Setting Up for Filming!

This week we were ready to start filming! Today we decided to organise our sets after school. We all went back to my house as we really needed to clear a filming space in the garage as it's very full!
Before:

 After:

Once we had cleared a suitable space in the garage, we decided to add some more things to make the set seem more like there were children living there. From reports we had read, we remembered that Elisabeth had pictures the children had drawn on the walls of the cellar. We went inside and began to draw childlike pictures, even writing some German words onto them!

I also burnt a DVD of an Austrian news report on Fritzl, to play on the television in the cellar. This is the video I used..



After a day at school and an afternoon/evening of preparation we decided not to start filming tonight, so our first day shooting will be on Friday, when we all have plenty of time! I also need to prepare my costume and dig out an old television for the cellar! We're all really excited and can't wait to begin.

Moodboard

This week we finished making moodboards, to help inspire our filming. I used a lot of dark pictures, some relating directly to the story.

Animatic

Our animatic is now finished. It's quite basic as we didn't want to spend too much time on drawing it when we need to do some other aspects of planning. Here it is!

Inspiration

This week we began our animatics. Using iMovie we put together each frame from the storyboard and edited in sound effects and transitions. It will be up on the blog soon, as it is not yet finished.


Whilst researching music for our opening we came accross a pretty surprising video by chance. We were shocked by the first few seconds, as it closely resembles our theme and ideas.


We really liked the colours that were used for the flashbacks; a kind of sepia effect. The music itself was also really inspiring, although only the first half. The second half was a bit too heavy, whereas the first half was quite eerie. It was also in German, so very relevent to our opening. The most interesting aspect was the father/daughter relationship.

Storyboard

Our finished storyboard. As you can see, we have decided on a title for our film.... Amstetten. We found that this title was the most suitable. We will also be using medium to exreme close-up shots. We cannot use long shots because it is filmed in a cellar, and we want to keep the illusion of cramped spaces. Animatics to come...

Planning and Storyboarding

This week we discussed our filming locations, choices of actors and what kind of sounds we need to incorporate into our opening.

Locations

All Cellar Scenes - including memories 5 and 6:

We decided to try shooting these scenes in my garage. This is because it is a large area and we can make the lighting really low key, to get the spookiness of the cellar. It also has a power supply, so we can plug the television, so we can play the newsflash.

Memory 1 - Little girl/shadow

This scene could really be shot in any setting, as long as we kept it with the theme (i.e. not looking too modern). We decided that it could be shot in my garden - although it could be difficult to get the lighting correct in order to create the shadow.

Memory 2 - Girl and Fritzl from back

We thought that Alex's lounge would be a good place to film for this scene. Alex only lives a minute's walk down the road from me, so it is easy for us to move locations without losing any time.

Memory 3 - Teenage Elisabeth

Again, the setting of this scene isn't essential, it's just an establishing scene, so the audience see Elisabeth as a teenager. We may film this in Georgie's garden, as she has a bench where Elisabeth can sit.

Memory 4 - Sleepover scene

This is another scene that will be filmed at Alex's house, in her bedroom. Mine and Georgie's bedrooms look too modern for this scene.

Cast

Fritzl

My dad volunteered to play the part of Fritzl. Seeing as we are shooting at my house and you don't see the character's face in our opening, we decided this was best. He also has a small amount of acting experience.

Young Elisabeth

Fritzl began abusing Elisabeth at the age of 11, So our young Elisabeth needs to be around this age.Alex has a family friend called Amber, who is 10 years old and willing to take part in our film opening.

Teenage/Adult Elisabeth

As I am taking Drama and Theatre Studies, I volunteered to play Elisabeth when she is older. I will play her both as a teenager and as an adult as she needs to look similar in both. We couldn't think of two actors who look similar.

Extras

We need some other teenage girls to be in the sleepover scene. We thought that Georgie, Alex and another friend could play these parts, if we set up the camera and recorded ourselves. If not, our friends may be willing the take part.

Sound

We need to look for or make our own:

Metal doors banging

Footsteps getting nearer

Baby crying - echo effect - because this is in Elisabeth's memories 

Girls laughing - echo effect

We also want to think about any music to add into the opening.

We also completed our storyboard this week. So as soon as they have been scanned I will post them. Next step, animatics!