Rough Cut Deadline

Today is the rough cut deadline. unfortunately, I planned to film the remaining scenes last weekend but it snowed so i was unable to as obviously the continuity would be ruined. However, by today I have managed to edit all the footage i have together including a soundtrack and a title sequence.

This is a printscreen of my opening sequence. This is the part where Marie reads the letter from her husband. As you can see there are titles of the actors also.










This is another shot of the letter from a different angle. I wanted to include different shots and angles so that the video was much more interesting to watch. In addition it allows you to see most of what is written on the letter when all the shots are combined.







I plan to film the remaining scenes during the half term and hopefully if the weather permits, i will be able to do this. These shots are the ones that include the woodchopper and where Marie leaves her baby. I also plan to include shots of the woodchopper perhaps watching Marie as she walks through the woods these will include shots of him watching her from behind trees or in the distance. Also, I plan to do a shot where the woodchopper is chopping wood in the distance perhaps on the shot where the baby is left. As this subtly introduces him into the film but so subtly that you may not be aware of him.

Shooting Timetable Re-visited

Date to film	What to film	Comments
Christmas holidays 17th December- 4th January (actress unavailable)	·         Panning shot of the soldier ·         Shot of all the postcards and letters on the table ·         The opening shot of the trees ·         The point of view shot of Marie running	·         Fortunately I managed to get everything I planned to get filmed all filmed in this time window.
Sunday 8th January (actress available)	·         Marie reading the letter ·         Marie walking into the woods with the baby ·         Marie walking out of the woods without the baby ·         Marie running away	·         I managed to get all of this filmed in the time I had planned although I am unhappy with the letter scene.
Wednesday 25th January	·         Re Film the Letter scene	·         I plan to redo the letter scene as I am unhappy with it at the moment
Sunday 29th January	·         Film chopping wood ·         Wood Chopper running ·         The axe ·         Baby left in woods	·         I plan to film all of this on this Sunday. However if I don’t manage to get any/all of it filmed I will film next Sunday.
( If unable to film on Sunday 29th film) Sunday 5th January	See above.	·         This is some contingency time in case I don’t get all the filming done before this.

what I plan to do...

The deadline is in a few weeks time and I still have some filming to do...

Firstly i have decided that because my original footage of the letter scene was absolutely awful, i need to redo it. I plan on getting my nan to write the letter this coming weekend as she had old fashioned curly handwriting which will make it look much more realistic. I can then film the letter myself with an over the shoulder shot where i wouldn't necessarily have to have the actress because you wouldn't be able to see her apart from her hands. This means that i could practically use anyone. So this could be filmed during the week sometime.

I found two pieces of music that may fit into the opening scene of my film. I haven't yet decided which one to use because I'm not sure which one will fit in with the mood and tone of the film without hearing and seeing them both together because i want to make sure that it creates the right ambiance for the audience. The music i have found is by Yann Tiersen. I found it on YouTube after hours of trawling through song after song to find some reasonably appropriate ones. Tonight I plan on emailing him to see if it would be okay to use his music in my production. If not...then I'll have to find some more.

I still need to film the part with the wood chopper and I will hopefully sort some costume out this weekend in order to be able to film next weekend. I have an actor who volunteered to be the wood chopper. All i need to find are some lace up work boots and perhaps some cord trousers. Unless i can get away with doing a shot where you can't see the trousers.. other than that I don't want to show the whole of the wood chopper this early on in the film. One last bit of filming i have left to do is where the baby is left in the shelter. I planned on going to Fritton woods to film this part as I went there once and found a shelter that someone had made which would have been perfect. However i am unable to get there to do any filming and in addition i am not entirely sure that i would be able to find the place again. so instead i plan on building my own little shelter in the woods behind my sisters house which i have been using for most of my production work. I plan on doing this at the weekend so that it is ready to film next weekend so that i am all finished with filming.

Then all i have to do is upload everything onto the computer and complete editing it all together making sure that i focus on the titles and creating some sort of suspense among the audience.

Costumes for my Actors

 Obviously I need it to fit in with the era of my opening sequence to make it look much more authentic and realistic like it is actually filmed in the 1940's.
As finding clothes from the 1940's is quite difficult I decided to see what I already had available to use and made costumes adapted from what I already had. In addition I also asked people I knew to see if they had anything that i could use. From this I managed to get a fur coat to use in my film opening.
This is a list of the costumes that I will need for my actors:

Marie:

• Fur coat
• 1940's style dress
• 1940's style black court shoes
• 1940's style hair an make up

Woodchopper

• Boots
• Checkered Jacket
• White t-shirt
• Blue jeans

Shooting Timetable

Shooting Timetable

Date to film	What to film
Christmas holidays 17th December- 4th January (actress unavailable)	·         Panning shot of the soldier ·         Shot of all the postcards and letters on the table ·         The opening shot of the trees ·         The point of view shot of Marie running
Sunday 8th January (actress available)	·         Marie reading the letter ·         Marie walking into the woods with the baby ·         Marie walking out of the woods without the baby ·         Marie running away
Sunday 29th January	·         Film chopping wood ·         Wood Chopper running ·         The axe ·         Baby left in woods
( If unable to film on Sunday 29th film) Sunday 5th January	See above.

Script

“NOWHERE TO BE FOUND”

FADE IN:

EXT. WOODS. DAY.

Tall trees loom above as black birds noisily swoop overhead contrasting against the white sky.

INT.KITCHEN TABLE. DAY

A small framed photograph of a soldier lies on a wooden table covered with old black and white photographs, greetings cards, postcards and newspaper clippings.

INT. KITCHEN TABLE. DAY

MARIE BROWN, a twenty-two year old woman sits at the kitchen table in her navy blue polka dot sleek dress, her mouth drops a little as she reads through a letter clasped in her small hand. She neatly places a hand on her perfectly styled dark hair and sits back in the wooden chair. After a moment, she slaps the letter back on the table, quickly stands up and walks off.

EXT. WOODS. FROSTY DAY

MARIE clasps a baby close to her chest in attempt to stay warm. Wearing a knee-length cream coloured Mack MARIE wearily steps towards the dark woods and glances around her, her breath visible until she disappears into the darkness.

EXT.WOODS.DAY

The baby is neatly wrapped in a warm pink blanket placed next to a small wooden structure deep within the woods. Sticks are entwined with each other creating a small shelter from the harsh weather.

EXT.WOODS.DAY

MARIE walks through the woods, this time she does not carry a baby clutched to her chest. She instead carries sadness on her face. Quietly stepping delicately over fallen trees and sticks she makes her way back through the woods. A Faint sound of chopping is heard in the background.

EXT.WOODS.DAY

A woodchopper chops wood deep within the woods surrounded by trees. He suddenly stops and looks up.

EXT.WOODS.DAY

Marie’s delicate, small feet run by, the floor passing under her feet rapidly. She is quickly followed by the large heavy footsteps of the woodchopper. A large axe reflects the sunlight as it is swooped down in one chop.

Props

Obviously I will need some props in my film opening to make it look more authentic.

This is a list of the props that I think i'll need:

• Picture of a soldier
• Old photographs/ postcards
• A small dark wooden round table
• White table cloth
• Hand written letter
• Fur coat
• A baby
• A small blanket
• Wooden axe

Storyboard

Film Synopsis

Title: Nowhere to be Found

Genre: Thriller

Audience: Aficionados- People who like to see something less mainstream and different to what would normally be shown at a cinema.

Logline: Set in the 1940's a woman goes missing and years later her child tries to discover what happened to her.

The sky is dull and birds are flying out of the dark woods as if they have been startled by something. A picture of an Army officer stands in the corner of the room on a table with many postcards and Christmas greeting cards nearby. A woman, MARIE sits at the table reading a letter she has received from her husband telling her that he will be returning home from war but in the meantime, she has given birth to a child that does not belong to him. She picks up her coat and hat and wraps the baby up tightly in a blanket. She takes the baby in her arms and walks into the woods behind her small house. It is silent apart from the dainty footsteps of Marie snapping twigs under her feet as she walks and the faint chopping of wood from a wood chopper in the distance. She reaches a small wooden shelter deep within the woods and places the bundled baby neatly inside it; lingers for a while, turns her back and walks away. As she walks back towards her house the chopping noise gradually becomes louder and louder as she gets closer and closer to the wood choppers location having taken a wrong turn. Their eyes meet and Marie gives him a shy smile and changes direction. A quick glance over her shoulder and she sees the wood chopper following her. Her little black shoes get smeared in mud as her pace quickens followed closely by the heavy boots of the wood chopper. Her pace quickens and so does his and a loud chop is heard. Then silence.


Where will my plot go?

After the opening two minute sequence I envision my story quickly changing to 25 years later with an old woman talking to a young woman, Grace about what happened to her mother, Marie. This then continues with the young woman trying to find out what actually happened to her mother by trawling through newspaper archives and revisting the now abandoned house which hasn't been touched since the day her mother went missing. After long hard days of questionning people and research she almost gives up but eventually finds the man who saw her last- the wood chopper who is now a fragile old man and discovers that he did actually kill her mother.