Production Checklist // Pre-Production

Above is my production checklist in prezi format. It includes what I've done, what I still need to do and then the production itself as a checklist of what I'll have to do (mostly on the days of filming).

From completing most of my pre-production I have understood how much time you have to put into organising, and preparing for what ultimately will only be 2-3 minutes of footage (after being edited).

Permission for Filming Locations // Pre-Production

Before filming I obtained permission from the owner of the land that I have decided to film on. I received a response within a few days and was successful. Therefore, my locations are for definite.

Permission for Filming // Pre-Production

1 of my actors is under 18 so I need to get full consent from the parents of this actor before I film her. For the other two actors I obtained consent from the actors themselves (as they are 18).

Here are the consent forms, signed, therefore allowing me to film Wilhelmina, Toby and Holly for my trailer.

Risk Assessment (Health & Safety) // Pre-Production

Special Effects // Pre-Production

As my trailer is a 'tragedy drama' trailer there is no need for special effects. To show the 'honest struggle of someone' special effects would only make it seem less realistic which is not my aim.

In addition to this special effects are out of my budget.

However, in terms of post-production there are some special effects that I can add when I am editing that do not cost anything. These include:

- Colour grading (to get the right mood across with my choice of filters)
- Fades to and from black (to allow the audience to see a scene slowly come in and not abruptly cut)
- Cross-fades (if a cut seems to abrupt)

I will also be able to fade in and out for my audio files so that no sound cuts in and the trailer seems more professional.

All of these special effects will be chosen when I am editing my film as only then I will be able to see what colours work best and where fades are appropriate.

Costume Ideas for Georgina & Bertie // Pre-Production

Georgina and Bertie are the stock characters of my film. Although they are not the main focus of the trailer their costumes are still incredibly important in creating the correct mise en scene for the overall trailer.

The difference between Georgina and Bertie is that Georgina is very concerned about Emily while Bertie doesn't think anything is wrong with her and simply dismisses the idea of depression. This aspect is hard to bring across simply with clothing so to enhance my preferred reading of these stock characters I have given them dialogue that clearly shows the difference in opinion.

For example, Bertie says 'Who? Emily? No, no, Emily's fine, she's... she's Emily, she's how she's always been' at one point in the trailer while Georgina says things like 'Are you sure you're okay?' and 'I'm really worried about her'. Although, Georgina doesn't completely understand Emily's condition as she will be seen saying 'You've just gotta snap out of it', which if she understood she would know that depression isn't something that you can simply 'snap out' of.

For a look back at the script that I completed a few days ago click here: http://katyfilmmakera2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/script-pre-production.html 

- Fact Files - 

Name: Georgina

Age: 17

Interests: Music, art.

The costume ideas for Georgina are as follows:

-simple clothing (e.g. block colours, no bright patterns) so that the audience's attention isn't diverted to her clothes.
-practical footwear (e.g. wellies, as it's winter so the ground is pretty muddy).
-a coat for warmth when doing external shots.

Name: Bertie

Age: 18

Interests: Painting, photography. 

The costume ideas for Bertie are as follows:

-a top and jeans (as his main outfit).
-trainers for footwear (Bertie is less practical and just wants to wear comfortable shoes).
-a coat for warmth when doing external shots.

Costume Ideas for Emily // Pre-Production

Emily is my protagonist therefore the choice of costume is incredibly important so that I can ensure she has the preferred reading I want.

The preferred reading is how I (the director) wants the audience to see/perceive her. 

- Fact File -

Name: Emily

Age: 17
Interests: Writing, books, Lord of the Rings

 The costume ideas I have for Emily are as follows:

 A coat for warmth during the external shots. Emily herself is practical and as I am filming during winter she as a person would definitely wear a coat to keep warm. However, for the internal shots this piece of clothing was not needed.

Since I am creating a trailer I am going to show Emily in various locations so to make it seem more realistic she will be wearing different tops (as if the shots had been taken on different days from the whole filming of the film itself - which of course it isn't as I am only filming a trailer).

Black jeans will feature in almost every outfit as I believe they are most appropriate and are a piece of clothing that Emily would wear (due to the colour black relating to depression and the idea of feeling dark and the fact that black jeans seem to be in fashion now). As well as this they work with lots of other clothes.

Emily will wear simple shoes (as seen below), again practical in the weather (winter) but also fashionable. Both pairs of shoes look worn to make her costume seem more realistic (as if she wears those shoes all the time). 

Location Summary // Pre-Production

In summary the locations I will be filming at are..

- landscapes/fields outside my house
- my shed
- Wilhelmina's bedroom
- my living room

The rejected ideas I had are a shopping centre and a street in the village because after some thought I realise they are not needed for my trailer and are not as good logistically. In addition to this it will be much harder to get permission to film in these locations which is important as filming will be taking place soon.

Location Shots 4 // Pre-Production

The final location for my trailer is my living room. This will be used to film Emily listening to records, lying on the floor and talking to Georgina. It is the ideal location as it is incredibly accessible, has power supplies and a working record player which is needed for my trailer. It is a regular living room so it will be relatable for my target audience, therefore making them more engaged. It is also quite stereotypical of a drama film as it is a normal room and doesn't have any unusual features which would detract the audience from what they should be mainly focusing on (which is the drama of the trailer). 

Location Shots 3 // Pre-Production

For my third location I will use Wilhelmina's bedroom as Emily's bedroom in the trailer. This is actually Wilhelmina's bedroom so it looks realistic that Emily would live there. It gives the preferred reading that Emily is a regular teenage girl which is an important feature of my trailer as it allows my target audience to connect with her. In addition to this the bed and wardrobe are unusual and interesting to look at as they are a little old-fashioned. Since the bedroom is in Wilhelmina's house it will be easy to get permission to film and there will be power supplies available on set. The location is also easily accessible to me (about 5 minutes away). I intend to film various shots of Emily looking sad here and some dialogue between Emily and Georgina. 

Location Shots 2 // Pre-Production

The shed by my house is also a possible location for filming. I intend to film Wilhelmina (Emily) with a tear rolling down her eye (also with dramatic lighting) in this shed. The dramatic scene where Emily sees the axe and goes to pick it up will also be filmed in this shed. As with the previous location it is incredibly accessible and has power supplies if needed. As you can see from the photos right now it is quite crowded (mainly due to wood) however this will be a lot more clear by the time I film as a lot of it would have been used up for firewood. 'The Lovely Bones' which I analysed shows some shots in a shed, although this was where the antagonist of the film was based. For my trailer I intend to make my shed a place where Emily spends some of her time, therefore giving the preferred reading that she likes to keep herself away from other people and feels comfortable being in a slightly unusual place for a teenage girl.

Location Shots 1 // Pre-Production

The first location I had a look at was the area around my house, which is easily accessible for me. It is almost entirely rural and I have some ideas of shots in my head that involve the first image below. In terms of logistics as it is near my house if a power supply is needed then one is only an incredibly short walk away. I plan to film Wilhelmina (Emily) cycling along in the first image below. This area is quite picturesque and links with the idea of a rural environment being desirable to my target audience. Despite my target audience being teenagers and young adults, after asking various people in my target audience I found that most of them ultimately preferred a film to be set in a rural location as it allowed them to escape from their busy urban lifestyle. Therefore, this location is perfect and is easy to get permission to film at as I have done so before. It also conforms to the conventions of having a location in a drama film being quite a picturesque one so that the audience is captivated by the landscape they see. 

Location Film Ideas // Pre-Production

As my trailer follows the drama 'tragedy' genre it is important to me that the locations reflect this. To get a further grasp of drama locations themselves I quickly researched into 2 different locations from 2 drama films. I want to include some locations like the ones shown below and for each location I consider I will have to make sure that it works with the 'drama' genre and 'tragedy' sub-genre so that the audience are clear what the genre itself is.




Here are my initial location ideas:

• A bedroom
• A living area 
• A couple of picturesque rural locations with fields, etc.
• A street in a village
• A shed
• A shopping centre

Props // Pre-Production

In current drama tragedy films, regular day-to-day objects (e.g. books) tend to be used as they are objects that people can relate to. From recognising this I have also decided to use regular props so that my target audience can see objects they recognise and as they recognise them feel more familiar and comfortable watching the trailer. These props include:

 1. Various records (vinyl)

2. A record player

3. A clock

 4. A key

5. A bike

6. An axe


















The main reason I chose the props above are because I feel they fit the genre of drama well with a small aspect of horror because of the axe. The axe itself is the only aspect of another genre (cross genre) that will feature in my prop list. I personally believe it adds to the drama of the trailer as the audience will be unsure of whether depression will lead Emily to be reckless with this prop.

All of my other props add another element of drama to my trailer in terms of audio and the cinematography of my shots. In the past couple of years records have made a large comeback in the teenager/young adults audience as the 'indie' market has boomed. My target audience is almost exactly the same market although not necessarily everyone will like 'indie' music. Despite that, by including a record player along with lots of records (old and new) in my trailer will definitely entice more of an audience to watch the trailer and then want to see the film. It may also increase the desire some people have to own a record player, which could make them a little envious of Emily. This would be an interesting emotion to feel as she suffers from depression so you would think that no one would be envious of her, however through props themselves (that she owns in the trailer) the audience will judge her and possibly want to own some of her possessions (props). In addition to this the record player and records allow me to incorporate the sound from a record (used as incidental music) and the crackling diegetic sound you here once a record has finished (if you haven't removed it from the player).

The clock and key are two of my most recognizable props. They both make diegetic sounds when in use (the clock ticking and the key unlocking a door) so these sounds can be used (along with the visual) to help increase the drama of the trailer.

Finally, I chose to use a bike in one of my shots to show Emily cycling away. This emphasizes the tragedy aspect of my genre as Emily's situation is so sad (and tragic) that her only option is to cycle away. It is also an interesting alternative to walking so that I make sure my trailer does not consist of shots of Emily walking around.

Casting // Pre-Production

Emily - Wilhelmina Denness
Bertie - Toby Drew
Georgina - Holly Suddaby

Acting Photos

Wilhelmina has agreed to play my main protagonist, Emily. She was my first choice so I am very happy to have her in my trailer. 

Holly will play one of the stock characters in my trailer (called Georgina).

Toby will play the other stock character (called Bertie).

A Change of Character // Pre-Production

After some consideration into who my actors and actresses will be I have decided to change the name of 'George' (one of the stock characters) to 'Georgina' so that the character will be a girl instead of a boy. I believe this still makes sense in terms of my narrative and if anything works better simply because it shows that Emily has a male friend and a female friend.

Most teenagers and young adults have friends who are male and female so they may feel like they can relate to Emily more seeing that she has two friends (one male and one female).

Logistically I currently have 2 actresses and 1 actor who are able to act in my trailer so it makes sense to change a character to suit the genders of my actresses/actors. In addition to this Georgina is only as stock character so it doesn't matter so much that her name has changed.

Storyboard // Pre-Production

Script // Pre-Production

SCRIPT // Perfect Timing

This is the first draft of my script for my trailer. As I am doing a trailer (and not a short film) the script itself is pretty much just short bits of dialogue (so there is no full conversation).


For a drama (tragedy) trailer I believe it is important to have some dialogue however I do not need loads as I will use non-diegetic incidental music and ambient sounds to create the atmosphere I want.

Moodboard // Pre-Production

In my 'Consolidation of Trailer Research' post I made up a rough draft of my mood board. Now that I am into pre-production I feel it is necessary to put together a more detailed one and explain my choices in terms of mise en scene, location and characters for the mood board.

Mise en scene: The protagonist, Emily, will be wearing normal, every day clothes in the trailer so that more members of my target audience will feel like they can relate to her. As it is winter and some of my locations are outside it is likely that Emily will be wearing a coat and possibly a scarf. Her make-up will be like most girls wear everyday (some mascara and eye-liner) and her hair will be as Wilhelmina's hair is in this mood board. 

Location: I have thought of quite a few location ideas. The three that are certain are my lounge, my shed and the landscape around my house. Above you can see shots I have taken inside the shed and the shots of the records are in the lounge. I am also thinking of using Wilhelmina's house as the interior of her room works well as Emily's bedroom.

Characters: On this mood board I have only included Wilhelmina who plays Emily, the protagonist. I will also have two stock characters in my trailer (Bertie and George) although I haven't decided on the actors yet (but they will most likely be a similar age to Wilhelmina).

Typography: I have also put 3 possible fonts for my title 'Perfect Timing'. These are just some initial ideas and are likely to develop in time.