Props Board

For our short film we used many different types of props and some were a lot more used than some of the others but they all helped in making our film a lot more realistic and a lot easier to film different things. All of the props that we used are listed below.

The picture above is the prop that we most used in our short film and it was also the most helpful to make it look good. It is Harrys' car which we used for his character to be driving. By using this car it gave us more freedom in what we wanted to do instead of having to wait for people who can drive to help us. Also we didn't have a lot of choice in using this car because only Harry can drive so we had to use his one. This prop allowed us to do the majority of our filming as it was in the part when Harry picked up the hitchhiker and it drove us to where the murder was going to be committed. Overall this was the best prop that we have used.

This is an Ariel Atom that Harrys' dad owns. We thought that we could use this because when Harry has committed the murder he needs a get away car so instead of using just a normal car we thought we should try to use it to our advantage when we were filming because normally in films get away cars are fast and look cool which is what the Atom does very well. This enabled us to film a big chunk of our film so it was very effective when filming.

Another very important prop that we used was the sledge hammer which was the murder weapon. We thought this would be ideal because we wanted to make the murder scene almost over the top gross and we thought by caving somebodies head in with a sledge hammer would give this effect nicely. Also the hammer wasn't an overly big prop so it was easy to take places when we needed it. This prop made this part of the film look very realistic so I am glad that we used this in our short film.

Location Recce and Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment - Woods

Location: Woods

-          Murder scene -          Little bit of dialogue between Sam, Harry and Glen -          Both characters getting to location

Hazard	Person/s at risk	Likelihood of hazard (1-5) 1= least likely	Severity of outcomes 1= lowest risk	Risk level Likelihood + severity ÷2	Measure to reduce risk	Final risk level acceptable?
Weather – equipment gets wet	Actors	3	3	3	Make sure that we are outside the shortest amount of time possible	Yes
Fall into ditch	Actors	2	4	3	Make sure that we try to film as far away from this as possible. Make people aware of it.	Yes
Jumping down verge	Actors	4	4	4	Try to help each other get down the verge or find another pathway down.	Yes
Trip and drop equipment	Equipment	1	5	3	Try to be extra careful with it or get something to protect it when we carry it.	Yes

Location Recce - Woods

Description of the chosen location
This is a wooded area which has a lot of trees around with a small lake running at the bottom of it. Its at the side of a road so it is easy to access and there is parking there.
Issue	What to look for	Notes
Access	Bus stops and train stations	There are no bus stops or train stations.
	Parking facilities	There is a small car park but will only take about 4 cars.
	Lifts/stairs	There are no lifts or stairs, just a verge which you have to jump down or you can walk about 20 meters down the road and there is a concrete ramp.
	Doorways (Width – consider equipment as well as people)	There aren’t any doorways as it is an outdoor location.
Space	Enough room (for cast/contributors, crew and necessary equipment)	This is a very open space so there is plenty of room for everyone.
	Immovable objects (Are there any that will get in the frame?)	There are lots of trees but there are more open spaces if the trees are in the way.
	Set dressing requirements (esp. for dramatic production)	There aren’t for this location. However my characters don’t have any other costumes than the ones they are wearing.
Lighting	Windows (Are there blinds/curtains to minimise changes in daylight during the shoot?)	It is an outdoor location.
	Lighting appliances (Fluorescent/tungsten? Can they be switched on and off?)	There is only sun light because it is outdoors.
	Plug points (If lighting kit is to be used)	There aren’t any plug points at this location.
Issue	What to look for	Notes
Sound	Traffic noise	It is right by the road but it is not a busy road at all so this shouldn’t be a problem.
	Air conditioning (If yes, can it be switched off?)	Outdoor location.
	Computers (These have a low level of hum that, if in use, will affect nearby audio recording)	There are no computers at this location.
	Other people on location (Might people who live/work on location be disrupting the shoot?)	There won’t be anybody else at this location during the time of our filming.

Location Recce - Kitchen

Description of the chosen location
This is a location recce checklist for the kitchen. It is a large space with lots of lighting however it has lots of things in the way such as tables and work tops so these would need to be put somewhere else so that it would make a bit more room to be filming in.
Issue	What to look for	Notes
Access	Bus stops and train stations	There is a bus station which is about a 10 minute walk so it is easily accessible for people who don’t drive.
	Parking facilities	There is some parking down along the street however there isn’t a lot of it so any more than 2 or 3 cars could struggle.
	Lifts/stairs	The room is on a ground floor with one small step to get into the kitchen so it would be a problem for anyone.
	Doorways (Width – consider equipment as well as people)	The doorways are very wide so there would be any problem with anyone or any equipment getting through them.
Space	Enough room (for cast/contributors, crew and necessary equipment)	This would be a struggle because although it is a large space it is filled with lots of stuff so they would have to be moved or it would be unusable.
	Immovable objects (Are there any that will get in the frame?)	There are no any immovable objects.
	Set dressing requirements (esp. for dramatic production)	There is plenty of space to change as there is an upstairs with many rooms.
Lighting	Windows (Are there blinds/curtains to minimise changes in daylight during the shoot?)	There are lots of lights which is good for when you want it to be lighter. However if you want it darker the curtains are quite thin so this may be a problem.
	Lighting appliances (Fluorescent/tungsten? Can they be switched on and off?)	They can easily be turned off at the switch.
	Plug points (If lighting kit is to be used)	There a 3 plug points with 2 sockets in each so there is lots of places that will be able to take the light plugs.
Issue	What to look for	Notes
Sound	Traffic noise	There is no traffic noise here.
	Air conditioning (If yes, can it be switched off?)	There is no air conditioning.
	Computers (These have a low level of hum that, if in use, will affect nearby audio recording)	There are no computers.
	Other people on location (Might people who live on location be disrupting?)	No there won’t be any disruptions. Because there are no other people there.

Settings Board

In our short film there are many different locations that we have used to make the story flow well and to make it look a lot more realistic than just having it in one setting. Also by using different settings we were able to show a time difference between the first half of the short film to the second half after there long drive.

The first setting that came up was the kitchen (as seen above) that 'Simon' who is played by Harry owns. We decided to use this as our first shot because we wanted to show the audience that the character has just come back from a day at work or from being out with his friends so by walking into a kitchen doesn't make it look like it is out of the ordinary. Also another reason that we used it was because it has got lots of light so we wouldn't have to worry about either brigthtening it on the computer or trying to find extra light from somewhere. Another good reason is that it has a lot of room so we could film Harry from many different angles when he walks into the room and we can also sue different techniques such as the tracking shot that we did. For this we needed a long flat place so that we would be able to wheel the skateboard along it so that we could get the decent looking tracking shot that we have now got on our short film. It was also very easily accessible because it is in Harry's house so we could use this whenever we wanted to.

Another setting that we used was the one on the side of the road where we filmed the part when the driver picks up the hitchhiker. For this scene we needed a place that had somewhere safe that Harry would be able to pull up at for the hitchhiker and somewhere that wasn't too secluded because then it would look strange that the hitchhiker was just randomly stood there. So we decided that this spot with the parking at the side of the road was ideal. This is because my character was then able to stand by the parking spot so that he wasn't on the road and Harry had somewhere that was open and easy to stop in. Also we chose this because it is a quiet road so there wasn't to many people that were driving past which would then affect the sound of the clip so we wouldn't be able to here the actors talking. Another reason is that we wanted a lot of space so that we could film without standing in the middle of the road. So by having the parking spot that we stopped in we were able to film both sides of the car while having a safe distance from any cars that may have driven past. We completed a risk assessment for this location as we thought this is one of the most dangerous settings that have used. However the only downfall of this location is that there is no artificial lighting around that we could have used for when it was getting dark so we had to come down here first in order to get a decent shot with the camera before it was too dark to film.

The main part of film is obviously the murder that 'Simon' Harry's character commits. For this we decided that we wanted a very secluded spot which would give off a very creepy feel and possibly make the audience think that something bad was going to happen. Also this would then also stop the hitchhiker who was sat in the car able to see what was happening which then makes it more of a surprise for him when he gets down there and finds the body. We eventually decided on this part in the woods. Harry chose this as he has know this place from previously driving past it on a day out. Another big advantage is that it is a very open space for use to be able to film a lot and for use to act out all of the stuff that we wanted to do. This is good as our short film wont feel as if we have been confined to one place the whole time and that we have been able to spread out and use what we had at hand. This woodland area and the road that leads up to it was also ideal for our ancillary tasks that we have created. For the poster we have used the road that leads up to it with the trees that are all hanging in around it. We put Harry into the middle of the road holding the hammer which is the murder weapon that we decided to use. I think it looked really effective as it makes it feel like the victim had nowhere to go. The magazine cover that we made we had Harry stood there again holding the hammer above the ditch that we have used for the actual murder scene. In the part of the woods that we were in we found a slight ditch that we thought would be perfect to do the actually murder scene in. This is because it is quite a stereotypical thing to find a dead body hidden away in a ditch and also it would be good because then again the hitchhiker wouldn't be able to see the murder when it actually happens because it is down behind the edge of the ditch. Another good thing about this location is that it had another pull in part where Harry could safely stop the car and we would be able to do some filming where we had level ground and we weren't in the middle of the road.

Actor/Character Profiles

The slides shown below are all of the characters who are shown in our short film and then underneath them is all of the people who play those character and how they relate to there character in the short film. I think this is a good thing to do because by people reading this it gives them a good idea of how the character and people playing them are both very similar.

 

1. Simon - The Driver (Harrys character)

 

2. Nick - The Hitchhiker (Sams character)

 

3. Mike - The Victim (Glens character)

4. Simon - The Confused Policeman (Harrys second character)