2. Initial Reaction
• My initial reaction for this project is that I am really excited to be able to do something that is completely up to me and
to be able to make a film with no major restrictions on my concept. Making films is something that I actually want to do
as a career in the future and therefore being able to do this now is a fantastic opportunity for me to learn everything
that I can and to practice now whilst I have the guidance of my tutors available. Another positive is that there is so
much equipment available to me from the college that I could actually make a successful short film myself with
professional cameras and post production equipment.
• However I am quite stressed and scared about it too, as it is so important since it will give me my grade for the entire
year which in turn is 50% of the grade for this course. I have a few ideas however they majorly need developing so that
the story not only follows an arc but is interesting and clever. I know that there are many different aspects of the film
which all have to come together properly so that it is an interesting and successful short film. I know that doing a short
film is a lot of work as it is 10 time harder than the small video rotation that we did and that was work within itself yet I
think that seen as we have a longer duration of time available to us it is definitely doable.
• In the future I am hoping to make full feature films and therefore at the moment I am more focused on learning the
basics on filmmaking and what content is appropriate and therefore I will be making a short film of about 5 minutes in
duration. I think that this more suited to my personal preferences as it makes more sense than doing a TV advert or
music video as that isn’t what I’m interested in. In addition I would like to make a drama/thriller as they are personally
one of my favourite types of films. This means that I am passionate about it and hopefully that will show through in my
work. I think that thrillers are often well perceived by the audience because they aren’t too scary however if the twist is
done well it leaves the audience thinking about the film afterwards. There are many inspirations for this specific genre
however the ones I would have to say had the biggest impact were Shutter Island and Fight Club as they are so clever in
the way that they reveal their twist at the end.
• Altogether I am very excited to develop my ideas and do research into what film idea I should peruse as I love making
films and I really hope that the final product comes out well and that my planning was correct and helpful.
3. Mind Map
Film Ideas
People Disappear Girl is dead
Mockumentary
People start
disappearing
but no one
notices.
Only one girl realises.She tries to
find out
why it is all
happening
but she
starts to
disappear
too.
It is set at a
college/school.
A lot of it is
set in
classes.
Similar to teen wolf
but without the whole
background of the
supernatural and
different reasons why
things happen both
before and after.
Set in college
and in a village.
Based
around one
main
character
and a few
people in
her life.
She goes about her daily
life but weird things
happen to her.
Someone had died
at her school but
she doesn’t know
who.
She thinks
someone is playing
a joke on her but it
turns out she is the
one who is dead.
Then you
flashback
and see all
of the
clues.
One scene
with a bus.
Set in a
college.
Based around
two teachers
who are friends
and obsessed
about star wars.
Filmed like a
documentary
with the camera
following people
around and
having a fly on
the wall type
interviews.
It would have
students,
teachers, doctors
and people in
costume as
‘characters’.
4. Mind Map
Final Idea
Cast/Characters Setting
Props /
Costume
Problems /
Issues
The home
scene will be
shot at my
house.
The school
scene an be
set at York
College.
The graveyard scene can
be set at the Haxby
graveyard.
The school bus will
be set on a reliance
bus. (hopefully)
Flyers for the
dead girls
memorial.
TV to play the
news story on in
the living room.
Breakfast food
for the morning.
Her costume will be just
general clothes nothing
special just jeans and a t-
shirt.
The main character is the girl
who the film is based on, she
will be played Sumiah Sinclair
Shaw.
The mother will be played
by my mum Janet Brown.
The teacher and
class can be one
of the media
classes and their
teacher at
college.
Her friends can be played
by Abbie Nicholls and
people in my class, there
will be around 4 friends.
They will be students at
the school with the main
character.
Being able to use the bus
to film will be a problem
however I will have to
ring the bus company to
ask them if they will be
me film on one of their
buses.
Another issue will be making the tv
news story be on the tv when I film but
I think to do that I will film that part
first and then play it on the tv when I
film the breakfast morning part.
She is 18 and is
at high school.
If I could just
film whilst the
bus is waiting
at a bus stop.
5. Mind Map
Final Idea
Tone/Colours
Style
Technique/
Filming
Sound
Blue – Signify the
sadness and loss of her
life.
Green – Show the
weirdness and
creepiness of the
situation that she
is in.
Dark Shadows and tones – To
show that something I
‘hidden away’ or the secret
that is the ending.
Since I cannot use copyrighted music
the backing track will be slightly
difficult and so I may have to get the
songs I need and change them on
audio or get 8-bit versions of them.
I was going to use quit
modern/Instagram/pop
ular songs that you
would stereotypically
get on Spotify.
I will be using sounds
that I downloaded free
from the internet yet
modified myself on
Adobe Audition for the
suspenseful moments
or ‘near misses’.
The audio will be mainly
filmed on set with the
video by the actors and I
can change it myself using
the adobe programs.
I will be using simple kit to film
this, a camera with a battery
and an SD card. A tripod to
hold the camera up and still
and a shoulder mount so that
the camera can follow the
actors around.
The filming will be
done primarily by
myself however I
may get one other
person in to help on
set with the props
and equipment.
The style of this film will
be quite modern as my
film will be set in 2018.
For the style of filming I am
hoping to use different
types of camera angles to
signify the feeling of the
moment like anted angles
and maybe reflections in
objects.
6. Mood BoardLocation
Characters
Road that she lives on, where she will
come out of her door and run down.
College where all the school
scenes are set.
Street where she will run down to
get the us.
The Graveyard where the end
scene will be filmed.
The bus that she will get onto.
The class room where the lessons
are held will look similar to this.
This is where the buses pull up
and where she will be not hit.
The entrance to the graveyard where I
will get a close up / insert shot of sign.
This is
Janet she
will play
the
mother
of the girl
who is
dead.
This is Sumiah, she will play
the main character who is
dead. Both Sumiah and the
character are 18 and are at
high school/college. She
will be a popular girl from
the school who died in a
car accident. She took
classes and had lots of
good friends and all the
teachers loved her.
A man of a
similar age
to this 50’s
will play
Sumiah’s
characters
dad who will
appear only
at diner.
This is how I imagine the group of
friends of this girl to be as she has
loads of friends and they are all
school students.
This is the guy who will
be sat on a bench in
the graveyard and who
will already be dead.
He will be a similar age
to Sumiah's character
and will be dressed
casually.
8. Mood Board Analysis
• Is there any repetition in the images you have collected? Repeated colours/images
styles/fonts/tone/mood?
Yes there is definitely some repetition in the images that I have collected as I think that they all have aspects that
I would like to bring into my film. I like the tones and colours of the visual effects as they can effect the audiences
perception of the mood and change how the feelings are portrayed in the movie subconsciously to the audience.
The dark colours and blue/green tones definitely give an ambiguity and uncertainty to the frames and shots
which is something that I am very interested in bringing to my film. I also like the closeness of each of the
pictures I have chosen as many of them as close ups of objects or parts of peoples faces. This always helps to add
context and emotion to the story as it tells the audience what is going on in the film without them having to say
it themselves. In addition the angles of the camera also changes the mood of the scene as it immediately makes
the viewer on edge and worried as it makes them feel uncertain because having a canted angle is unsettling.
• How will your mood board influence your final product?
My mood board will definitely influence my final product as I will keep referring to it for inspiration on the
aesthetics and content of my film. As I have everything I need for the main basics of the film I can make sure that
I am sticking to the original plan so that my perspective doesn’t get lost during the process. Having the
photographs and spider diagrams there for me to look at will be very helpful as I can see what I am missing and
how I can take all of the emotion and drama in those photographs and put them into film. This meaning
therefore that my initial plans are very important in developing ideas and storylines. I think that the films I used
stills from show how the genre of film I am making is popular and in demand from audiences, especially of this
generation. For example Fight Club wasn’t particularly well received when it was realised however the recent
generation has come to love it and it has become a cult film and a classic. This shows how clever thrillers are
liked and hopefully that means that my films should be liked by my target audience.
