Pre-Production: Story Development and Planning

After deciding our initial storyline last week we have been researching lighting styles, set design, blocking and other elements relevant to the idea and our individual roles. We also met to develop the idea further, changing and revising a number of the plot elements to best fit the pacing and story arc and our incorporation of the four cinematographic elements: POV, lighting change, sequence shot and colour.

We first broke the idea down into sequences and then scenes, condensing as many separate ideas as possible to give us the most time. Following advice we had been given about creating a strong and intriguing opening for short film audiences, we decided to put half of the interrogation scene at the beginning. This immediately establishes the main conflict and tension of the film and establishes a sense of 'How did we get here?' which will keep them interested.

Following this is a scene in the characters' home where we are introduced to them both. The mood here will be casual, everyday and light-hearted, contrasting with the tense scene preceding it and establishing how the characters decide to pursue the idea of creating a hoax Bigfoot video. Our initial thought was to use a TV montage in the style of 'Shaun of the Dead' (Edgar Wright, 2004) to more creatively involve this idea but we've now opted against this due to its complexity.

From here we will use a montage to show the pair designing and creating the monster's costume which, as editor, I suggested should be done in a style similar to the cliché superhero-costume-designing montages seen in films such as 'Spiderman' (Sam Raimi, 2002).

Overlapping and composited images, drawings, colour,  notes and tracking shots are used with music to convey the passage of time as well as Peter's busy mind and a mixture of emotions; concentration, frustration and satisfaction.

At this point we have already begun considering shot transitions between sequences, such as the main character pulling an elaborate finished sketch of the monster to reveal their own amateur creation. This will be the first of our two Grindleford sequences, where the pair shoot their fake video. Following this their video is played on TV in a sequence shot, where-after a shadowy figure takes particular interest in their activities. This scene will be shot with low-key lighting in a series of close-ups and carefully framed shots to hide his identity and also set up who might be watching them in the next sequence in Grindleford.

In the next scene, the pair are creating their next video following the successes of the first. Here, the antagonist from the previous scene will be following them, using hand-held POV shots obscured by trees and objects to suggest a threatening human presence. We will infer rather than show one of the characters' kidnap by the villain, using rapid close-ups of the other panicking to create more suspense.

In the final scene the interrogation will play out in full, including the lighting change which reveals the room to be a young conspiracist's hideout, making use of colourful images, toys and other set elements to convey this information without ever seeing the boy himself.

Although some of the details are yet to be specified, the next stage in the project is to write the script and break the idea down into its components; identifying props, locations, characters and beginning the early stages of the casting process. In the meantime we will continue to look for stylistic influence for the four key elements, as well as for my own role as editor - in particular scene transitions, green-screen keying (for the TV) and colour grading.