Script

INT. OFFICE- MORNING       

CU Jess typing on keyboard

JESS (22) is an office worker with shoulder length ashy blonde hair, she has a northern accent and is often told how common she sounds. She's about 5,4" and very well dressed for her mediocre job. She's well kept and always wearing a shade of purple. Today it's her nail varnish and bracelets. She has smart clothes on and a lot of make up on for the type of she does.

The sound of typing fades out.

The sounds of screams fade in.

INT. CANTEEN- AFTERNOON

MCU Jess talking with colleague

JESS (O.S)

I mean she's still not come in, I wonder what’s happened to 'er. She'll be getting the sack if she's not careful.

Jess’ coworker nods in agreement whilst drinking her coffee.

SLOW ZOOM AND A PULL FOCUS shows another one of Jess’s coworkers face.

Jess’s coworker JOHN (34) is another office worker, he is un kept and his shirt is creased around his belly from where he has been sat all day. He’s a little over weight but not too much. He’s average looking with dark hair but looks as though it will start to thin in the next few years.

INT. OFFICE- LATE AFTERNOON

CU Jess typing on keyboard

INT. OFFICE- EVENING

POV from John’s point of view we see Jess putting her coat on. His desk is across the room from Jess so he can see everything she does.

MS Jess is getting her things together to go home for a weekend off. She gets her coat and scarf on suggesting it’s an autumn night and cold outside.

EXT. BUS STOP- LATE EVENING

LS Jess is waiting on the right hand side of a bus stop. She’s pulling her scarf up around her face. She keeps checking her watch and looking out into the road.

ZOOM IN the bus stop is now the full frame of the shot. Coming in from the right of the screen a car pulls up in front of Jess.

MS of cars passenger window. John is in the car talking to Jess, the audience hears nothing but muffled speech as if listening through the glass. You can see Jess smiling and nodding and her leaving the frame.

ZOOM OUT to see the entire car. We see Jess appears from left of the frame and gets into the car. The car moves off out of the frame.

INT. CAR- LATE EVENING

MS the back of the car we can see Jess talking to John but he is facing forward and is silent. Every so often we can see his eyes in the rear view mirror.

JESS (O.S)

I mean I still can’t believe

she’s still getting away with

not coming in. If you or I did

that we’d be sacked on the spot.

I always thought something was going

on between her and Sanderson.

MS John is fidgeting and moving about on his seat. He pulls his tie to loosen it.

JESS (O.S)

Cos she always got away with not

doing reports on time and she

bats her eyelashes and one of us

has to pick up the slack. Do you

mind if I put the radio on.

MS before John answers we see Jess put it on and dance music comes on. Jess sings loudly and badly to the song. Before she can finish her ballad John turns off the radio forcefully.

JESS (O.S)

Sorry, I just love that song

it’s on all the time when I go

out with my mates. I love going

out, especially after a week

of this shit. Sorry. I’m

going out tonight, gunna get

wreck-

MS before Jess finishes her sentence John punches Jess in the face and we see her go out cold.

FADE TO BLACK:

EXT. FORREST- NIGHT.

CU Jess is lying on the floor, she has dirt on her face and leaves in her hair. There is a bruise and cut on her face from where john has punched her. A TRACKING shot shows her lying in the dirt, her tights ripped and she’s missing a shoe. For now she looks like she’s dead.

FADE BACK IN:

EXT. FOREST- DAY.

POV we can see Jess lying in the dirt, in the same position as the last shot. This shot is behind a tree like someone is hiding behind it as if not to be seen. This persons hand is on the tree, they are a mans hands.

CU Jess is in the same position. Her bruise is very visible now and the blood has dried in her hair. She suddenly wakes up, she groans loudly and is sniffling from the cold. As she tries to rise the camera ZOOMS OUT she eventually gets up and pats her face where she has been hit. She’s clearly distressed and starts to cry. She gathers herself and quickly gets up to run for help. A TRACKING shot follows her. From over her shoulder we see John appear from behind the tree. She looks over and sees the man who attacked her she screams.

CU John is panting all ready but is not giving up chase. He grunts and shouts but no actual dialogue comes out. The sweat is visible on his brow.

MS Jess looks over her shoulder again and her hair gets into her eyes and she trips over and she scrambles in the dirt to try and get back up but a ZOOM OUT reveals John over her and he drags her by her hair. A CU shows the rock in his hand.

CU shows Jess’s feet struggling to get back up and her legs moving with her heels digging into the dirt. All of a sudden her legs drop and she’s still. Her feet then slowly start to move away from the camera.

MS shows John struggling to drag something along the forest and a CU shows him pulling on a girl’s hands with purple nail varnish on and purple bracelets and the sound of dragging along the dirt and dried leaves.

FADE TO BLACK:

INT. CANTEEN- LATE MORNING.

FADE BACK IN:

MCU HANNAH talking with colleague.

HANNAH (24) is an office worker. She has long non dyed brown hair with a purple flower in in. She has the same shade purple over her eyelids. She wears a knee length skirt with a blouse tucked in. Very smart looking. Flat shoes on and black tights.

HANNAH (O.S)

I’ve still not heard from Jess.

We were supposed to be going out

Friday night but she never texted me. She’s probably got

this bug that’s going around the office.

Hannah’s coworker nods whilst blowing at her mug.

SLOW ZOOM AND A PULL FOCUS shows another one of Hannah’s coworker. It’s John, he’s back in work and a CU shows a smirk on his face whilst stirring his coffee and picking it up to drink.

INT. OFFICE- EVENING

POV from John’s point of view we see Hannah putting her coat on. His desk is right opposite from Hannah.

MS Hannah is getting her coat and scarf on. She smiles to John and leaves.

EXT. BUS STOP. EVENING.

LS Hannah is sat in a bus stop waiting for a bus.

ZOOM IN the bus stop is now the full frame of the shot. Coming in from the right of the screen a car pulls up in front of Hannah.

MS of cars passenger window. John is in the car talking to Hannah, the audience hears nothing but muffled speech as if listening through the glass. You can see Hannah shaking her head and John continues to talk to her. She then nods and she leaves the frame.

ZOOM OUT to see the entire car. We see Hannah appears from left of the frame and gets into the car. The car moves off out of the frame.

EXT. FOREST. MORNING.

CU OF FEET HANGING. THEY HAVE ONE FLAT SHOE ON AND BLACK RIPPED TIGHTS.

FADE TO BLACK:

CREDITS ROLL.  

Lesson on Light

In this seminar Mark taught us about many aspects to light involved in films, such as the refraction of light. We were taught 6 qualities of light which are:

1. Intensity
2. Quality (hard light: produces a hard shadow whereas soft light: produces softer shadows)
3. Direction
4. Spread (e.g floodlight, localised, spotlight)
5. Colour Spread
6. Duration

We received a handout with information all about different lighting techniques and terms, for example dappled light is used to describe the light that goes through trees.

We then moved onto specific lighting equipment, where Mark taught us specifics such as specific equipment on light, such as 'barn doors', controlling the spread of the light we use in our films. On film sets, lights are referred to as 'fictures' and extra time is need to set them up to create the desired look on camera.

Hard light - produces - hard shadow
Soft light - produces - soft or no shadow

A bulb is also know as a bubble and Mark also taught us about shadows with lighting; for example the closer an object is to the white screen the harder the shadow. Dimmers are used to reduce the intensity of light which could help with creating a 'softer' atmosphere in a film scene.

300-500 watts = Mazar/Masar
150 watts = inky dinky/inky
1K = pup
2K, 5K, 10K

Lights also use coloured gels and Neutral Density gels reduce the intensity of light and these are attached to the barn doors with metal clips or wooden pegs; also know as C47s. Diffusion material i also used to make a hard light softer.

Idea

When we all met up to discuss ideas, we came up with the idea of a psychological drama as this is a genre that would allow us to experiment with various camera angles and techniques. We created the idea of a female lead that worked in an office style occupation and ended up becoming the latest victim of a kidnapper/killer who also works for the same company. The idea begins with the girl having a conversation with someone about how another female colleague hasn't turned up to work for a while and the kidnapper is seen in the background of the frame who happens to be listening into the conversation subtly.

Then, we decided there should be a scene where something begins the dramatic turn of events such as the female lead being offered a lift home with the kidnapper which then becomes the scene iwth the disequilibrium. Something dramatic happens in the scene and we had the idea of the kidnapper beign silent throughout the car journey to create a sense of awkward tension and eventually knocks out the female lead.

The location will then change to Grindleford as the female lead wakes up from her unconscious state and they are no where to be seen at first. Eventually the kidnapper will come face to face with the female and as she tries to escape she trips over and we hear her scream as an establishign shot of some trees is shown. This is to cause shock and a sense of mystery from the audience as they can't see the character or what has happened to her. In the penultimate scene we see the female's feet hanging/swinging slightly to signify her death presumably caused by the male.

Finally, the final scene features another colleague discussing the female lead's disappearance with another employee and the kidnapper is yet again seen listening into the conversation. However, the audience now are aware of his actions and are led to wonder if he will repeat them again.

We have tried to come up with a number of names for the characters and our female lead will be called Jess.

Group

For this module I am working in a group with Hannah Grencis, Alex Kentfield, Sarah Cooper and Emily Spokes. We were told not to have specific roles as we are all keen to work on our cinematography skills due to all being on the same module. Within our group I have worked with everyone before and I am therefore aware o the variety of skills each of us have that can help with this project. In order to keep in touch with arrangements and ideas for the project we created a Facebook Page to make it easier and has provided us with an organised platform to discuss our plans. Due to the shared roles, we agreed to split the filming equally when we get onto the set so that everyone has a fair share of experimenting with the camera.

Brief

For our cinematography module we were given the task of creating a short film that covers 4 elements that we cover in the module:

• Colour
• Sequence Shot
• Lighting change(s)
• Point of View techniques

Our film has to include 2 characters who live in the city and one of them decides to make a change that ends up in the Grindleford location we are required to shoot part of the film in. The brief we've been given has no restrictions to do with genre or storyline; only the requirements to do with Grindleford as a location and the 2 characters. 

We are also expected to have a minimalist dialogue/sound design and the timeframe can be any chronological order; giving us a range of possible story plots to experiment with.