Jocelyn and Katie's recce

• Tried a variety of lighting in our opening shot and made sure that a strong reflection off the fridge was not present. 
• The directional mic didn't work properly and when we watched it back a high pitched feedback noise can be heard. Therefore, in our final piece we will make sure to use stereo mics for atmospheric sounds and a directional mic for dialogue.
• The scene on the stairs, with the shot/reverse shot is very difficult to perfect. So therefore we will take a variety of shots and camera angles. also, in this scene the lighting is completely different to the bright lighting in the kitchen, so we will make sure to use filler lights.
• Finally, our recce has shown us that the use of a gun as the final shot as he opens the ajar door maybe a little farfetched and therefore will take shots with and without the gun to compare which is better. 

Characters

Although the opening will involve four characters – the dad, his two daughters and a cashier – it will only revolve around two: the dad and the youngest daughter. These characters will be the main roles in the rest of the film, although the dad in particular since the daughter will have been taken. Therefore a good level of research needs to go into finding the correct actor to play this part.

Some of the British actors we had in mind include Jason Statham, Jason Isaac and Ian Kelly.

Jason Statham is known for his roles in popular thrillers such as Collateral (2004) and The Expendables (2010). His hardcore image would suggest to the audience a hidden identity from an ‘average father’. Statham would be an ideal actor to play our father, as he is known for his big budget thrillers, and therefore would want to try out a new area in our low-budget british film. His audience from the Transporter films would be interested in seeing Statham using his talents in a completely different role. 

Jason Isaacs, perhaps most commonly known for his part as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series (2001 – 2011), a well-known British actor who would be able to act as a father in addition to transforming into a revengeful secret agent. Isaacs would be able to play the mundane fatherly figure, but his performance in "The Patriot" (2000) as a sadistic British army officer shows that he would be perfect to play the father's second side aswell.

Ian Kelly is an upcoming British actor who has starred in many popular TV series such as Downton Abbey (2010) and Silent Witness (2004). He recently broke into film, appearing alongside Isaac in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) as Hermione’s father. This suggests he would be good for the role since he would be able to come across as a loving father.

It's difficult to decide specifically on girls to play the two daughters, as their ages mean that they're unlikely to be very well known. Carey Mulligan's performance in "An Education" where she plays a girl younger than her actual age, would be ideal for our film, as she is an up-rising British actress and would attract those who are fond of her performances in films or T.V series. For the youngest daughter, it would be likely that we would have to take a confident young actress who would be fairly unknown and would have appeared in very few pieces beforehand. However, this would be a huge boost for this actress, and would be a platform for her to build a career in acting, just as Drew Barrymore did in "E.T"

KDS/JK

Locations

The opening will be filmed at two different locations: a typical family home and a local corner shop.

We plan to use this house as the family’s house since it is clearly an average London house while there is also a large hedge in the front garden which will enable us to take a point of view shot of the dad leaving the house, giving the impression that he is being watched.

This house(on the left) was ideal for our location to film our opening because it represents a London suburbian house which most of the British viewers will be able to relate to, and for those who are from abroad and watch our film opening, this location offers an insight into the living conditions of an average britain.

We will also use this house for the scenes taking place inside since the layout will correspond to the exterior of the house therefore will be realistic. In addition, the inside rooms suit our plot, since there is a small playroom connecting to the kitchen so the camera will be able to pan from the dad to his daughter.

The kitchen is already dark due to the dark wooden furniture, this will therefore hint that there are dark events about to take place. This can be emphasized with lighting.

There will also be enough room to easily fit filming equipment so we will be able to film the conversation on the stairs between the dad and his elder daughter.

 Finally, the long corridor will help build tension when the dad leaves the house. We will also add to the mise-en-scène by hanging up family pictures on the wall.

The other location is the local shop. We hope to use The Cosy Corner in Balham for this since it extremely ironic as it suggests a friendly, comfortable place while contrasting events are taking place. Furthermore, it is also a local shop and therefore appears to be somewhere the dad would go to quickly grab some food for dinner.

We chose Cosy Corner over a well-known supermarket like Tesco or Sainsbury's because, first of all, filming inside a local, welcoming corner shop is easier and less hectic than in a big supermarket where it would be very difficult to film inside. Secondly, the fact that we are located in London but the father goes to a local corner shop to get milk, shows the audience a difference in the thoughts that you cannot get that village feel, where everybody knows each other and is loving to each other, in a big city like London.



Locations are so important to the way that a film is perceived by an audience because for many of the viewers they will be able to relate to the lifestyle which is set up in our London city setting. Lots of films are shot in big city's like New York and they'll have a big shot of the Empire State building to set the scene, this then enables foreigners to be able to understand the location and relate to the narrative from then on. This is the same effect on the audience that we wanted to be created with our film.

KDS/JK

Story Board

KDS        

Production Model

We plan to use the following production companies for our film:

•        DNA films
•        Film 4
•        Fox Searchlight Pictures

Research into what type of films the Film4 production model are looking for lead me to their website, where I found useful quotes which we could apply to our film. For example, 'Film4 is geared towards developing feature length/short films for theatrical use. Although ultimately we are looking for films that will eventually play on bot Channel4 and Film4.'..........'We look for range across our subject matter and budgets, though these will tend to be contemporary stories with British led talent'. The latter quote falls perfectly in line with what we had planned for our film to turn out like; a british led cast with up-coming talent with a fairly low-budget and also appealing to the US. They also say that they are 'looking for material with a distinctive voice to push the boundaries within film genre'. I believe that our film's aims to attempt to push a low-budget British film into success in the US with realistic ambitions assisted by an exciting narrative and all-british cast, is unique and therefore would be an ideal preposition for Film4 to pick up.KDS/JK


We chose these companies because by choosing more than one production company we will have more flexibility in our filming. Furthermore, these companies are well known and have been used for well know British films such as The History Boys, The Last King of Scotland and Atonement. Therefore they would suit our style of film since we are aiming for a classy British film which would be mainly seen in Britain however could be popular in the US as well. Fox Searchlight Pictures is an Indiewood US company and would therefore be suitable.

Graphics

The graphics of our film are very important since they will reflect the tone for the whole film, as the font will be seen on all the adverts persuading people to see the film in addition to the opening sequence. Therefore it must be able to inform people what the film is like.

We are planning to use the font ‘3 theHard way RMX’ since this is a powerful font and therefore suits the title of the film, ‘Retribution’. The main title will appear at the beginning of the film in white writing on a black background, filling the whole screen. This is frequently used in popular, award-winning films.

The film will open with eye dents of the production companies. These will then be followed by the directors’ names, also in white writing on a black screen, although these will appear in a simple font such as ‘Arial’ since it is more legible than ‘3 theHard way RMX’. The title will then follow this.

After the title appears, it will fade to an establishing shot of the kitchen where we will see the dad. Throughout the opening shots the actors’ names will fade across the screen. These will also be in an ‘Arial’ font since it is quite subtle and would therefore prevent the audience’s attention being drawn away from the events taking place within the scene. In addition, the font will be quite small and positioned in the corners of the screen on a contrasting surface in order to also keep the actors the main focus in the scene.

 KDS 

Sound

The music and sound in the opening of our film is very important as they set the tone and mood of the two minutes. The main sound is a music box playing Beethoven’s ‘Love story’.

The piece that we will use will repeat while Sophie is playing with her dolls. The eerie sound that the music box creates will add to the nervy atmosphere that our film begins with.

Diegetic sounds will be the first sound that the audience hears. We will use a sound bridge of the Dad opening the fridge to establish the setting and add to the verisimilitude of our opening. When the Dad leaves to go to the shop, Sophie the youngest daughter will go to her music box and open it. The sound will create suspense as we cross cut between the Dad and Sophie.

The music box sound will continue as we cross cut to the Dad. However. While he is at the counter of the shop the music box track will suddenly cut out symbolising the idea that something has gone wrong at home with Sophie.

The final non - diegetic sound that the audience will hear is ‘Behind the looking glass’, lasting around 10 seconds, symbolising the tense ending to our opening sequence, as the Dad comes up to the door and realises it’s ajar.


JK