Our Film Script

BLACK SCREEN

IT IS SILENT. GRADUALLY, MUFFLED SOUNDS OF STRUGGLING AND A WOMAN’S VOICE CAN BE HEARD. THE SOUNDS CRESCENDO INTO A SCREAM AND WE CUT TO:

INT. DOCKLANDS LIGHT RAILWAY

A MAN IN HIS EARLY TWENTIES – FRANK, REASONABLY HANDSOME AND WELL DRESSED IN A LEATHER JACKET, BUT ALSO SLIGHTLY ROUGH LOOKING -  HAS JUST WOKEN UP BY AN UNKNOWN DISTURBANCE TO HIS RIGHT. HE LOOKS ROUND AT A MAN THE AUDIENCE DO NOT SEE.

          THE UNKNOWN MAN

     You alright mate?

          FRANK

     Yeah… long day.

DESPITE BEING A SEEMINGLY RANDOM OCCURRENCE, FRANK IS LOOKING SOMEWHAT SUSPICIOUS. THE UNKNOWN MAN HAS STILL NOT BEEN REVEALED. FRANK LOOKS OUT OF THE WINDOW OF THE DLR, STARING AT THE CITYSCAPE. IT IS TWILIGHT, AND THE LIGHTS OF CANARY WHARF ARE BEING TURNED ON. FRANK LOOKS BACK AT THE MAN AS THOUGH ABOUT TO SAY SOMETHING, BUT HE HAS GONE FROM THE SEAT. FRANK LOOKS DOWN TO SEE THAT THE MAN HAS LEFT A BOOK ON HIS CHAIR – JOSEPH CONRAD’S ‘Heart of Darkness’. FRANK NOTICES THAT THE TRAIN HAS PULLED INTO A PLATFORM, PRESUMABLY WHERE THE UNKNOWN MAN HAS LEFT FOR, AND PICKS UP THE BOOK ONCE THE TRAIN HAS SET OFF. INSIDE IS A FOLDED SHEET OF PAPER, WITH ‘Deptford Bridge 5:10’ WRITTEN INSIDE. IT IS NOW CLEAR TO THE AUDIENCE THAT THIS MEETING HAS BEEN SET UP. FRANKHEARS A TANOI ANNOUNCE THAT THE UPCOMING STATION IS DEPTFORD BRIDGE.

CUT TO:

EXT. DEPTFORD BRIDGE STATION

AS THE TRAIN PULLS IN, FRANK LEAVES ON TO THE PLATFORM, LOOKING LEFT AND RIGHT AS THOUGH FOR SOMEONE ELSE. EVENTUALLY, HE NOTICES A WELL DRESSED MAN IN A SUIT STANDING BY THE EDGE OF THE PLATFORM, LOOKING AT THE STREETS BELOW. FRANK APPROACHES HIM AND THE WELL DRESSED MAN TURNS AROUND.

          FRANK

     Do you have the time?

          WELL DRESSED MAN

     Yeah… you’re late.

THIS MEETING HAS ALSO CLEARLY BEEN SET UP, DESPITE THE SEEMINGLY UNSUSPICIOUS CONVERSATION. THE WELL DRESSED MAN WALKS PAST FRANK, MUTTERING AS HE DOES SO:

          WELL DRESSED MAN

     Red hat.

FRANK PROCEEDS TO LOOK AROUND THE STATION UNTIL HE NOTICES A YOUNG WOMAN IN A RED HAT. IT IS NOW CLEAR TO THE AUDIENCE THAT THE EVENTS HAVE BEEN LEADING UP TO THIS – FRANK HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR HER. SHE LEAVES THE STATION, UNAWARE OF FRANK’S PRESCENE,AND WALKS DOWN THE STEPS OF THE PLATFORM WITH FRANK FOLLOWING FAIRLY CLOSE BEHIND HER. SHE IS NOW ON THE STREETS, AND FRANK REACHES FOR A HAT OF HIS OWN TO MAKE HIS FACE UNSEEN. THE GIRL WALKS DOWN INTO A BACKALLEY BY A RIVER, AND FRANK MAKES HIS MOVE, GRABBING HER BY THE NECK AND FORCING HER TO THE GROUND. AS HE BEGINS TO STRANGLE HER, THE SAME SOUNDS THE AUDIENCE HEARD OVER THE BLACK SCREEN ARE HEARD AGAIN AND WE-

FADE TO BLACK.

Soundtrack Ideas

Unfortunately, as of yet I have found no suitable soundtrack that I feel we should use in our film. I have searched www.freeplaymusic.com for many songs though so far, none of the songs I have found seem suitable. However, a friend of mine is a musician with a home studio, who has written songs in the past which I feel would suit the atmosphere of our film and I hope that he would be available to score our film - he is a neighbour of mine so I should be able to get hold of him easily.

Costume

l I imagine the main character as being dressed in a white shirt, leather jacket and chinos. I hope that the leather jacket  show he has a somewhat tough veneer, yet the white shirt and chinos will show that he is still essentially a normal guy and deserving of some sympathy from the audience.

l I think the man on the train should be dressed in a tweed jacket and smart trousers. I hope this will convey the organisation of the hit and subvert the gritty stereotype of crime.

l I think the man on the platform should be dressed in a smart suit, although with one distinguishable piece of clothing that makes him stand out. This man is again part of this well organised crime but one thing about him makes him seem different to the other commuters etc.

l I think the girl should be dressed in a green duffel coat and of course a red hat.

Shot List

Click on the picture to enlarge image.

Graphics Ideas

I have chosen three title fonts which I feel would be appropriate for our film, with examples of them below. I feel that the title of our film should be written in capitals, while the rest should be written in normal formatting. To me, these fonts seemed reminiscent of the fonts for films such as Taxi Driver, Collateral and Heat, which seem to have a similar atmosphere to our planned film.

EXAMPLE

Example

EXAMPLE

Example

EXAMPLE

Example

Props & Actors

Props

We need a book to use for when the main character discovers the book left on the seat next to him. We have discussed what book we are going to use and we have decided on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. There needs to be a note put inside it and placed in such a way that it will easily fall out when the main character picks up the book. It should be a second-hand, somewhat tattered copy of the book and not brand-new looking.

Actors

If we could get anybody for the role of the main character, my first choice would be Ryan Gosling. This is because he is a versatile actor who can play gritty roles and yet demand sympathy from the audience in the role of the protagonist. Of course, our film is set in England, and I don't know if Gosling would be able to affect an accent but I think he would fit the role well otherwise. Here is a picture of him in one of his latest roles in Drive:

For the role of the man who sits down next to the main character briefly on the DLR, I think an actor like  Anton Yelchin would be good because I think that the character should look young and quite innocent from what little we see of him - as if he is an young man with potential who has just entered into a world of crime.

For the role of the man in the suit who tells the main character who the a target is, I think an actor such as George Clooney would be perfect. It's not a big role so I don't imagine that he would accept the role but it would be good to have someone that, in a suit, would look strangely suave and handsome yet also like he could be dangerous and could be quite ruthless.

I would ideally cast Chloe Grace Moretz in the role of the young girl who is killed by the main character.  She looks young and innocent which would emphasise the emotional conflict that the main character has to surmount in order to carry out his hit.

Potential Filming Problems

While filming our opening, it is possible that we may come across several problems with regard to equipment use and problems which may arise due to our location choices. They are listed below:

1) Reflection. As we are filming on the DLR at night, it is possible that we could catch the reflection of the camera, camera operator or other equipment given that the (many) windows of the DLR may be highly reflective at night. However, we intend to film the majority of our shots facing the characters or from behind them, which would reduce the risk of encountering this problem.

2) Lighting. It may be very difficult to use lights on the DLR given that it is public transport and a fairly enclosed space. This would mean that we would have to use ambient lights with filming. However, the ambient lights could potentially work well, as the DLR is well lit at night.

3) Holding the camera. There are many problems with regard to how we hold the camera. One is that we may not be able to use a tripod on board the DLR, given that it is public transport and an enclosed space, making it hard to set up. Furthermore, if we did manage to set it up then the tripod would shake, which may ruin the shots. This would leave us with one option - holding the camera by hand. This would also mean that the shots would have a shaky effect, though it may be the case that this would benefit the film stylistically.

4) Gaining permission. We may have to notify TFL that we intend to film on the DLR and at the station, which may be a logistical issue. We would also have to pay £40 to gain permission to film on the DLR. However, with sufficient forward planning, we should be able to gain adequate permission to film.

The Art of the Title - Research

Juno

0:16 – ‘Fox Searchlight Pictures presents’

0:21 – ‘A Mandate Pictures + Mr Mudd Production’

0:26 – ‘A Jason Reitman Film’

0:30 – ‘Juno’

0:39 – Ellen Page

0:43 – Michael Cera

0:49 – Jennifer Garner

0:57 – Jason Bateman

1:01 – Allison Janney

1:06 – J.K. Simmons

1:11 – Olivia Thirlby

1:18 – ‘Casting by Mindy Marin (csa) Kara Lipson’

1:22 – ‘Costume Designer Monique Prudhomme’

1:27 – ‘Music by Mateo Messina, Songs by Kimya Dawson’

1:34 – ‘Music Supervisors Peter Afterman and Margaret Yen’

1:39 – ‘Co-Producers Jim Miller Kelli Konop Brad van Arragon’

1:43 – ‘Film Editor Dana E. Clauberman’

1:49 – ‘Production Designer Steve Saklad’

1:53 – ‘Director of Photography Eric Steelberg’

1:59 – ‘Executive Producers Joe Drake Nathan Kahane Daniel Dubiecki’

2:04 – ‘Produced by Lianne Halfon John Malkovich Mason Novick Russell Smith’

2:10 – ‘Written by Diablo Cody’

2:18 – ‘Directed by Jason Reitman’

Taxi Driver

0:01 – ‘Columbia Pictures Presents’

0:08 – ‘Robert De Niro in’

0:35 – ‘Taxi Driver’

0:39 – ‘A Bill/Phillips Production of a Martin Scorsese Film’

0:43 – ‘Starring Jodie Foster’

0:45 – ‘Albert Brooks as Tom’

0:47 – ‘Harvey Keitel’

0:49 – ‘Leonard Harris’

0:51 – ‘Peter Boyle as Wizard’

0:53 – ‘and Cybill Shepherd as Betsy’

1:07 – ‘Music by Bernard Herrmann’

1:13 – ‘Supervising Film Editor Marcia Lucas Film Editors Tom Rolf a.c.e Melvin Shapiro’

1:18 – ‘Special Makeup Dick Smith’

1:21 – ‘Visual Consultant David Nichols Creative Conslutant Sandra Weintraub’

1:25 – ‘Director of Photography Michael Chapman’

1:29 – ‘Written by Paul Schrader’

1:32 – ‘Produced by Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips’

1:40 – ‘Directed by Martin Scorsese’

It is clear from both these films that a large amount of titles must be put into a film, perhaps more so than our two minute time frame allows. However, as we do not have a cast or crew as large as either of these films I would imagine that we would be able to fit all our necessary titles into the time frame of our film. Personally, I would imagine that our title sequence would not dominate the screen in the way that the titles of either Juno or Taxi Driver do, as both are montages while our film has more of a narrative to it.

Classifying Our Film

research of the BBFC website, I can now gauge an accurate insight into what our film would be rated if we were to make the whole film. A 12/12A rating would be restrictive for the film's plot, as it deals with some violence and profanity, and has some generally dark themes. Furthermore, given the nature of some of the characters as criminals, there would likely be some profanity in the film that would not be permissible in a 12/12A.

However, this film would not merit an 18 rating either, as the violence and profanity of the film would not be gratuitous or overly explicit in its content. Furthermore, the film does not have an overall morally dubious theme despite some scenes which may appear somewhat disturbing or dark.

A 15 would be a perfect rating for our film as it would allow us to include darker themes and content without venturing too far into morally ambiguous representation or gratuitously or disturbingly explicit content, while still allowing the film to appeal to the masses - the 15-25 age bracket is the target audience for our film, as it constitutes the highest proportion of filmgoers, meaning our film would be viewed by the masses. I have researched the 15 rating at the British Board of Film Classification website which explains what kind of content can and cannot be put in a 15, demonstrated below:

Discrimination
"The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour."
I would imagine that there would be very little discrimination in our film. If there is any, it would most likely not be dwelled on or shown in a negative light.

Drugs
"Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable."
I would imagine that there would be some drug use, but mainly because several characters are involved in the spread of drugs through London. Drugs themselves would not be shown in detail or glamourised in the film, however.

Horror
"Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised."
There will be a fair amount of threat in our film as the story has some rather dark moments and deals with murder. However, it would never be sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable Behaviour
"Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised."
Given that the story revolves around an assassin, it is likely that imitable behaviour would not be portrayed in the film as he is a professional and his methods would not easily be replicated or glamorised.

Language
"There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable."
The film will use a fair amount of strong language, though this will be justified in the context as it will be used to characterise the more dangerous or unstable characters in the film rather than be glamourised or used in a gratuitous fashion.

Nudity
"Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context."

Sex
"Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable."
There may be some nudity later on in the film, though it is unlikely that it will be in a sexual context, even if we do include some sex references or scenes later on in the film.

Theme
"No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds."
The theme of the film is quite dark as it deals with murder and violence, but it would not too intense for people of 15+ years of age.

Violence
"Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification."
There will be quite a lot of violence in this film which may be slightly graphic, though never overly gory. Characters will be shot and sometimes killed in the film which will give it the 15 rating, though there will be no gory or sexual violence meaning it will not be a 18 either.
I feel that a niche audience for our film other than the general 15-25 age bracket may be people who are interested in criminal subculture of London - the film explores a wide range of criminal activities within London, from murders, to illegal drug culture, to gangs. People who are attracted to or interested in the city of London generally may also be a niche audience for our film. I am of this mentality because films such as Collateral and Taxi Driver, which I would compare this film to in terms of style and, in the latter case, budget, have had similar niche audiences for the cities Los Angeles and New York.

Deptford Bridge + DLR Photos

These pictures were taken of the cityscapes surrounding the DLR. It is easy to see how they would look impressively cinematic in our film, especially at night time when we would be able to capture the lighting and reflection of the buildings.

These are all pictures of the DLR station. It seems to have a good view over the streets in Deptford, which we may be able to use to add impressive aesthetics to our film.

Though the stairs of the station will not take up much of the film, these pictures demonstrate how it is an impressive, cinematic location and could make the film more visually thrilling, especially when it is darker and there are artificial lights.

British Film Companies Research

BBC Films produce and co-produce around 7 or 8 films a year. Previous projects include Eastern Promises (2007), a British thriller about the secrets surrounding a Russian mob family, and Brighton Rock (2010), another British thriller about small-town gang violence. And more recently, We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011), a psychological thriller based on the novel by Lionel Shriver, and The Awakening(2011), a World War I thriller depicting a woman who is haunted by a child ghost.
BBC Films aims to showcase the best of British talent and British independant films. They commit themselves to finding and developing new talent.
I think they would be a good company to produce our thriller, as we are still fairly new to the process and they could help bring publicity to our film as they already so well established in the production industry. Their films also tend to be low to mid budgeted, and I believe our film falls comfortably into that bracket. Although they don't limit themselves to thrillers, they seem to specialise in them, therefore they would have the capacity, resources, and expertise to produce our film, as it will be a thriller.

Film4 don't appear to made a lot of thrillers but have made many dramas so I will look at those as well.
One of the thrillers that Film4 have made is Dead Man's Shoes, a psychological thriller starring Paddy Considine and directed by Shane Meadows (who went on to direct This is England). It had a very small budget - £723,000 and was all shot in England. Although it seems a bit darker than our film and is rated an 18, it seems similar to to our film in some ways and thus I think Film4 could be a good company to produce our film.
Film4 also made the drama This is England which had a medium budget of £1,500,000. It was all filmed in England, although not in London where our film will be filmed. It did well in the box office, grossing $8,176,544.
Clearly Film4 specialise in films that are low-mid budget and are not averse to thrillers. I think they would do a good job with our film if they were to produce it and that they would be a strong choice if we were to look for a production company.

Film London are a film and television production company who's credits mainly include low budget British films such as Shifty. They have also been involved in the production of films such as My Week With Marylin, a popular Oscar contender, and Is Anybody There?, starring Michael Caine. Aside from being involved in films as producers, Film London also offer resources to aspiring or independent film makers. They can offer application or permission forms for directors to film in certain parts of London and help independent film makers with advice on and what to film in London.

We would most likely aim for this production company as many of it's resources would most likely be of use to us. Half of our film is set on the Docklands Light Railway and the stations surrounding it, meaning that we would be able to use Film London to secure permission to film on it. Furthermore, some of the films it has produced seem to be of a similar budget and style to the one we are currently making, meaning it would be a useful production company for our film.

We have chosen BBC Films in association with Film London and another independent company of ours to produce our film. This is because we feel that BBC Films will give us the right production budget and value, while Film London will aid us with filming in areas of London.

The French Connection (1971)

The French Connection is a police thriller based on true events, directed by William Friedkin and written by Ernest Tidyman, starring Gene Hackman. The two production companies involved in The French Connection were Schine-Moore Productions and D'Antoni Productions. Both production companies were only involved in the production of this film, though it's distributor, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, is highly renowned, having been involved in many big budget films year in year out.

Bullitt (1968)

Bullitt is a police thriller directed by Peter Yates and written by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, starring Steve McQueen. The two production companies involved were Warner Brothers/Seven Arts and  Solar Productions. The Warner Brothers/Seven Arts partnership stopped producing films in 1970, though in it's time it made some reasonably popular and critically acclaimed films such as Cool Hand Luke and The Green Berets - all these films notably star popular leading actors. Solar Productions was solely involved in the films of Steve McQueen, including The Thomas Crown Affair and The Getaway.

The Long Good Friday (1980)

The Long Good Friday is a crime film directed by John Mackenzie and written by Barrie Keeffe, starring Bob Hoskyns. The three production companies involved in the film were British Lion Film Corporation, Calendar Productions and HandMade Films. British Lion Film Corporation has mainly been involved in independent projects, while Calendar Productions was solely involved in the production of The Long Good Friday. HandMade Films has also largely been involved in independent projects, though it produced the highly popular Withnail & I.

Thriller - Definition

A thriller is a genre of literature and film which is based around evoking an atmosphere of suspense, fear and tension. We are attempting to achieve the effect which most thrillers have by making a story which is based around danger, being the story of an assassin, and introducing tension and surprises from the story's beginning, through using ambiguous screams heard over the opening titles.

November 24th/22nd Production Meeting

Tuesday - progress was reasonably slow, as the majority of the lesson was based around completing the shot list for the film. We completed around half of the shot list by the end of the lesson and began re-drawing the storyboards of the opening shots.

Thursday - we finished the shot list at the very beginning of the lesson and began working on the finalised storyboards for the entire film. During the second half of the lesson, we began to discuss specific films and studios which we felt would be similar to ours. Films brought up included The French Connection and Blue Velvet.

DLR - Reccy 1

Having taken the DLR route (through Canary Wharf) which is where we intend to film our sequence, I now have a better idea of what to expect. The DLR itself was not monumentally busy, meaning it should be easy enough to film on board the train. However, we may not be able to achieve our desired effect of having the train empty unless we go later at night, when the line is presumably emptier than it was in the afternoon, as there will be no difference in the light (now that the nights are earlier). The stations themselves are also not particularly busy, and there are some particularly cinematic locations surrounding the DLR such as Canary Wharf, which I have taken a few shots of with my camera to gain an understanding of what filming will be like. The video can be found through this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3jQH4jp-Xs

Shot List - Table

Number	Cut	Type	Visual Content	Sound		Colour	Time			Actors	Drawn By
1	-	-	Black screen	Muffled sounds, then a sharp scream		Black	5 seconds			-
2	Quick cut	CU on face	Main character wakes up on DLR, looks to his side as other man speaks	Dialogue ‘You alright mate?’		High key – DLR lights	6 seconds			-
3	Straight cut	MS on both characters from behind	Both characters seen from behind, partially obscured by seats	Dialogue ‘Yeah I’m fine… long day’		High Key – DLR lights	4 seconds			-
4	Straight cut	Revert back to shot 2	Character looks back out of window	Diegetic		High key – DLR lights	3 seconds			-
5	Straight cut	Long shot	Canary wharf +surrounding buildings	Diegetic		Low key – night time, with ambient lights	3 seconds			-
6	Straight cut	Revert back to shot 4	Second character has gone	Diegetic		High key – DLR lights	2 seconds			-
7	Straight cut	Wide shot	Empty carriage, apart from main character	Diegetic – train sounds	High key – DLR lights			4 seconds	-
8	Straight cut	Revert back to shot 3	Character looks down to seat	Diegetic	High key – DLR lights			2 seconds	-
9	Straight cut	High angle, book on chair	‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad	Diegetic	High key – DLR lights			2 seconds	-
10	Straight cut	Low angle of main character	He looks up from book at closing doors	‘Stand clear of the doors’	High key – DLR lights			4 seconds
11	Straight cut	Wide angle of DLR	DLR leaves platform	Train begins to start up and leaves	Low key – ambient lights of station			6 seconds	-