Contingency Plan

A Day before Filming

We were going to film in a forest, so we were getting permits for Buskett since that would be a perfect area to film in for an archaeological find.

A picture of Buskett we took while doing the Location recce phase.

Then we had a party and I discussed with the actors and crew and we thought like why not do it inside there so the story will be that Horatio Nelson hid the box deep inside a shelter. After getting permission to film there, we cancelled our permits to film in Buskett because every time we were planning to film there, everything goes wrong especially with weather. So we are going to use my grandmother’s basement to make it look like a shelter and then we will film in the other place and I think it should work well.

The new location.

Getting the Permits for the Music

After writing the screenplay, I now needed to get permission for the soundtracks to use in our film. I needed to contact Greg Edmonson for this. I was a little unsure about this though. Since Greg is American, this wasn't going to be easy to get the permission. It was very likely that he won't reply and I was afraid that we will have to record music ourselves.

Greg Edmonson

I sent him an email anyway and to my astonishment, he responded that day. Fortunately, he agreed unless we don't make money off it. :) 

Writer's Block

This was the worst thing that happened to me while writing the screenplay. Alex and I had a writer's block and my colleagues couldn't think of anything else. I had the plot and I knew what I needed to do but I couldn't imagine what could happen, how Ellie needs to save Alex and how the Mafia Boss will enter the warehouse. I didn't have a clue of how I should do the dialogue to make the Mafia Boss look powerful and Alex heroic but scared at the moment. I tried and tried... 3 days it took but I needed to finish this so we could start doing paperwork and shooting the film for the holidays. I then studied the plot and saw a movie regarding archaeology and played a game.

 I took the inspiration from this guy above (a criminal mastermind).. He kills the one helping the main character and then I changed the idea of the last Scene. Ellie gets taken hostage by the Mafia Boss, killing her because she is ruining his plans. After that, I knew exactly what I had to do since the plot was very clear. Jack points the gun at Alex and he gets surrounded. He cannot escape and that's how the story continues.

Writing the Screenplay

I started writing the screenplay about 2 days later [On the 4th of December].. I had a lot of the words that I had to include in my mind so it didn't take so much in the first scene. My only problem was to begin the script and then I got the idea to make the main character excited for his discovery and his closest friend is really impatient that he is only interested in the climax of archaeology so he doesn't appreciate his work. Since I was going to play the part as Charles (later changed to Jack) I wanted to make his character a little unusual and the complete opposite of mine for a bit of comedy. Following the plot we wrote before, I started to develop the scenes little by little. 

Soundtrack Research

I was searching for soundtracks to feature in my Short Film - 'Among Thieves' and when I was playing this game, the music in it was really good and it really sets you in the mood when you're for example falling from a cargo plane, jumping from a sinking ship or walking in a forest. I thought these would really fit if I would use them in my film. I really like these soundtracks! I will need to get the permission from the composer and after that, I will be good to go :)

Writing a Plot for our Short Film - Among(st) Thieves [2nd December]

2nd December - I started writing the plot of the story with the help of my colleagues and Jeremy (Alex Nelson) since his aim is to be an archaeologist. So this was the perfect thing to start off with. The main title was originally Amongst Thieves but then later was changed to Among Thieves. We were researching for an explorer or a famous British officer and we found Horatio Nelson. He was going to be one of the focus of the story and we made the main character Alex (which was originally Alfred) his heir. The story was to start off at Ta' Qali (or another place particularly a forest) with Alex (Alfred) and Jack (Charles) finding the 1800s British Box hidden by Horatio himself. Flashbacks were going to be used showing Nelson himself but then got scrapped due to time limit. Once it was finished, my colleagues liked it and it was time for the next step.. Writing the screenplay itself.

Using new Recording Hardware

For an assignment, we had to record audio in different locations. For this, we had to book the school's equipment. This was the first time using them and we filmed in 3 different locations: A Church, Bedroom and a Bathroom.

A Story in Pictures

A Story can also be made as a number of pictures after the other. I made a 10 photo story with my friends showing a guy getting hurt and when his friend finds him injured he calls the ambulance for help.

Linear Film

A Linear Film is in Chronological order meaning scenes are shown in order the way they happened.

Linear Film Examples are: 

                                                                   

                                                                  Harry Potter 1-7

                                                                          Friday

Parallel Editing / Cross Cutting

Cross Cutting is when in a scene, the location keeps changing from one to another, to show that they are happening at the same time.
It has been used since the Early 1900's with films such as:

• The Great Train Robbery
• Life of an American Fireman

Cross Cutting is frequently used to create suspense and showing different perspectives.

It is also used during phone-conversation scenes so that viewers get to see both characters' reactions to what is said.  An example is this from Rush Hour (1998)

Shot Sizes

Shot Sizes

In Class, we discussed shot sizes and angles and we watched this short film 'Lifted' by Pixar to understand them. 

We then, took a single camera production scene and wrote the shot sizes and angles. I did so, using one of my favourite movies - Rush Hour 3

Every time I watch this film, with the help of this course, I notice new filming and editing techniques. I'm starting to appreciate it more than I when I saw it back in 2007. One of my favourite part is Act 3, The fight scene on the Eiffel Tower and after, when they jump off it. I managed to find a Behind the Scenes / Making Of this part and I was really surprised how it is just filmed in a studio and green-screened. This is why I like it more than before because I appreciate their hard work. Before, I used to think that they really filmed in the Eiffel Tower but with safety equipment (Although the first fight scene in the restaurant, they really filmed on the Eiffel Tower because Chris Tucker said in an interview that they let them film there for 7 days. 

This is the video of the Behind the Scenes I was talking about earlier.