Character Research

Stalker

Recognising someone as a stalker is almost impossible. They look like normal human beings, like you and I. There behaviour is often linked with those who are domestically violent.
Characteristics-

• Jealous
• Narcissistic 
• 'instanlty' in love
• views themselves as a victim
• 'You owe me'
• Mood swings (anger and love)
• Cannot take no as an answer
• They are the victim

I would have thought that the stalker was stereotypical creepy guy. However I think that there are two images that could be used. Firstly someone smart, well dressed and subtle. But secondly a yard worker, someone with stubble dealer boots and combat army trousers.

Sources-
http://www.stalkingbehavior.com/howto.htm
http://xene.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/common-stalker-characteristics/


The young couple-

I do not imagine the young couple to be the average young lovers. I think that they will be nervous and on edge as they are running away together.
Here are the typical characteristics of a young couple-

• They are constantly smiling in each others presence
• They always want to being holding hands, cuddling, or kissing

Body Language-

• They would be facing each other (bodies turned inwardly if walking)
• When holding hands it would be loose to show their comfort and confidence within the couple
• There smiles will be natural and not appear forced. 

Harlie.

Camera shots that we used

Some of the camera shots that we need:

Extreme Close up

Long Shot

Panning Shot

Worms eye shot

Bird eye shot

Harlie & Emma.

Filming Times

Emma and I have talked about filming time and as we want to film in the dark we have to do it after school. We have media last on a Thursday week one so we thought about getting ready during that lesson. But however to suit the other people in our film that we are prepared to do it most evenings. We have to play when we film by ear because we really want it to rain. We are regularly checking the weather forecast but we are yet to get any luck. 

Harlie

Film Title Fonts

I think that the title sequence font should be bold. I think the colour should be white because against the black this would be really effective as it would stand out. Looking through fonts I thought that 'Impact' would work well. I thought that this was effective because of its simplicity. Year 12 AS media studies. I also looked at 'Bradley Hand ITC' I thought that would be good in bold because it could have been the 'Stalkers' handwriting. Year 12 AS media studies.

Another idea that I had was to get somebody to write down the titles and we could scan them in and this would look really effective

Emma and I are yet to make an agreement on the Film Title Font but we will put our ideas together and work out what we want to do.

Harlie.

Thriller Definition

Thriller is a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. The primary sub-genres of thrillers are: mystery, crime and psychological thrillers.


Thrillers are mostly characterizes by and atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder by showing society as dark, corrupt and dangerous, though they often feature a happy ending in which the villains are killed or arrested. Thrillers heavily promote on literary devices such as plot twists, red herrings and cliffhangers. They also promote on moods, such as a high level of anticipation, adrenaline rush, arousal, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety and sometimes even terror. The tones in thrillers are usually gritty, slick and lurid.


Wikipedia definition- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre) 




Emma.

Better Music

I am fond of a pianist called Ludovico Einaudi. I love his music and often play many of his songs on the piano and only the other day realised that one of his songs, being classical with no words, would be perfect for our film. I thought a personal favourite of mine, 'Oltremare' would be a good choice to play in our film. It starts slow then gets quicker which would be perfect as our film starts with simple walking and then gradually gets into a more 'interesting' turn of events.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8MzHqkNBwo 

Emma.

Music

Our film starts with a man walking. I discovered after listening to Adele's album that her song 'Hometown Glory' would be a possible good song to go on throughout our film, simply because it starts with the line, 'I've been walking in the same way, as I did...' - that was the only simple reason, plus it's a quiet, slow and possibly sad song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MixzjwDFSvM


Emma.

Other Locations

I recently went to Chelmsford town. It was raining, and dark, and the atmosphere from the street lights was beautiful- the perfect setting for our film. However we had already story boarded our film and after some discussion I decided that it would not be suitable for filming as there would be lots of people around who may not be comfortable being filmed- even if not intentional, plus as the couple have to walk back to the house it would not be as theoretical for them to have a 30 second walk from a town to their house.

Emma.

Good News

We found a couple!

Emma.

Trouble With Couple Finding

Within our film we have a maximum of three characters. A stalker, and a couple. Before we start filming we obviously need to find the three characters. We managed to find a person to play the stalker, however we had great trouble in finding a couple- as most people are embarrassed to act (as they are not professional actors) and also as we have a small kissing scene, it concludes even more 'embarrassing'. We are worried if we'll ever find a couple.

Emma.

Camera Shots

I have recently been watching the latest series of 'One Tree Hill'. Paying particular attention to the camera shots as well as enjoying the program i discovered a really effective shot. This shot and particular scenario had a stalker type person following a couple. In the scene the stalker lady is watching the couple sleep through a big patio door window. You can just see her silhouette which I think is really effective.

The part starts from 2:23 in the clip below for about 3 seconds.

http://www.cucirca.com/2010/05/04/one-tree-hill-season-7-episode-20-learning-to-fall/


Emma.

Costume

For our stalker I think that he should be a bit like a yard worker. I think a green bomber jacket with camoflauge trousers and dealer boots I think this would be appropriate because it is a very stereotypical image of a stalker. I would have him with stubble also so he is percieved as unclean.

 

For the couple I think that they should just be dressed in casual  clothes. jeans and t-shirt and jumper. I think that the man should be wearing shoes that make noise when they work because the noise will be effective. I think that the clothes that the couple wear are not as improtant as what the stalker wear. I think that they should be warm as it is raining and they are runnign away together.










Harlie

Other Ideas

We thought about other possible locations and other shots that we could use but decided not to.
Camera Shots-
In an episode of Hollyoaks there was a long shot through a door, you could not here what they were saying but the camera slowly zoomed in on them. There was also a shot like this through a pair of patio doors on the programme 'The Little House' on ITV, I thought this would have been effective as we could look through the into the bedroom when they run to there.

Harlie

Idea 1

Our idea is to have a couple who are longing to be with each other. The man of the couple lives on his own, in his own house. And the woman lives with her parents in a house about 10 minutes away. The parents do not know about their daughters new love. The daughter goes to meet her man at a run down green house, and then they go back the the mans house to get away and be safe. What they are not aware of is that a mystery stalker is following them, but who knows what he's plotting...


Emma & Harlie.

Location shots

Near my house is a garden centre. It has a few rundown greenhouses down the bottom of their land. As they are my neigbours they are easily accessable. The galss from the windows are smashed and there are weeds growing. We thought we could use this location as a meeting point in our opening scene. It does not have to be used as a green house as it could just be used as a rundown area.


Harlie

Story Board

The images scanned in in the wrong order. So the pages read 2, 1, 4, 3.

This is our story board of how our 2 minute film will run. It consists of _ different camera shots, ranging across the board of a varied amount of shots..? However we may add more shots whilst filming if ideas pop up.




Emma & Harlie.

Ideas

We recently watched a scene from the Blair Witch Project. Not much happened in this particular scene however there was an effective part at the beginning of the scene which gave us inspiration in our film.

At the beginning of our film we plan to have heavy breathing in a blackout, and this is going to be repeated again at the end- again in a blackout. And this came from the beginning of the clip from the Blair Witch Project which has heavy breathing in a slight blackout.


Emma & Harlie.