Meeting with the group. 03/11/10

Today after our media lesson I, Edward and Esma stayed behind for an hour to finnish off our storyboard re-draft. We recieved feedback that our storyboard seemed to abrupt and obvious and there wasnt any intersting enough camera techniques. There needed to be more tilts, pans etc.

So we went back to our storyboard and picked out shots that we weren't completley satispied with and felt was too bland. We looked at differnt ways in which we could shoot the shot. for example one shot was of Delilah walking down the stairs, what we understood was a better way of showing this, in a more interesting way would be shooting the shot through the banister on the stairs.

heres a picture which is very close to the shot we got in mind. through a shot like this we would see Delilah comming downstairs.

Cast Selection

I had in mind a friend i know that i thought would strongly suit Delilahs character.

I had her in mind and selected considered her for the part as she suited the character in ways in which the group imagined, someone who is tall, slim build, looks independent, on the go, outgoing, fashionable, sociable and young.i had to look at see if she would be someone that can look the part of this attentive, flirtatious and unfaithfull, someone who we can tell emotions easily, from anger to happiness, to love all with the face. so i had to consider her acting as that is very important, the face is including in many shots and it is crucial the actor can pull the right emotions, for example, some people may have a very soft innocent look that is hard to tell emotions otherwise, as in, they are not obvious.

The only problem with my character was that after i had shown her the treatment and script, even though she agreed and was confident she could do the part and would be comfortable with the scenes and costume/make up etc, after further discussions we found out she could only act on one day. That would not work for us as she is the main character and there was no way to book her in for both days where she was needed.

I also understood she lived in Ilford that is not that far but is still a distance compared to other local actors. I had to consider that because she is from outside school how many times i would actually be able to meet up with her and talk her through the updates of our film, i had to consider her attendence and how confident would i be to guarantee there would be no lates or sudden absence with her, otherwise that may cause delay in our shooting, so to consider reliability of cast was something to think about.

In the end. I talked to my group about the cast i found and we all decided to be on the safe side we would stick with our other female cast option, rebecca. As she shared the same qualities and was as willing as the cast i considered and she was more in reach in terms of availabilty, to meet up, she is our group member so she has had time to soak our character in and understand the role and world of Delilah more firmly through several meetings.

Today's Task

I was prescribed a task along with Norianne to organise a rehearsal for our film.
As we are still currently having location problems we had to organise our location before rehearsal date. we have found a location at the moment but we are not sure whether it will be our final location for our film.

our rehearsal will commence on thrusday after school with the whole group and our including our cast, Akin, Josh and Rebbecca.

On thurday I have made a list on what I plan to do, I plan to record some rehearsals so we can look back from that time till day of filming and analyse things that may not have worked that we may have not noticed on the rehearsal. I will also be photographing shots for our photostoryboard.

On the day of rehearsal there are some main factors we have to consider and look out for;
we have to look for any kind of problem that arises in the rehearsal, whether the cast are good enough, or if the setting is too small or big, if the colour of the room doesn't fit or if there isn't much consistent communication within the group.
we have too look at timing, mise en scene and find solutions to any problems that might cause delay or issues during the period of shooting.

Music Research

In our Media lesson on monday (yesterday), Me, Edward, and Rebecca decided to spend our lesson researching on music tracks for our film. Keeping in mind our limits such as having to search for copyright free music. We found it hard as a alot of websites did charge. but we did find one which had many downloadable tracks with a huge variety.
we found 3-4 instrumental songs which would be appropriate for mainly the intimate/romance scenes, dinner scenes, and also breaking up scenes where Delilah gets found out. We are however strugling to find a suitable enough song for the start, the scene where Delilah gets up and get's ready as we need something that is slow but cheerfull (to an extent, so it can't be overly happy), e.g. we found a song that sounded too optimistic and also a bit like country music so it did seem hard to find the perfect matching song. We also had to make sure the songs we looked at won't give away the plot or ending (so it can't be too slow or dark).

We have downloaded a few songs. And we are currently keeping all the ones that may have potential. After we pull in enough songs we will meet in a group again to short-list the music and narrow down the ones that are strongest to match our music.

I mentioned during the research that i personally thought too much music would ruin the film and make it too staged and unreal. the silence would be very effective and crucial in scenes like where Delilah gets found out and when the men leave, also when she wake up. however we can compare with and without songs, get feedback from audiences and then dictate whether the certain scenes in the film are better or not with or without music.

I also pointed out to Rebecca that i would like to ask someone that we know who can sing to maybe sing a song that we think would work very well.
this is the video of the song that i suggested i would like in the film.



ive chosen to show the video of this song in lyrics because i thought the way the singer is so Loyal to his girlfriend shows how true his love is, and what i thought when listening to the song was that this song could be a voice for the men. as we do not have much speech from the men. To make there love for Delilah seem more true then just lust and to make the audience believe that these two men, David and James have deep feelings for her.

I think it is extreamly crucial that this effect is created so when the break up happens and Delilah gets found out, we feel the dissapointment of the men and the atmosphere would be more dramatic. we would understand the men are really hurt. This will create a real hit on Delilah as she realises she lost something very special, twice!

What made me think of the song was the name Delilah and then i came to research it and find that it would work pretty well. However, the problem is copyright. what is needed to do is the background track needs to be tampered very subtly to make it ours and the lyrics needs to be changed here and there. this is possible as i and rebecca have found a singer who maybe willing to sing and record for us

However, right now we need to briefly pitch the idea to the whole group and get a few ideas and views and discuss whether this is actually possible. We also need to speak to the singer a bit more to organise the song if we do decide to do it that is.

Final script

After several discussions about the drafted scripts (which you can view in 'script discussion videos' we merged all our ideas on the script into a final script.

Pan from the window down to the dressing table, DELILAH walks in to the frame and sits down at the table; she has just come out of the shower and has a towel on her head and a dressing gown on. DELILAH starts applying her make up on. There are snap shots, close up of her eyes whilst putting her mascara on and also of her lips whilst putting her lipstick on. (This is all shot through the reflection of DELILAH in the mirror, over the shoulder shot)
DELILAH walks to the wardrobe (tracking shot)

DELILAH

(Wardrobe with a mirror) (Over the shoulder) Delilah opens wardrobe
DELILAH closes wardrobe and when she shuts it she is dressed.
The camera then goes back tot eh dressing table and focuses on the pictures of the two men (stuck on the mirror of the dressing table) in the background we see Delilah (reflection in the mirror) slowly approaching the pictures)
Delilah grabs the pictures.
Close up of DELILAH starring at the pictures, DELILAH looks up (daydreaming)

Daydream (weird lighting)

Shot of DELILAH on bed with JAMES and she is smiling at him, wee see James smiling too, pans to DELILAH smiling and when we pan back again we see David, then they start play fighting (action reaction shots, every time shot changes the guy changes too) at the end James grabs the end of the covers and pulls it over them.

Reality scene (in bedroom)

DELILAH looks down at the pictures again
Close up of DELILAH’S hand as she throws the pictures on the bed
Close up of pictures on be (foreground) Delilah walking out of the room (background)

Camera goes to the bottom of the stairs and we see DELILAH walking down the stairs , whilst doing so we change to a close up of her feet to see her red shoes, then go back to a long shot as she is coming down the stairs.
DELILAH walks past the camera into the dining room.

In the dining room
One long take of DELILAH setting up the table. DELILAH takes the glasses out and lights the candles, DELILAH puts the forks and knifes out on the table. DELILAH picks up a knife and (casually) and smiles at her own reflection in the knife.

Ding dong (doorbell)

DELILAH

Looks up realises that the doorbell has rung and she puts the knife down, as she does so she realises that she has got a string coming out of her dress and she just pulls it out and makes her way to the door.

Abstract scene

DELILAH has red strings tied to her fingers and we see David and James tied to the other end of the strings. DELILAH starts pulling James forward.
Cut back to reality and JAMES is coming forward through the front door and hugs DELILAH.
DELILAH grabs JAMES by the hand and leads him into the dining room (go out of the frame) camera stays focused on the door as James left it open by accident.

Dining room

DELILAH and JAMES are eating and smiling at each other

Cuts to abstract

DELILAH whispering in James’ ear

Cut back to reality

DELILAH whispering in JAMES’ ear
Camera pans down to see Delilah rubbing JAMES’ foot with her foot camera pans back up and DELILAH lays back on her chair
There is a mid shot of the couple and JAMES passes DELILAH a fortune cookie
DELILAH takes cookie (happy) she looks down at the cookie

Camera cuts to outside the house where DAVID is coming with red flowers. (Over the shoulder) DAVID sees that the front door is open so he knocks and no one answers so he lets himself inside in order to surprise DELILAH.

DELILAH opens cookie, inside reads ‘…………………………………..’
She looks confused and looks up to see DAVID standing behind JAMES, DELILAH looks very scared.

JAMES sees DELILAH’S face and in curiosity turns around
(Point of view, from DAVID’S perspective)
JAMES turns to see DAVID and looks at him in disbelief
Shot of flowers falling into the floor
DELILAH stands up but is lost for words

Cuts to abstract

The red thread has gone very loose and is all over the place, it is all tangled up and the men are spinning around DELILAH

Cut back to reality

Men are standing on both sides of DELILAH and are arguing

JAMES

Who do you think you are playing at?

DAVID

I was ready to take the next step with you!

DELILAH

I can ex…explain

(this will not be heard)

Everything gets out of control, DAVID spills the wine and leaves
JAMES leaves stepping on the flowers on the floor

Abstract

See broken string all over the floor (DELILAH has lost control) surround DELILAH
DELILAH closes her eyes (camera blackout)

Shot of the window in the bedroom, camera pans down to the bed where Delilah is sleeping, the bed looks very messy and all Delilah’s makeup is smudged

Alarm goes off

DELILAH grabs alarm and throws it to the wall (camera follows the alarm being thrown), camera is slowly panning back to the bed. Whilst panning we see the photos of the two men on the dressing table and they are crossed off, and we also see dead flowers on the dressing table and all her make up is all over the place and it is very messy.
When camera goes back to DELILAH she is slowly getting up, there is a close up of her feet and near them are her red slippers, she pushes them to one side and she just falls back in bed.

Abstract

In the same position as she was in the real world, Delilah is surrounded by strings.

Draft 1 of Script

Scene 1
INT. BEDROOM, EVENING

Pan from the window, across to vanity area. Several shots of woman’s room, and all of its objects which are neatly arranged. The room is covered in soft orange and dark hues of twilight shining through the window. Following the details of the vanity, a vase of red carnations are next to various pictures and photos lining the vanity mirror, images of a woman with various men, at different sites, places but all the intimate poses of a couple.

DELILAH

Walks into room, holding on to her towel and walking towards vanity set. - (Series of close ups.)

She sits at table, she reaches over and pick up a lipstick from her make up collection, and applies it while looking in the mirror, she reaches over again to pick up, tube of mascara, and applies it, as well as lightly brushing on some eye shadow. She shifts her hair across her face and neatens it on the top of her head. She then smiles into her reflection.

She walks over to her mirrored wardrobe, looking at her reflection; she opens the wardrobe door, and re-closes it. – Now in a red dress.
She smooths her down, and giggles at her reflection, she looks up into to her right fade to day dream.


SCENE 2
(DREAM SEQUENCE)

High angle of Delilah and James, in bed starring into each others eyes, laughing and having light conversation. Close up of Delilah’s face smiling at James. Cut back to, David’s, face looking back at her, smiling as well. Shot of Delilah and David lying on the bed.

DAVID

Leans in and kisses Delilah’s cheek, and pulls away. As he does so we then see James’s face again. As if he has just carried out this action.


JAMES
Takes Delilah’s hand and kisses it


DELILAH

Laughs and takes her hand back. We cut back to the person next to her who is now David reaches over and kisses her neck, we cut to Delilah, close ups of her closing her eyes in pleasure, cut back to James and Delilah, they begin to play fight in the bed, throwing pillows at each other, as they do so there is a constant switching of the two male characters.
Davids and Delilah lay back on to the bed, laughing and out of breath, close up of his hands grabbing the end of the sheet and pulling it over both of them.
Fade out to reality.
Scene 3

DELILAH

Camera goes from the corner of the room, were she was looking and pans across, showing her putting the finishing touches to her outfit.
Camera follows her down the stairs, as she strokes the banister with her freshly painted red nails. (Close ups of her red heels going down the stairs)
When she is down, we follow her to the kitchen. Here we see different shots of her, setting up the table. She goes to the cupboard and takes out two plates, smoothly cut, to her placing the cutlery, and putting out the Chinese take away out on the plates. When she finishes doing so she licks her finger (close up), and pick up a lighter to light the two preset candles on the table. She picks up a spoon and looks at her reflection and smiles.
Scene 4


ABSTRACT WORLD

Delilah is standing in the foreground of the frame, with the two men standing behind her their backs to each other. Camera follows the red strings, which form a long line on the floor which leads to the men’s fingers; we cut back to Delilah who puts her fingers up showing the strings, while having a mischievous grin on her face.
Camera cuts to Delilah laughing in an evil manner, and pulling the strings of the two men like a puppet master. The two men have no control and are completely expression less.
We cut to facial close ups of her whispering the men’s ears. This makes them smile.
Shots of Delilah, wrapping string around her fingers.
High angle shot of her standing with the two men.
This sequence is repeated, in fast pace editing.

“DING, DONG”
Scene 5

INT. DINNING ROOM

DELILAH
Comes out of her day dream, and slightly startled by the door bell, rushes to the door; she notices that, a red String from her dress has frayed. We cut to close up of the dress, and cut back to her annoyed face. She pulls herself together, and goes to open the door

ABSTRACT WORLD

Delilah is standing in the foreground, with the two men in the background, however James is facing forwards this time,

DELILAH

Close up. Bite her lips and smiles, we cut to a long shot- she then moves her finger which is tied to James, suggesting him to come to her.

JAMES

Walks towards her


Scene 6
INT. AT THE DOOR

DELILAH
Opens the door, and in excitement to see James, grabs him in and hugs him, while putting her leg up.

Close up of her leg, as well as close up of the gift of wine which James holds in his hand which is wrapped nicely in a red bow.


DELILAH
Drags his hand and leads him to the dinning room.

JAMES

Is focused on Delilah, and so pushes the door behind him slightly, however not closing it, but leaving it ajar. (Mid shot)


INT. LIVING ROOM

Cut to the living room where the two enter, and go though to the dinning room.
Series of shots of the two eating, and sharing conversation.
Close up of the under the tale where Delilah, rubs James’s legs with hers.

ABSTRACT WORLD

Fast pace editing of the string unravelling.

INT. DINNING ROOM

She whispers in his ear, and pulls back, from kissing him on the cheek.

JAMES

Passes her one of the fortune cookies, on the table.

Over the shoulder shot of her taking it.


Scene 7

EXT. AT DELILAH’S DOOR


DAVID

Walks into the frame, about to knock at the door, realising that the door is open. In suspicion he slowly walks in still, knocking and calling out for Delilah.


Scene 8
INT. DINNING ROOM


DELILAH

Cracks open the cookie, and read the message. Low angle shot of her face, showing confusion. She looks up and sees David standing over the shoulder of James.

James notices Delilah’s facial expressions.

JAMES

Turns around (as he does so we switch to a P.O.V shot of David at the dinning room door, looking at the two.
He turns back around, looking at Delilah


DELILAH

Tries to explain herself, however words to come to her.

We cut to David

DAVID

David drops the roses on the floor. (Close up of them falling to the ground)


Scene 9
ABSTRACT SCENE

Various close ups of the strings going out of control,

DELILAH

Standing in between the two men, being tugged from left to right by them, she twists around in the string making her become tangled. (Fast pace editing)

INT. DINNING ROOM

Delilah is standing in between each man, they are both shouting at her arguing.

(Constant cut of reality and abstract scene. X3)


INT. DINNING ROOM.

Camera zooms into her face, with the two men at either side of her saying

JAMES & DAVID
“………………………………………………………………….”


Scene 10
ABSTRACT WORLD.

Strings break, (we hear the slamming of the door) she closes her eyes, and screen goes black.


INT. BEDROOM. (Morning)


Pan from the window, across to the bed. Several shots of woman’s room, and all of its objects which are now very messy. (Photo’s of the men are now crossed out) Her alarm clock goes off, and she is still sleeping and throws it to her wall.

She gets up in her red dress, and a yesterday make up and crosses over to the vanity area, smearing her make up even more.

Scene 11

ABSTRACT WORLD.

We follow the broken red strings which lead us to Delilah sitting on the floor alone staring at the broken strings on her fingers.

Final Treatment

Tag line

Pitch: 'Woman' is 19-20 years old. She is romantically involved with 2 men at the same time without them knowing. She uses them like a puppeteer, and from doing so she gains attention and feels good about herself. However what she doesn't realise is her lies are tampering with the red strings of fate she has made with the men, and how easily they can break.

Story:
We begin with a woman in a black room, all that can be seen is the red strings tied to her hands and fingers, which lead behind her and end attached to two men.The ties that shes made to them through romance.
Switch to a scene of a bedroom, we have a series of close ups, the 'Woman' is applying her red lipstick, make-up, snapshots of her features and hands while getting ready and primping herself. All the while we have our narrator introducing her character.
Around her vanity table we see various pictures of her with various men, past lovers and boyfriends. Red flowers sit in a vase on the table. She walks over to her wardrobe, and opens the door. As it closes we see her in a changed outfit. In the reflection she smooths her hair and giggles, looks upward as she thinks of her two lovers.
We see a montage of her and two men, being intimate, touching hands, lightly kissing her neck and cheeks and embracing her, we see both boyfriends have done this in the past as she recalls it.
We return to reality as we follow her downstairs and into the dining room, were we see a laid table for a meal, we watch as she adds the finishing touches, bringing in chinese to set down, a focus on her hand as she licks her fingers from the food and lights a candle.
'Ding dong' we hear the door bell ring, and just before she walks to the door, she notices and pulls off a fraying red tread from her top.
As she opens the door we cut to the black room, we see the 'Woman' facing one of the men, she looks at him and while laughing crooks her finger in front of her in a suggestive manner, thus pulling on the red string attached, which then pulls him forward. We cut back to the house scene as he steps through the door. As she leads him into the dining room the narration introduces him to us.
Then follows the date scene, sitting, eating the meal, light conversation, he takes her etc.
She then leans over to pick up a fortune cookie when the door bell rings again. Insisting the man goes to open the door, while 'Woman' sats at the table and cracks open the cookie.
Pulling out her fortune it reads '..........'
Cutting to the man opening the door we have narration all the while warns us to whats happening 'Now it gets interesting', and as the door opens were introduced to man number 2.
Standing at the door holding red roses with a grin on his face, it quickly falls as the two men look at each other with shocked expressions.
We cut back to the woman still sitting at the table, the two men walk through the door.
We fade into the abstract scene, the men are pulling on the red strings of fate, it starts to fray.
The strings break, and we see a pov of the 'Woman' , as she looks down to her hands, we see her look up to see the broken strings, and the men are gone.