Unit 13: Final Film Project

 Candidate Declaration - I confirm that the attached portfolio is all my own work* and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself.

Task 1: Project Proposal

CLICK HERE

Task 2: Research

My Ideas

1.  Shadows (Thriller) - A person's shadow escapes into the real world, and traps them in the shadow realm. They must get their shadow back before it wreaks havoc.
2.  The Matchmaker (Comedy) - A girl enlists the help of an unhinged matchmaker to help her find a man.
3.  Demons (Horror) - A boy's inner demons (perfectionism, greed, etc) come to life to torment him and his friends.
4.  Grim (Mystery/Thriller) - A woman is murdered but is kept in limbo, where she can see the living but they can't see her. Death gives her a duty to kill people when their time is done, and in the process begins unravelling the mystery of her own murder.
5.  Key Witness (Mystery/Thriller) - A woman is called out in a news report as a possible key witness to a murder, though she has no recollection of ever seeing the victim in her life.
6.  Last Meal (Dystopian Horror) - A world where food is in shortage, so convicted criminals are executed and fed to the public. People have grown an appetite for human meat, so police start wrongfully arresting people in order to feed their obsession.
7.  Swatted (Mystery/Drama) - A popular internet live streamer get swatted and accidentally killed due to a malicious prank call. Thousands of fans begin an online search to bring justice to find the identity of the caller.
8.  Wheels on the Bus (Mystery/Thriller) - During a bus ride, the bus driver unexpectedly dies whilst driving and crashes into a nearby field. All of the passengers survive, but the driver is suspected to have been murdered.
9.  The Premonition (Mystery/Thriller) - A fresh spin on the 'Groundhog day' trope. A girl has a premonition about about a murder, but every time she tries to stop it, she fails, and the day restarts. Through the events of the movie, she realises she cannot stop it, and must let it happen and see the good in it.
10.  Dollhouse (Thriller) - Inspired by 'Celebrity Big Brother', a has-been celebrity enters a new game show, however it is soon revealed that contestants are put in there to eventually drive each other mad, and tear each other apart.
11.  Underwood (Mystery/Thriller) - Inspired by 'The Woman in the Window', Ace Underwood is sent away to a boarding school, only to witness a murder that he can't explain, as the victim seems to have no recollection of the event. This leads to a deeper mystery, that could be connected with his family.

My 3 Chosen Ideas

• KEY WITNESS
• UNDERWOOD
• LAST MEAL

My Research

 KEY WITNESS - The story is not inspired by another film, but by the rare moments in reality when police make an appeal on TV to track down a possible key witness of a crime, particularly inspired by this case: CLICK HERE. The visual style would mainly focus on imagery associated with rural Britain, Like the movie 'Men (2022)': IMDB Page. The topics discussed would mainly focus on how easily someone can go missing, particularly in rural settings. There are over 320,000 reported missing incidents every year in the UK, according to THIS WEBSITE.

 UNDERWOOD - The story is inspired by 'The Woman in the Window (2021)' (IMDB Page). In the film, the protagonist witnesses the murder of someone she knows, but no one believes her once the victim is replaced by another person, whom she believes is an imposter. I wasn't confident that the film used this twist on a murder mystery to its fullest potential, so I wanted to do my own. The visual style would by strongly based on an aesthetic called Dark Academia (WIKIPEDIA). The topics discussed would mainly focus on gaslighting and abuse of power within private education (CLICK HERE).

 LAST MEAL - The story is inspired by a real life case in 1972, when a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed into the Andes mountains, forcing the survivors to endure freezing temperatures, avalanches, starvation and, eventually, eat the dead among them (FULL ARTICLE HERE). The visual style would mainly focus on imagery associated with autumn, such as falling leaves and warm tones, to signify the slow death of the story's world. The topics discussed would mainly focus on the lengths people can go to in order to survive, as well as raising questions to do with what it means to be humane, how we choose whether something lives or dies, and based on what variables?

My 2 Shortlisted Ideas

• UNDERWOOD
• LAST MEAL           

The Greenlight Pitch

Task 3: Planning

Character & Casting Info/List

CLICK HERE

Character Mood Boards

CLICK HERE

Overall Aesthetic Mood Board

Task 4: Production

The Script

 NOTE: I made the decision to not write the full story, as I felt it would be unfair to cram everything into 50-60 pages, so instead what I wrote is essentially "Part 1" of the full story.

CLICK HERE

Task 5: Evaluation

The Script

 In terms of what I think went well with the script, I'm very happy with the world I've created and the different characters within it, especially how they all have clearly defined strengths and weaknesses. I think the abstractness and extremity of everything is around about what I originally intended for. I'm also glad that everything I wanted to fit into part one hits the mark in terms of the number of pages.

 For what I'm not fully happy with, I'm not confident that all my points translated all that well, which is a problem since they are the reason the story is even being told. I also am aware that it took me a while to get into the flow of writing it, which meant I had a lot of catching up to do in the final weeks. I'm also not great at writing action or stealth so I believe those parts of the script ended up being underwhelming.

The Film Festival

 I was unable to attend the UFilms film festival this year, however I have watched some other students' films that they entered, and I'm very proud of my classmates for the things they have achieved this year. I did not have a film to submit this year as I chose to write a script instead, however I helped around with other peoples' organisation for the festival, particularly helping a student put together a poster for their film (Echoes of Monday) which was to be printed and used to decorate the festival, along with other films' posters.

What Went Wrong

•  I'm not as happy as I feel I should be with the overall script
•  It took me a while to get into the flow of writing it
•  I did not attend the film festival

What Went Well

•  I enjoyed the experience of having more creative freedom than I'm used to
•  I enjoyed creating the characters
•  I have never written a script this long in one go before

What Have I Learned

•  I need to be faster at coming up with ideas
•  I work better under pressure sometimes

What I Should Improve On

•  My writing speed
•  My problem solving ability

 Overall, I'm glad I had the opportunity to do a script this year instead of a short film, mainly because it has been less stressful due to not having to rely on other people and only needing to rely on myself to get work done. It was definitely creatively freeing too, not having to worry about budget or do-ability.