Movie Poster 2nd Draft (Ancillary Text #1)

This is the second draft of my film poster for The Kill. This draft has two changes compared to the first draft. Firstly, I have changed the picture as the picture on the first draft had bad lighting and was generally not very good. Secondly, the title has been changed to a more conventional font and I have spaced it out.

Feedback

For my feedback, I decided to ask my friends what the thought of it via a Facebook Messenger group chat. To do this I asked them if they wouldn't mind me sharing the poster, and them giving me a few sentences or so about it and I would screenshot what they say.

Erin Miller:

Roisin Howard:

Lucy Bell:

This detailed feedback has assured me that I am on the right track and my poster looks real and professional. At this stage I don't think any changes are necessary because the feedback is very good and it it clear that people think it is a good poster. Generally, people have said that it is professional, mysterious, lets the viewer know what kind of film it is without giving too much away. Also, the feedback has reassured me that I have use all of the conventions effectively.

Third draft of short film

This is the 3rd edit of my short film The Kill. This edit has been shortened to five and a half minutes to adhere to the specification. This resulted in the music being timed differently etc. Also, the title screen is now a different font to make it look more conventional and effective.

Second draft of short film

This is the second edit of my short film, The Kill. This edit is slightly shorter by around 15 seconds, and now has sound. Also, I have now put in the muzzle flash VFX at the end so the audience knows the hostage has been killed - adds verisimilitude. 

First draft of short film

This is the second draft of my short film, The Kill. This draft is 6 minutes long and needs to be cut down for the final draft. Also, there is one shot missing near the middle which would be an establishing wide shot of the garage which tracks forward on a slider. Furthermore, this draft does not feature any sound.

Locations/Filming Schedule

National Avenue House - Garage

The primary location for my film will be in the garage at my house. This location is great as the garage suits the narrative and conventions well as it is quite dark and dingy and contains many tools which could be used to injure or kill, which is perfect for my mise en scene and of course relates to my character. Also, many films have featured a hostage-type scenes which takes place in a garage/workshop - Reservoir Dogs for example.

I will be using the whole space in this garage for this film, with the chair being placed in the middle, facing the big car door. Having the chair facing that way will enable me to get more depth in my shots, which is what I like my shots to be like. Also, having a good depth in shots increases the cinematic feel and also makes it look more like a professional production.

I will be setting what are known as 'practical' lights up, which means these lights are in the diegesis, for example, spot lights. I will also use light bounces behind the camera to light up my actors enough so that I can edit the light balance in post. This garage is ideal because it has mains electricity installed so that I can use different lighting equipment, or other equipment.

Schedule

I aim to have the whole film shot in no more than four, which I think is a sensible time frame to give myself because the bulk of the film is shot inside the garage with only a couple of shots in another location, which is the tenfoot right outside the garage. Also, this means we won't have to rush the shoot and we have ample time to do numerous takes and hopefully perfect them. Furthermore, I have allowed time to apply the special FX blood etc to the actors, and as I have not used fake blood before, I feel allowing extra time for this is necessary, should anything not go to plan. We will need to rehearse several shots such as the punches and especially the final shot where the protagonist is killed with a hammer because this is potentially a very dangerous shot as it could result in a death, however, this is the worst case scenario and is quite unlikely. This will have to be carefully planned and rehearsed to make sure the hammer is not too near my actor's head and he can move his head as if he has been hit with it. The same goes for the punches although this is far less dangerous.

Date: TBC

Prop list

This is the props list for my film. I already had some of the props, but I had to purchase some of them. I have listed the price and place of purchase on these props. As my film is a thriller, I am using conventional props from this genre, as you can see below:

1) Folding metal chair - Argos, £10 - This is the chair which I will tie my protagonist to. I chose this type of chair because it was cheap, black, and is the closest cheap chair I could find to what is often seen in thrillers. I ideally wanted to use a standard black chair that does not fold, however this was the cheapest I could find which is usable in my film.

2) Duct tape - DIY shop, £5.99 - I initially wanted to use rope but using duct tape was the cheapest option and as it turns out, this is more commonly used for hostage-type films as it gives the mise en scene a more gritty feel because it comes in a dark colour and wear and tear is more visible after a while.

3) Smelling salts - Boots, £5.49 - These smelling salts were purchased from Boots' Chemist, and were also cheap. This prop is influenced by the US serial killer drama/thriller, Dexter. Dexter uses smelling salts to wake his victims up once he has set them up in his 'kill room', so this is heavily linked to my narrative.

4)  Fake blood - Joke shop, £2.99 - I need fake blood for my protagonist when he is beaten up because I need to create a good sense of verisimilitude.

 5) Desert eagle prop gun - Amazon, £5.98 - This prop will be carried by the antagonist as an intimidation technique - he won't fire it, but he will point it at the protagonist.

6) Balaclava - Amazon, £3.75 - This will be worn by the antagonist throughout the entire film so the audience and the protagonist don't know who he is - giving him an air of mystery. Also, balaclavas are a convention of the thriller genre so it helps make the genre more identifiable.

7) Tools - These tools will be used by the antagonist to kill the protagonist. There are several tools in this toolbox, this is just one drawer. I will need five tools and four of them are in this drawer. 

All together, the props I have bought have cost a total of £34.20. This is a fairly low price to pay for a production and it has increased the production value on my film which should in turn make my film be more effective, realistic, and professional. These props are an integral part of the story and without them my film would not be very effective/realistic at all.

Mise en scene

Movie Poster 1st Draft (Ancillary Text #1)