Update: Casting of Grimm

Unfortunately Jonathan Oslar has unexpectedly become unavailable for the part and we need to immediately find a replacement. The only way to overcome this issue and sudden panic was for my partner to play the role of Grimm himself.

Dominic Lewis

Fortunately he is 6 foot tall which is perfect and shows intimidation. A huge benefit to casting him is that he will always be available. I will film all of the shots where he is playing Grimm.

Filming equipment list

Organising Filming and Re-filming

This picture is how me and my partner have communicated when organising when to film. This made organising actors and directors very easily and efficiently. It was a successful method.

New Location Recce

Due to narrative changes, we have decided to change the house we were originally filming in for one that is off a big size and has a large drive way. This was offered by my partners family members and has benefited our film massively.
All of the pictures below are rooms we plan to film all of our shots in. They should hopefully cause the audience to feel discomfort due to the amount of windows there are.

Costumes for our short film

Grimm

We decided to dress the antagonist, Grimm, in a black tracksuit with a white mask. We wanted the tracksuit to be black due to it connoting death and seriousness which are typical themes used in many horrors such as 'Scream'. The white mask would then counteract this as white connotes ourity and innosense. We thought this would be a good colour to use for the mask due to Grimms victims being innocent.

Zola

We will also dress Zola in black and white in order to connote these elements again. However, her top will be white which stans out first and implies instantly that she is the innocent and pure protagonist.

Auditions to play: Zola Mils Grace

Jade Moon

Jade Moon is the first candidate for the main role of Zola. Jade has had some past experience in acting whilst taking part in drama for three years at school. She isn't very keen on acting as she came across slightly nervous but is still happy to take part.
She is perfect height for the part as she is around 5 foot two - small enough to portray the idea of her being timid and weak.
Overall, we have decided not to cast her but she will be a good replacement if the main actor is unavailable.

Lauren Oslar

Lauren Oslar does not have any experience in the acting industry and although we were impressed with her audition, we could feel her discomfort which made her acting seem un-natural. Her height was slightly too tall for the role which we also had to take into consideration.
Her availability was of good standard, therefore we will consider her as a replacement instead of the main role due to not meeting certain criteria

Mili Lewis

Mili Lewis is very experienced in drama in and outside of school which has allowed her audition to show her confidence on stage. Her audition highlighted the fact that her acting came across very natural which we did not see in the other auditions.
She is 15 years old which is perfect age for the role of the young protagonist as it shows weakness and possibly the idea that she is young and naive.
Her availability was perfect and is very likely to be available whenever she is needed.
With all of this in mind, we have decided to cast Mili as the main actor, Zola.

Auditions to play: Grimm

Rupert Hollin

Rupert Hollin is in his fourties and has a bold build with broad shoulders which is perfect for the role as this character needs to look intimidating and strong.  Another aspect which makes his build ideal for the role is the fact that he is six foot one - tall enough to come across intimidating.
He has a lot of past acting experiences, especially in short films and playing the antagonist.
By gathering all if this information together, we decided to cast him as the antagonist, Grimm.

Luke Harman

Luke Harman has a tall build with a slim figure and is in his thirties. His height makes him look intimidating but his build makes him less intimidating than Rupert. He was very confident throughout the audition which was a positive also. Due to us being very impressed with this audition as well as Rupert's, Luke will be the perfect replacement if needed.
However, his availability may be an issue in the future due to commuting to the filming location in Farnham.

Jonathan Oslar

Again, Jonathan is ideal for the antagonist role in terms of his build and height.
He is also a perfect replacement in needed and his availability is better than Luke's which makes us lean more towards Jonathan as the first replacement if Rupert is unavailable.

Character Analysis

Zola Grace (protagonist):

Zola is a 17 year old girl with a height of approximately 5,3 with brown eyes and mousy brown hair. She is born and raised as a British citizen living on the outskirts of Essex. She lives in a detached house with her mum, her dad and her little brother with no pets. Zola enjoys spending time with herself in a quite setting where she can read, write on her blog, go on her phone, watch films and TV all day.




Grimm (antagonist):

Grimm is a mysterious character that the audience do not know much about. They are unaware of his age, profession, nationality, race, eye and hair colour.

Props needed for short film

List of Props:

• Cup of tea - This gives the audience a sense of realism as making tea is an action people do in every day life. This can then add more horror to the scene as the audience feel as though the scary events could possibly happen to them and they can picture themselves in the protagonists shoes.

• Laptop - Zola is using this laptop to write on her blog. Connotation of youth as young adults and teenagers use a lot of technology in their everyday life.

• Sofa - Where Zola is sitting on her laptop and receiving and replying to the mysterious text messages. Most shots show her on this sofa when she is scared as it presents her vulnerability when she is scared to the audience as she is too afraid to move. This stereotypically targets teenage girls as they are seen in society as being the most weak and vulnerable.

• Earphones - These can connote youthful immaturity as it portrays how teenagers can be oblivious and unaware of their surroundings and the dangers around them when they use earphones with loud music. This targets young children, teenagers and adults who witness unawarity from young people.

• Phone - The phone that Zola receives and replies to the anonymous texts on. This is a prop that targets the younger generation and how they are always on their phone and texting a lot.  

• Kitchen utensils - These include utensils such as knives. I plan to show a knife in the background of my short film whilst Zola is either in the kitchen making tea or looking around the room when she hears a noise. By having this prop visible to the audience, this can cause them to associate this with the idea of foreshadowing a negative event which may be happening soon. This event involves using this knife as a weapon which is a very popular use of iconography in horror films. 

Risk Assessment Form

Short Film Pitch Q+A

Above is a video of our pitch for our short film idea being presented to an audience. A Q&A session did occur at the end, however the memory card as full, so was unable to capture the questions. At the end of the pitch, the questions the audience asked are stated below with our responses;

How will you make the shots with text messages in look professional?
The solution to this question is that the text messages will be displayed in an alternative way. We knew that the text messages are hard to film due having to film an over the shoulder shot with the characters hands typing in the shot. Obviously, this is hard to execute, and we took this into account by generating the options of either, having the text messages appear on the screen itself whilst being able to maintain mid shots, close-up and extreme close-ups to show the reactions to the text messages being sent and read by the protagonist, Zola. Therefore, this then obtains a professional edge to the shots by having clear and steady shots which allows better viewing pleasure, being as close as possible to the quality of 'big' films who have higher technology to aid them. Alternatively, we may even remove the audience sight of the text messages, and just have the protagonist see the message and as an audience we see her reactions. We can therefore, have that same professional impact through this method too.

Have you got the mask and costumes for your characters?
The costume for our protagonist is completely sorted already. We have white/light clothing for females already, being tops, shorts, tracksuit bottoms, jackets, jumpers, the lot. Moving onto the antagonist, we have decided he will be in all black/dark clothing. We have got the trousers and jacket sorted already. However, for the mask of Grimm, we had in mind the one on our pitch, however, we thought to create questionnaires to open up on social media to get the audience insight. We will create a first questionnaire to ask the audience their favourite mask from each category of mask to begin with, such as, animal masks, clown masks, zombie masks etc. Then we will take the audiences favourite mask from each and place them in a final questionnaire and get their overall favourite for the most frightening mask. We will see if the majority has dominate a certain mask and if we feel it suits our role, then we will purchase this mask.

The question below then was a question that followed up the previous question asked.

What if the masks are expensive? Have you got a certain budget for the mask? What research and where will you find the masks you are using in the questionnaires?
Jade and I have already taken all this into account. We have set a budget of £20 maximum for a mask, so it isn't too expensive but definitely worth the investment to tailor the audience preference. We also made it very clear the masks we put into the questionnaire have to be purchasable, within the budget and noted where from. Therefore, all the masks we will place into the questionnaire will be available and affordable. With this, we shouldn't encounter any problems.

Idea three: Suprise Recce

For our third idea, our short film will be located in a house. This is a popular location used in horror films as it counteracts the general thought of home being safe.

Another reason we thought that a house would be an ideal place to film our horror was because we are able to make use of many windows in the background. By having windows present in the background of shots can cause the audience to feel discomfort due to them not knowing what is outside and who could be watching through the window.

We also do not face any limitations as this house is available at anytime if we need to re-film any shots. Lighting will also not be an issue as it is easily adjustable.



Idea 2: Virus Recce

For this idea, I have chosen my location and have taken pictures in the areas where the film will take place.
For my location, I have chosen to base my short film within a average-sized house. This can give the sense of realism and help portray the negative message that people rely on technology so much that they do not need to leave the house to know what is going on in the world.

In this short film, we felt that most of it should be set in the kitchen where the person would be sitting at the table on their laptop. Again, supporting the message that people spend too much time in one spot, using technology.

I have taken pictures of the laptop using more than one shot which we will include in our filming if we chose to go forward with this idea. It will also allow the audience to see what the entire room looks like instead of only being able to see it through the use of one angle.

The use of colours in the mise-en-scene can be important in the narrative and mood throughout the film. For example, in the kitchen, there is lots of white shown and the colour white is known to connote innocence, safety and the idea of being clean. However, the narrative goes against the idea of safety due to the people who live here not being protected by this virus in their own home. It also counteracts the idea of being clean as people suffering with virus generally feel as though they are dirty.

In addition, the uses of the colour grey is associated with the meanings of dull, dirty and emptiness. Therefore, the grey is used to describe the virus itself. It can also be associated with loss and depression in which the virus is causing as there are many deaths and loss of loved ones.

Idea one: Newbreaker Recce

This is a location recce for my first idea of the drama short film - NewsBreaker.



The recipient's house

Above is the house where we plan to see in full in the short film.The use of this will be an establishing shot of recipient. This is where the first news (bad) is broken. This is a common, normal standard price and average family's house. This then emblematizes that the recipient is a normal person just like the viewers. This creates similarities and sense of realism for the audience.


The recipient's door (from inside)

This picture shows what we would see as a POV shot as if we were the recipient. This would connote innocence due to white walls and a white door, which is stereotype that portrays innocence and purity. Therefore, the news that is about to follow will seem mean and is an upsetting act.

Short Film Ideas