Treatment

A treatment is basically a ruff version of a screenplay in that it outlines the story line. Its exact definition, and complexity, varies across the industry. A treatment should sell the film, and is sent to potential producers.


Here is our treatment;

This film has the fantasy aspect of Lord of the Rings, but sinister aspects (in the titles), of a Tim Burton creation, Alice in Wonderland for example. It contains a variety of creatures capturing Peter Jackson’s Hobbit audience, but sufficient narrative enigma to entice more psychologically enthralled Burton fans.

The sound of thunder breaks through the sombre soundtrack, as a storm erupts around the protagonist. With the crack of thunder idents break through the shot. A creature's character, (an “Anidone”) lies shivering in the shrub, heavy rain cascading down accompanied by flashes of light. She lies  partly covered by the undergrowth,  slowly she awakes. This character dressed in an elaborate costume. The shot then shows  the character clumsily standing  (as if dizzy).

Weather starts to resolve as the protagonist begins to stumble forward, the gravity/ sturdiness of walk increases. Sturdiness of walk increase and rain has stopped, light is increased and  the characters costume becomes cleaner, they walk grandly as the soundtrack supports the sense of power and authority. Leaves fly from the protagonist.

As the protagonist is walking, numerous other elaborately decorated faces appear from out of shrubs and bushes and more characters join the The camera cranes up to show the group of characters stood overlooking a valley, the music is triumphant and ends with the shot.

Script

Here is an up to date plot, which will be updated as I work with Sophie to develop ideas. For example; our analysis of other fantasy film openings may also impact ours.

Update 15/12/16 - Echoing the success of "Harry Potter", Sophie and I have decided to name our film "Anidone", after the protagonist.

We will be filming a fantasy opening. Set on Lord of the Rings inspired scenery, ideal to re-create on Ilkley moorland. 

Whilst indents play the sound of a storm would play. The sound of thunder will accompany each new indent when it comes on screen during the first scene. 

After watching similar openings to films from the same genre. We decided that along side the soundtrack a mystical/deep voice performs a few lines of script to give context to the opening. This was inspired by the opening to the Hobbit (see genre analysis blog).

The opening shot is a close-up shot looking down on a characters face in a storm (this could be achieved on a rainy day, at low light, and thunder like effects added in editing). 
The characters face would be creaturesce and the character dressed in an elaborate costume. The character can be partly covered by moss/shrubbery to emphasise time (props available on moor).


Titles will grow from the undergrowth within shots; this will be digitally created. For example a branches and vines could move to form a title. Each title accompanied by a sound, representative of the growth of a plant.

A violin solo starts the soundtrack in a minor key, hence a sombre atmosphere is created. 

The camera zooms out from above, showing the character in by lying unmoving in the dirt. The camera stops moving and the character starts shuffling as if wakening.  New camera at medium shot goes from looking down on the character to looking up as character clumsily stands (as if dizzy). 

Weather starts to resolve as a handheld medium-long shot shows the character stumble/walk. Sturdiness of walk increase and rain has stopped, light is increased and music is in a major key. The camera is handheld and clumsy at the start of the following shot, however becomes more steady as the characters walk does.

The characters costume becomes cleaner, they walk grandly as the soundtrack supports the sense of power and authority. Leaves fly from the character (digitally added afterwards).

A medium-long shot follows a character walking, whilst other elaborately decorated faces appear from out of shrubs and bushes. 

Update 25/1/16 - After scouting the moor scenery we have decided on a different way t introduce "Zosil" into the scene. A medium close-up shot shows a face erupts from a near stream, gasping for air. This creature then clambers out of the stream, shrugging of the water like a dog. This character proceeds to walk alongside the protagnist.

As the piece of music develops, and more characters join the frame, more instruments join, hence it gains in volume, until it sounds full. As the screen becomes full - the sound is also full. 

The camera zooms out to a long shot, whilst which characters join the protagonist to form a straight line of walking creatures (the protagonist plus 4 others). The growing amount of instruments corresponds wit the amount of characters now walking - hence the more characters there are, the more powerful the music becomes. The protagonist is centre and leading the other characters. 

The camera cranes up to show the group of characters stood overlooking a valley, the music is triumphant and ends with the shot. 

Difficulties; 

• The creation of moving titles may prove difficult, and the addition of digitally created leaves flying from the main characters costume.
• At least 5 actors required
• Filming in the rain, and at low light

Strengths; 

• Filming outside so light in most shots will be sufficient.
• Set is readily available 

Sound

The Soundtrack

2/12/16

The soundtrack can only be concluded after the footage has being but together, however knowing the characters and how we wish the filming to go, the writing of the score can begin before hand. 

The score will be written on the program Sibelius. 

As outlined in the plot, each character will have a leitmotif (a phrase/ group of notes representing a character, that repeats and develops in the piece). These phrases will surface  as the character appears. 

Today I wrote the first draft of this motif. As the "Phex" this is a pixie like character the motif is meant to sound mischievous, but harmless. This phrase should compliment the jittery character that cautiously emerges from behind a rock. 

The piece will start in A minor, and end in D major.

2/3/17

The soundtrack should compliment the wild storm that blankets the first scene. To do this, I have opened the soundtrack with bold dynamics, and stark violin tremolo chords, this should create the tension required for the scene. 

5/4/17

It has being difficult to keep the soundtrack up to date with small last minute edits on the film, as changing just a few seconds of footage can mean several bars have to be rewritten. However I am happy with how it has turned out, however there are some timing issues due to last minute editing. 

Foley

Foley is every day sound added in post-production, in our case this will be necessary as ambience varies between shots (the sound of wind, birds etc). 

Some ambiance effects were readily provided on the software we were using (Final Cut Pro), theses include the sound of rain and lighting. However the sound of our characters footsteps crunching against bracken were not accessible, and so, having collecting a large amount of dried fern, we recorded these sounds ourselves. Below is a short video made by Sophie and myself, showing the recording of some of our foley. 

Voice over

For this role we wanted a voice like Brian Blessed's (powerful, domineering, mystical), so on the off chance he would reply I used Facebook to message him. In the meantime we have a backup actor who Sophie has previously worked with in a theatre performance. 

Below are our conversations with Brian. 

 

With no conformation to Brian we ave resorted to our back up Narrator, Scully. Whom Sophie has acted with in the past. 

4/4/17

Unfortunately we have being unable to contact Scully, and so another reserve, with experience in the industry, has had to step in. Despite this setback we are very pleased the result. 

To ensure our voice-over artist sounded authoritative and grounded we slightly edited the sound using a pitch shifter to create a deeper tone. Below is a screen shot from this process. 



Here is the voice over after editing: grizlek.aif

Characters, costumes and actors

Our film opening consists of 5 characters, hence we require 5 actors, and a minimum of 6 cast members to film parts involving all characters. 

Costume design will be lead by Sophie, who is studied art A level, and specialises in practical art applications. To achieve character focus unique designs, all costumes will be hand made to suit the individual personality and persona's of the characters. 

Here I have discussed the characters in order of appearance.

1. Anidone 

Sophie Ferreira will play Anidone, the protagonist. Sophie (below) fits this role perfectly, and I have tremendous confidence in her as an actor, having performed with her previously. 



The protagonist is an elf like creature, whose costume will follow an Ivy inspired colour scheme. Anidone is influenced by the Elf Queen Galadriel, from Lord of the Rings. This costume will be designed and will be made by Sophie.

Here is a preliminary sketch of the characters costume;

Update 8/12/16 - We bought the fabric for this costume. 

Update 20/12/16 - Construction of this costume has begun. 

Here is Sophie stitching detail into the skirt, and hemming the top. 




Update 5/1/17 - The costume has differed from the original idea as the colours of the fabric have changed. The cape is now a darker forest green to give her a more regal look and tie in with the forest more. The skirt fabric is also darker, and the second layer of the skirt will be a lighter green with more silvery aspects to match the belt.

2. Phex

Phex is a mischievous character, whose costume will be based on a winter theme of ice and frost, but still contain deep greens of the forest. The colour scheme is therefore icy blue and light green. The characters showing upper torso will be covered by blended blotches of blue and purple paint, creating an inhuman character.

Update 1/2/17 - Agata Polasik (Left) had being casted to play this role.

3. Arbor 

Arbor, Latin for tree, representing the resilience of the character I will play this character. Partly because I will enjoy playing this character, and partly because it would find it difficult to find a suitable volunteer willing (extensive special effects/ costume parts)

This is a beast like character, covered in fur, with horns, and armour. The armour will be Viking/medieval inspired, similarly to other films in the fantasy genre. inspired and made from fake leather. 


See face below from Beauty And The Beast (will be released 2017).

Update 23/12/16 - Construction of this costume has begun,  having freely sourced the necessary materials. In accordance with this animal the costume will by made from real sheep wool, soured freely. I have purchase fake leather at a cheap price, and have began embedding the wool into a base layer. 

Here is a preliminary sketch of this character (below left) and the actor, Amy Spence (below right. 

4. Zosil (pronounced Zo-sul)

This will be  scatty character, inspired by Gollum, slightly 'creeps' around. It will be played preferably by a male child, as the character is small in size. 

Characters like this are often created with CGI, where computer graphics software is used to make computer-generated imagery for films. We may be able to do this at a basic level, but to limit its necessity we will make the costume as lifelike as possible. 

The costume will take inspiration from nature, moss, and mud themes throughout, this will expose large areas of flesh that we can manipulate with face paints to look animalesce. The character will just wear rugged trousers/shorts, bare feet, straggly hair.

William Spence has being cast to play this role. William (below) has some experience acting, and fits the demographic well. Here is a the email I sent William in relation to the role; 

"Good Morning, 

Hope your having a lovely day, just following up on our conversation about Anidone. I've spoken to Sophie and if you're still willing we'd love for you to play the role of Zosil. Here is a link to a blog post, on which you will find your character profile, this is an outline of how we imagined Zosil - but we encourage you to adapt and exaggerate the character as you feel fit. 

Filming involving your character will take place on 11th and 18th March (subject to weather conditions), I will get in touch again closer to the time to confirm and arrange a meeting point and time. We will bring your costume and make-up on the day, just bring some ward cloths, and a towel.

Looking forward to acting with you, Amy"


7/3/17

Having now filmed, I think Zosil's costume worked well. William wore a Tarzan like skirt (rags of fake leather scraggily adjoined). We used face paint to change his skin colour and dehumanise him. Unfortunately as a result of a very partial costume he felt extremely cold, and whilst not filming had to retreat to a tinfoil blanket. 

5.  Trehsarck

This is a warrior character, and the tallest of the characters. It will be played by an adult male, (or the closest we can find to this) and takes inspiration from the character "Thorin" from The Hobbit.







Below are two characters from "The Last Kingdom", a BBC TV show set in the middle ages. Because of the time scale these costumes are very similar to the costume of our warrior character.

Additionally to the medieval costume this character will wear lines of boldly coloured face paint. 

Update 15/1/17 - Bethany Brown (below) has being cast to play this role. Despite not fitting our exact demographic she fits the part well.  



Update 15/1/17 - Due to unfortunate circumstances this actor can no longer act, so our back up actor Victor (photo below) will take her place. 

Costume expenses so far - £20.00


To organise any last minute changes/ quires I created a 'group chat' involving the cast and crew. We used this to discuss multiple things from character traits and costumes.

Influences

This scene from The Hobbit was an inspiration for our film; as it involves movement and a diverse array of characters and costumes. Furthermore it was filmed outside, with characters disappearing behind natural features - this is similar to our opening. 

In the medium shot below, Thorin and a group of other characters run towards the camera. Thorin was the inspiration for our character Trehsarck, and although the roles in our film opening deffer the shot below resembles our arrangement of characters. 

Method wise, The Revenant has also influenced our film. As like ours, the film was shot  with only natural lighting. Only one scene in the movie uses  artificial lighting - a campfire shot in which wind caused the fire (light source of the shot) to behave in an unpredictable, distracting way. Personally I think the cinematography in this film is stunning, and the shots with low light extremely effective (see the wide shot below), hence why it has impacted the way I will shoot in varying amounts of light. 

The team

After the pitch we were given the opportunity to form groups dependant on similar film opening ideas. Sophie and I naturally work together well, and both interested in fantasy film. Sophie and myself have made short films together in the past, these were very amateurish comedy creations, but never the less has given me confidence in Sophie as someone I can rely on. Her skills are especially noticeable in filming (as she is a photography student), acting (in which she has previous experience) and costume design/ mise-en scene (she is also an art student). 

Sophie's blog can be viewed here

From experience filming the swede I am aware I lack necessary skills in filming. This may be a difficulty in filming. However Sophie is a photography student and an able cameraman, so this resolves the problem; I can learn from her expertise. 

In preparation to work with Sophie on this film, I sent her a rough script, here is the begining of the email; 

Anchor Productions <tobbolly@gmail.com>
to Sophie

A fantasy film opening. Set on Lord of the Rings inspired scenery, ideal to re-create on moorland...