 1:07	Character takes the photo into his hand.
12	Extreme Close Up	1:07 – 1:08	Zoomed in still of the character in the photos eyes.
13	Cut back to previous Mid shot	1:08 – 1:15	Character pockets the photograph, he then takes a knife into each hand, feels them both before pocketing the larger knife.
14	Aerial Shot	1:15 – 1:21	Character rolls up his possessions and places them in his drawer as well as the case file. The camera slowly zooms out.
15	Wide shot behind character	1:21 – 1:26	Character places his hat on before pocketing his keys before walking out of frame. Camera slowly zooms out
16	Mid Shot, character enters from left.	1:26 – 1:32	Character approaches the doorway turns before switching off the light switch. Film cuts to black.
17	Establishing Shot	1:38 – 1:45	Shot of Chelmsford Skyline

On the initial storyboard, i chose to base it off the final draft shot list. Of course this was a difficult task because you can't show a moving camera on a normal sheet of paper. With this information, i had to improvise, and try and present the scenes in such an order and fashion that it chronologically made sense. This is to be considered as to what we initially wanted to film. After feedback, we decided that we needed more scenes within our film opening. All of the missing scenes from the draft storyboard will be featured on the photographic storyboard, as that will be easier to present, and will also add colour, and more chronological order to the storyboard.

Considering Mise with light and costume (Joe Fisher)

With Mise-en-scene, getting the correct themed items will be a problem, but one that will have to be overcome. The main problem is that our film is going to be themed around the 50’s, and some things may be unobtainable. Mise-en-scene and location can be considered one of the same in this context as well, as wherever we have to film will have to be based around this specific era, and customising this set to our liking will take time, and perhaps money. Costumes are important for inferences of specific ideas too, such as wear and tear of clothing, objects on the pieces of clothing, and what other clothing will be visible in the background. Colour is not too much of a big deal with this film opening as it is going to be in black and white, however, some colours give off certain shades of grey which will help give definitions between the background and the character in the shot. If we want the film to be dark, and have little contrast between the character and the background, we will also have to consider lighting, and how that will affect our scene, and on top of this, time of day we need to film to set the scene.

Everything here will be taken in to further consideration in separate parts, it also means it will give a focus to a certain message that we want to portray through the use of objects in the foreground and background, and make it so that everything leads towards the same or near the same connotations, to imply these secret messages within our scenes to portray more meaningful scenes.

Lighting:

-      The lighting needs to be crude and artificial

-   Artificial lighting mixed with the tones of darkness, revealing a whole new world within the dark. That particular white light.

-      Filming in near darkness will mean this light will have more effect, producing more shadows if placed in the direction we want it to.

-   If we did want one of these lights, it would have to be battery powered, easier to transport about, easier to change the position of the light if needed

-      A black lampshade over this light will add to its effect, especially if it swings

-      The lighting can make the film look realistic, so it is very important that was get this right

Connotations of light.

-    Hope – light has had multiple references in literature to be a sign of hope and life, especially the sun – we may need to contrast this meaning by using little to no light

-      Dying light – The coming death of hope and life, contrasts the meaning above, perhaps drain the bulb so it flickers

What sorts of lights were used back in the 50’s?

Mise will help hint towards the time period we want this movie to be set.

This specific light here (part of the G10 collection) was designed and retailed in the 1950s by Greta Grossman. We won’t be able to have one of these apparent in the opening, however, it is good to take in to consideration the design of it, and try to get something of the same design, maybe in a lower quality (shows the grittiness of the scene) and cheaper too (the ones here cost around £300). As the film is black and white, the intensity of the bulb wont mater as much, however it will be visible, as dependant on its intensity, a brighter white colour will be shown, and less shadows will be drawn, which is not what we want.

As well as a ceiling light, we also as a group decided we want a desk lamp, as it would highlight what would be apparent on the desk at that time (such as case files, illegal things during the time the film is set, etc.). For this, we will probably need a desk lamp which has a similar design to these ceiling lights.

Costume design.

-     Within the costume concepts and designs it will be good to consider what the main character will be dressed like, and what things would be present on the things that he’s wearing

-      Dirt and blood may be a good hint to the genre of this film, and connoting as to what will happen in the events after this opening scene

-    However, representing these things will be difficult as our film is going to be black and white, so things may blend in with the shadows, but that may be due to lighting to, which is something our group will need to consider at a later date (set lighting).

-     We need this character to blend in with the rebellious society of the time, but we also need him to look established as he is a detective. (refer to the use of dirt, blood, etc.)

-     Perhaps some costumes will also be visible in the background on hangers, paying attention to detail would mean that we could see what sort of job this detective lead before becoming one.

Connotations of objects that will most likely be present on this main character’s costume:

-     Dirt – having this grit and mud can lead the audience to believe that the area around or the places where he’s been a struggle, as well as run down (otherwise it would be cleaner)

-      Blood – The key connotations as to the films sub-genre, blood shows that his character deals with the corruption within the police force with violence.

-     Coat – although dirty, the coat will make this character look established. Because this is set in a 50’s, we will probably have to consider what the usual detective would wear at this time. And that would be perhaps a suit (a grey-ish colour) or a coat which goes down to about the lower legs, one of the key staples of a detective archetype

-    Shirt – we will have to consider what sort of colour we want to portray on the shirt. Pure white suggests purity, but our character is not pure (as stated before, he deals with the corruption with violence), but a pure black shirt would connote sinister intentions (which is not true, he’s still clearing this corruption of society). So perhaps a light grey colour would be fitting for our character.

Small attentions to detail

-    Gloves – suggestions of crime, but he does know what he’s doing. Knows how to get away with murder with leaving no evidence (such as fingerprints) behind.

-     A badge of some sort – shows establishment, perhaps a fake badge to show that he is undercover. Perhaps this will be subtly shown.

-    A hat – this is not as necessary as everything else, but around the time the film is set, a typical businessman would wear a hat, especially in this line of work. If the group decides that we ultimately want this to feature in our film, I will have to research as to what hat should be worn, or whether it should be on a hat rack in the background, to show his formality even in the current situation.

What sort of clothes would be worn back in the 50’s?

From these pictures it is easy to tell that businessmen of this time started to care a little more about current trends in clothing. We can also see that the most prominent colour here is grey, and even though our film is black and white, we will be using a grey suit or coat, as different colours may give different tones, which is definitely not what we want as colour needs to be taken in to consideration when portraying specific meanings. Clothing during the 50’s compared to now has changed dramatically, as most of the clothing trends back then revolved around formality and work, so replicating this same look may be a problem. Perhaps the mood board will help, and some specific research on market sites will sell things that replicate the looks from these eras

Hats

The common hat of this time would be the fedora or the trilby hat (information sourced by vintagedancer.com). there are differences between the two, but it wouldn’t really matter what one we choose, as both give the look that we want. Although expensive, it would most likely be possible to buy at a cheaper price from alternative sites. The bottom row second one is the style that our character will need, alternatively, the one just above it will also be good, as it relates closely to the source images provided

Gloves

Gloves will be important when making our main character look established, having the right sort of gloves will be key. These are the sort of style gloves that we will be needing, but it’s just a question of where to get them. I like the ideas of using the black gloves because of the connotations of black. Black suggests death, mystery and formality, which will be common themes throughout this opening scene and the rest of the film (story-line wise anyway).

Coats

The coat needs to be dirty, but needs to show formality and authority. For this, a coat such as a long coat, or something similar will be good for showing this. It also fits with the 50’s detective inspector theme, especially if this film is set in an alternative England or America. If the coat is to be grey, perhaps the shirt will be white instead, or a really light grey. Although this confuses the connotations, it will make the film look better with our given colour scheme.

Shirt

The shirt shows formality and a work-like ethic being revealed in the character created. The 50’s gave rise to a good mix between formality and style within the workplace, so getting this costume correct will help show the time period this is set in, hence why I’ve researched key themes from the time, such as styles, hats and gloves, and what sort of clothes would be worn in this line of work stereotypically. The shirt needs to be a colour that will also work well with the grey colour of the coat, considering this is black and white, I can’t really expand above the monotone colour scheme, so perhaps a light grey or white shirt would work. I think the light grey shirt would work more in terms of connotations as white suggests purity and peace as stated before. However, the colour white can be used as a counter statement or to show the intentions of this character, so perhaps a white colour would be better than light grey, as grey will become overused in this character’s colour scheme.

Dirt, Blood and small facial details.

The small details will perhaps reveal themselves dependant on the camera shots that we use whilst filming, which will have to be planned at a later date. Dirt and blood will help reveal this character’s line of work, and what may occur whilst doing this. Dirt and blood also reveals genre such as mystery and some elements of action, which our film reveals some elements of throughout. Small facial details such as laugh lines, lines in the face, dark eyes suggest tiredness, lack of sleep, and perhaps weariness, we will need to take this in to account if we do a close up shot of our actors face. Shadows from the hat could be of used to our advantage, seems our film is in black and white, and contrast values on our film editing will be high. The connotations of shadow suggest that it is where a person or group hides, and could lead to negative connotations such as death or darkness.

Conclusion:

Light and costume will have huge tie ins to each other, as light will definitely affect how we use the costume when representing our characters, which is why I looked in to both on the same subject. As far as acquiring everything needed to represent these connotations and suggestions of the backstory to our film, it might be difficult, especially when it comes to buying things that actually look like they’re from the 50’s, such as the lamps or the hats and gloves for example, but having these within our scenes will improve the quality by a mile

Casting the Film Opening (Oliver Jewers)

Our opening consists only of one character (or two if you consider the speaker on the news). This characters identity is also kept from the audience and they do not see the characters face. We needed a male character for this piece that would be able to physically act and be able to carry out the sequence in the scene. Our actor must be able to fit our chosen costumes as well. A shot towards the end of the sequence sees our character from behind as he leaves the room, he will be in view fully. We want him to have a traditional short haircut to match the traditional and old fashioned atmosphere of the film. The character has no dialogue and therefore his voice does not need to meet any certain criteria.
As for the speaker on the television, we would preferably want a female speaker who would be able to speak in a formal, 'posh' British accent as they are representing the state and bourgeoisie

Film Opening Script (Joe French)

Script:

*The only character that will have any lines in this opening will be the news reporter on the television*

*Camera starts with a black screen, titles are shown along with the English national anthem and the public service announcer will begin speaking*

News Reporter:
Public service announcement ! The supreme leader continues to enforce bans on all electronic equipment considered dangerous or harmful to our glorious state and its people. If you see any suspicious activity related to the use of a mobile phone or similar device, contact your local authority and you will be met with a generous reward !

*camera pans away from television, scene begins*

News Reporter:
In other news, the so called 'gang' known as the 'hoodlums' have been causing havoc on our streets by trying to brainwash our people with their attacks on our political leaders and their awful views on society, if you have any information on any members of this 'gang', please contact your local authority and you will be met with a generous reward !  

This is going to help us when creating our opening because it helps get the story across to the audience and further helps us when organising our filming so we know who is going to speak and when they are going to speak.

Photographic storyboard (Joe Fisher)

This photographic storyboard i tried to base off the original draft storyboard. The order goes as follows (with explanation).

1) The camera will zoom in on the desk, and the contents of the desk will be revealed to the audience.

2) The camera will then cut to a shot of the desk, but now our character is shown to pull out a cloth of weapons, represented by the stationary in this photo.

3) The character is the shown to pull out what appears to be a case file. After swiping the desk of the mess which lay on top of it, he slams the file on to the desk and opens it. Due to the camera shot, the information inside the case file is revealed to the audience, showing the characters next victim.

4) between this shot and the and the case file shot, the character will begin to refine a knife and then cut himself on it, resulting in blood dropping on to the photo.

5) The camera will then cut to a close up shot of the person in the photos house address, and where our character is going

6) The Camera then cuts to an close p shot of our character holding the picture in his hand, allowing the audience to clearly see the person in the photo.
7) The Camera will then revert back to the original shot of the desk, and this time the character is shown folding up the weapons in a cloth and then putting them back in the draw. he then walks out the door and the door slams
8) When the door slams, the camera will cut to black

The photographic storyboard, as opposed to the draft storyboard of this film, will allow us to have a look at how the running order of our film looks like realistically, instead of having to imagine it through drawing. This is the aspect i really like about a photographic storyboard, as it allows us to analyse and critique the running order of the film, and how it can be composed. In terms of the photos, the set has not been set up yet, so i just used a desk as improvisation to see how the film would roll.

Initial ideas on props (Joe Fisher)

We all made sure we had a basic understanding of what we wanted our set to look like within our group. This made it easier when coming up with what was meant to be our initial set, with all of our initial props. After brainstorming a few ideas, a few essentials of what we needed for the set came to mind, especially in regards to the fluidity of the scenes, and how they will look on screen when the final edit is complete:

The TV:

We want to use a relatively old TV, but not so old that it looks like it's from the 60's, as the props in the film are set in the past, but the actual year is in the future. We need to also make sure the TV has a HDMI cable port as we need to be able to display the graphics from a computer on to here, so we can display an SMTPE screen, and a public service announcement screen

The desk; what needs to be present on it

As we have already said before, we need the desk to be cluttered, so cluttered that there is hardly any empty space one it. We will make this work within the scenes as our character will swipe away all of the contents that are on the desk.

For this we have decided we need

- Stationary

     - Pens

     - Pencils

     - Rulers

     - Stapler

     - Stamp

     - Rubber

     - Scissors

     - Tape

     - Paperclips

     - Folders

-Paper

     -Within folders

     - Propaganda posters

     - Previous files

     - Conspiracy maps

     - Picture of characters inspiration

     - Rolled up pieces of paper, looks like scrolls, or discarded pieces of paper

     - Crumpled

     - Envelopes

     - The case file itself

            - Picture of the "offender"

            - Details, such as:

                  - Name

                  - Date of birth

                  - Previous Convictions

                  - Case ID

                  - Race, eye colour, hair colour

                  - Possible reports

                  - Current convictions

                  - We're going to use some close up shots on this, so we need to make it looks realistic. If it                     doesn't look realistic, the effect that we want the opening of the film to make will vanish

Layout of case file

Name:                                                                                      DOB:                                      

Age:                             Date of Offence:                                   Age at time of Offence:            

Race:                                       Height:                                     Weight:                                    

Eyes:                                                                                          Hair:                                       

Prior Occupation:                                                                     Education Level:                    

Prior Prison Record:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

List of Offences

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

Co-Defendants                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

CASE ID:                                                                                                                                

Synopsis:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Known photos of Offender:

-Clock

     - Preferably digital, fits the time period

-Cigarettes

     - Ash tray

     - Perhaps some ash can be scattered around the desk

-Currency

     - Preferably coins, fits with theme of being rather old and run down. but in an abundance can                create a nice effect of actually portraying the characters current financial status

-Desk lamp

     - IF shone on a particular object, can enhance it's importance, especially if it looks torn, or if                  something specific happens to it

     - Can look relatively modern and it wouldn't even matter, it would still fit with the scene. What              would be better though is if we had the lamps with the long lights instead of the circular bulbs.

-Books

     - Hopefully the significance of books and text signifies our characters intelligence, as well as this,        stationary can also highlight this, and we need to make this apparent to the viewing audience

-Alcohol

     - Generic conventions suggest that we should most likely have a bottle of alcohol as a prop in our          film

     - For this we may need a fancy glass to go along with it

-Poster

     - For this film we're going to need a custom made propaganda poster, as none of the other posters          will fit with the theme of the film

     - I have contacted someone who can produce this sort of poster for us, and it will be ready for our          first filming session

     - It needed to suggest that the government has full control of the people that it governs.

Around the desk

We can't just leave the area around the desk bare, otherwise the desk would look out of place with the amount of objects on it which set the scenes. To counter this, other props will be needed to set the scene and make the set more immersive.

-Bin

     -Preferably a steel or small plastic bin

     -Full will crumpled pieces of paper

     -Crumpled paper scattered around the place, perhaps even on the desk

     -The paper doesn't need anything written on it as it will not be the centre of focus in any of the             scenes

-Boxes

     -Needs to be full of books, paper, files, etc.

     -Signifies that this person is always on the move, he cant stay in one place for too long

     -Case file folder

-Shoes

     -The place needs to look real and lived in

     -If we have other sorts of clothes on show, it would look more realistic, especially if some are               hanging out of boxes

The wall that gets panned over, which still may be visible in other shots

Even the smallest details need to be taken in to consideration to make the scene look more realistic. The more realistic the scene becomes, the more the audience will begin to understand and interact with this films story. The main character is someone who is ex-government, rebelling against the government, so he knows the insides and outs of it's internal structure. To put this in to a physical perspective, We could have this wall present with the "network" within the government, like a pin board with all the officials faces on it, and one large one in the middle, to signify that that person is the leader.

Like something inspired by one of these:

The place where the TV will stand:

The TV needs to be surrounded by objects as well, so that it doesn't look out of place compared to what the rest of the scenes represent.

-Lucky Cat:

     -We wanted to make some of the scene look oriental, as this could imply where the character has          gone in the past, and all of the things that he has seen. This also fits with the theme, and adds              more dept to the faceless character at the beginning of the film opening

-Books

     -Books will pretty much be always present in these scenes, as they just add depth to the scene

     -Some books spines also look really good with the current scenes

Weapons:

We will be using a varying amount of props that will be sharp, so we will need to be careful when using them, but they are needed for the progression of the scene. Our character cuts himself on one of the knives, and blood starts to drip from his finger. This particular scene is essential for our roll of credits within our film, however, we can't make our actor bleed for our film opening, so we have decided to use a sauce that looks rather similar to the composition of blood to represent this on screen. Our character pulls these props out from a cloth in a draw, and rolls them out on the table (after clearing space on the desk for it). These props will look preferably like this as a general basis:

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Conclusion: 

Taking in to account all of these props and designs for the set, we should be ready to prepare for the first session of filming, as we have also considered other things, such as costume design, lighting on set and when filming, and how we will adapt the room that we have to work with to the desired set design