Locations

Ballet Studio

Our first filming location will be the ballet studio. We will film this in the Sandwich Technology School dance room which is a large open space with mirrors on one wall. 

Sophie's Bedroom

 Our second location is Sophie bedroom, we will be filming this in my bedroom and adding lots props to make it more personal to Sophie and her life.

Street

We will be using Minster streets/ally ways to film Sophie as she tries to escape her home life. We wanted a massive contrast between the first half of the film and second so by using dark, unfriendly, urban settings for the second part of the film we hope to achieve this.

Public Toilets

 

Our last location we will be using the public toilets in Minster. The grimy unfriendly atmosphere is a perfect shooting location for the last dramatic part of our film. Again, we wanted to use an urban setting which would contrast greatly to the ballet studio for Sophie's last scene.

Costume

Sophie Evergreen
Sophie will have two costumes throughout our production.
The first is the ballet costume which will be used within the first scene and the second is her own clothes which she wears to go out. We wanted to have the contrast between the ballet costume she is forced to wear and her own choice of clothing which represents her personality.

1.

2.

Evanna Evergreen

Because we dont see Evanna's face in our film, it is important that her costume reflects her personality. We want her to look 'prim and polished' to reflect her demanding nature over her daughter.

Edit: As Evanna is no longer part of our production we will no longer be requiring her costume.

Character Profiles

Below I have written some background information about the characters who will feature in Flight.

Sophie Evergreen

Played by Leanne Clarke

Sophie was born on the 12th November 1993 in the urban city of Hammersmith, London but moved down to the countryside residence of Kent when she was 13. She currently lives with her mother, Evanna and father, John as an only child. She enjoys sports including horse-riding and badminton and also takes a ballet class three times a week which her mother is passionate for her to pursue as a professional career. She attends a public school where she achieves above average grades but has little close friendships due to her ballet dance commitments. Although Sophie values her ballet she considers it just a hobby as she wishes to have a career in Architecture. Sophie is a quiet individual who enjoys her own company. When she is not tied up due to dance commitments she enjoys painting and going for long walks.

Evanna Evergreen

Evanna is Sophie's mother. She pressures her daughter into a career of ballet-dancing, due to it being a previous, and still exisistant passion of hers. Despite her strict and professional approach, she has good intentions, and only wishes for her daughter to succeed. She has always accompanied Sophie to her ballet dancing classes from a young age, and has never missed any important recitals. Evanna teaches Sophie privately in their own dance studio, to ensure her success. Due to her motives for her daughter's success, a distance between mother and daughter has developed. Evanna has a high sense of self-worth, and prides herself in her appearance. The family's social status is of high value to Evanna and her husband.

Film Name Ideas

We wanted our film name to express our characters feelings about her current situation.
I have drawn up a few examples we came up with below.

We then decided all sat down as a group and decided to choose Flight as our final name. We feel that flight describes the nature of our narrative, hinting at what events are to come without giving too much away. I think that the film name flight is very thought provoking for audiences.

After deciding on our film name we decided to take to Facebook and ask our primary audience what they thought about the choice of name.

The feedback we gathered all appeared to be positive, with many people commenting that the name was short and effective which is what made it so appealing to them.

Stop Motion

We liked the idea of having key parts of our film in stop motion so throughout our production (particularly in the second two scenes) we have decided to take photos instead of video to give us the effect of distortion. We wanted to do this to represent Sophie's venerability and surreal state of mind throughout the second part of our film.

Some examples of stop motion which I enjoyed are below.



The stop motion draws the audience in, it makes them feel like they are actually drifting through London. Instead of just using camera film the stop motion animation adds an interesting twist and captures audiences attention.


The use of stop-motion here makes the audience focus more on parts of the film, for example, the animation stops briefly when showing the two characters faces, this makes the audience think about their emotions towards each other. We will be using stop-motion in key parts of our film as we want the audience to focus on our character Sophie's emotions and actions and we also want the detachment of our character in her unfamiliar settings to be intensified.

Script Draft One

Here is the script which Jack has written up with input from myself.

Scene 1 – Ballet studio

The scene begins with an establishing shot of the dance studio. This sets the scene for the viewer. It then cuts to a shot of Sophie, the protagonist of the short film, stretching. We only see her feet initially as this offers a sense of enigma and also shows that she is a ballet dancer. The camera then pans across Sophie's body as she prepares to dance. We then see Sophie's mother press play on the radio, as soft piano music begins to play. This is an extreme close up. We then see Sophie's mother saying, quietly, '1, 2, 3.' - counting as to provide a rhythm for Sophie's movements. This shows that Evanna is more of a mentor to Sophie than a mother. The camera then pans backwards as Sophie begins to dance. Numerous shots then follow of Sophie dancing. The shots will primarily consist of close ups. When Sophie has finished dancing, the shot cuts to Evanna saying in a fed up manner 'I guess that will do for today; you're going to have to try better next time'. We see a long shot of both woman leaving the room, we then see a long shot of Evannas's hand pressing the light switch and the camera panning backwards. There is darkness for numerous seconds.

Scene 2 – Sophie's bedroom

The second scene begins with a long shot of Sophie's bedroom. This cuts to a downward tilt shot of Sophie taking off her ballet shoes and changing into high heels. This then cuts into a upward tilt shot of Sophie full-dressed, ready to go out. There is then a close up of Sophie's face reminiscing as she looks through her old dance medals and photographs. The audience focus on a photo of Sophie as a baby as she slips it into her pocket.

Scene 3 – The street

Camera is stationary as Sophie walks down a dimly-lit street. There are several jump cuts as she walks, symbolising her impending detachment. This cuts to a medium close up of Sophie drinking from an alcohol bottle. These jump cuts continue until she reaches an alleyway. There is then a long shot as she walks. The alley-way is dimly lit. Sophie approaches a dark figure and they make contact via their hands – the exchange of money for drugs. The audience cannot see the drugs and instead just see their hands by the use of close-ups. The drug dealer remains anonymous, and there is no dialogue between the two.. There are then numerous jump cuts as Sophie walks into a public bathroom.

Scene 4 – The public toilets

The final scene opens with a close up of Sophie's feet as she walks into the the public toilets. The public toilets are dimly lit and have a 'gritty' feel to them. There is a mid shot of Sophie at the sink, splashing her face with water and looking into the dirty mirror. There are several close ups as Sophie looks at the picture of her as a baby, reminiscing in the past. There is an over-the-shoulder tracking shot as the camera follows Sophie into one of the cubicles. The camera then pans outwards and it is suggested that she takes the drug she purchased earlier, yet nothing is seen.

Shot List Draft One

Here is the first draft shot list which I have created.


-- FIRST SCENE -- Dance Studio.
Tracking shot of Sophie's feet stretching.

Close up of Sophie's body, stretching.

Close up of Evanna pressing play on the CD player.

Close up of Evanna lips humming one, two, three.

Camera pans backwards and we see Sophie dancing.

*More camera shots of Sophie dancing TBD here*

Long shot of both woman walking out of room.
Camera slowly pans backwards as Evannas presses the light switch.

Darkness.

-- SCENE TWO -- Sophie's Bedroom

Long shot of Sophie in room.

Panning down shot of Sophie taking off ballet shoes.

Panning up shot of Sophie putting on heels fully dressed to go out.

Close up Sophie's face looking at photos/medals.
Close up of Sophie's hand touching posters/photos.

-- SCENE THREE -- Street

Cuts to shot of Sophie's feet walking down street (jump cuts/stop motion animation)

Medium shot of Sophie drinking from alcohol bottle
Close up of Sophie buying drugs from man (jump cuts/stop motion animation)
*more street shots TBD included here*

Long shot of Sophie walking into toilets. (jump cuts/stop motion animation)

-- SCENE FOUR-- Public Toilets

Close up of Sophie splashing face with water and looking at herself in mirror.
Close up of her hand looking at her baby photo.

Camera pans backwards as toilet door shuts.

Drama Genre

Drama
Drama is a very broad genre and includes a variety of sub-genres (explained below). Most films within the drama genre mostly cover the development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Themes such as, alcoholism, infidelity, religion, poverty, class divide, corruption and racial prejudice are often covered. Usually dramas focus on one character who is in conflict at a vital moment in their life and revolve around family life, touching on the emotions of the audience.

Popular drama sub-genres include,
Melodrama: ''uses plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience. Melodramatic plots often deal with "crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, strained familial situations, tragedy, illness, neuroses, or emotional and physical hardship'' Titles include, It Happened One Night, Gone With The Wind and Casablanca.
Costume-drama: ''a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambiance of a particular era.'' Titles include, Marie Antoinette, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice.
Crime-drama: ''Character development based on themes involving criminals, law enforcement and the legal system.'' Titles include, Drive, The Heist and Betrayed.
Comedy-drama: ''is in which there is an equal, or nearly equal balance of humor and serious content.'' Titles include, Happily Ever After, Bad Hero and 10 Years Later.


Our film will also have certain elements of realism.

Social Realism
Social realist films (also known as kitchen sink dramas) are a representative of real life. The stories and people portrayed are everyday characters, usually from working class backgrounds. Films within the social realist genre are typically gritty, urban dramas about the struggle of daily life. Titles include, Fish Tank and Look Back In Anger and Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.

How has analysing short films inspired my own production?

Analysing short films has helped me to gain an understanding about how to capture an audience and get them involved and excited about a narrative in a short space of time. Analysing short films has also helped me gather inspiration for my own short film.

Watching the short films 'Influences' and 'Escape' influenced me to use animation in parts of our film. I felt that these two films were unique and different and this was helped by the use of animation and editing used throughout the films. The animation helped to highlight key moments within the films and this is what we are hoping to do within Flight, we shall use animation to help engage the audience with the characters actions and to also to add a sense of surrealism.

When watching Loved On Water I loved the way the director only chose to frame parts of the main characters body at the beginning, this technique is called fragmentation. We shall be doing this for the first part of our film when Sophie is walking to the dance studio, concealing her identity at first to add interest and mystery.

When watching Heart Work the locations really inspired me, the dark atmosphere with the bright lights in the background were really visually appealing. We have decided to take inspiration from these scenes and are going to try and re-create them when filming our 'street' scenes.