Professional Pre-Production: Opening Sequence Shoot

I have recently completed my shoot day for The Identity's opening titles. The day consisted of filming a number of planned shots outside in the morning sunlight for the best exposure possible, followed by planned shots at indoor locations with the use of set lighting for either extra 'daylight' effects, or to create harsh shadows. I feel that the shoot went completely to plan, give or take some unforeseen weather changes to deal with. But with plenty of time to spare throughout the day, and with great communication throughout the day between myself and my crew member, each individual shot went to plan.

Shot Examples & Changes

As the overall theme of the opening titles is related to the idea of a lost or stolen childhood, along with time being lost, and witnessing examples of the main character beginning her journey, I created the miniature 'scenes' below (all unedited footage).

Crayon Drawings

First style of crayon drawing shot example

Second style of crayon drawing shot example

As a first example of the ways that my shots and ideas adapted during filming once seeing them on camera; the first crayon drawing shot appeared too flat-looking to me. So I changed the shot to the second style, lowering the angle and creating a more professional and visually pleasing depth of field.

Example one of the crayon drawing burning

Example two of the crayon drawing burning

I'm extremely pleased with this scene and it's shots. By placing the burning paper on damp grass, each picture duplicate that I had drawn burnt slowly, allowing me to capture a number of detailed shots. I think that the family in the picture being burnt away and disappearing is a strong, dramatic interpretation of losing one's family.

Holding Hands

First attempt/style of holding hands shot example

Second attempt/style of holding hands shot example

As I'd imagined and planned, I wanted the holding hands shot to be in front of a cloudy sky. But once looking at the shot, the overcast sky and lighting difference between the hands and background created a problem; that the sky appeared as if it was more like a plain white backdrop. So we decided to bring set lighting outside and closely light our hands, allowing for us to turn down the exposure, giving the clouds behind more definition, and making the hands stand out.

Example of hands letting go shot

I think that a simple shot where we witness two hands holding on tight and then letting each other go, captures the idea of parting ways that I had intended. I also think that the clouds behind create a dark atmosphere for the shot.

Swings

Example of 'child' on swing shot

As I didn't have the means or the time to use a child in my opening titles, I was able to create the impression of a child through an adult wearing pink gloves and a large wool coat while playing on a swing. Without being able to include a face (as it would be an obvious adult face). I think that the transition of this shot, of a child swinging back and forth, to the shot below, of the swing slowly swaying with no one on it, supports my theme. And I am very pleased with my shots, as I feel that I managed to capture the exact image from my storyboard examples and create professional images.

Example of empty swing shot

Walking

Example of walking shot

Making the most of the seasons at this time of year, I decided to film my 'main character' walking along the vibrant autumn leaves for a contrast of colour. I think that costume of black jeans and biker boots is well suited to the costume design that I plan for my main character, allowing for the impression that these shots are of her walking on her journey. I think that my shots of this scene have turned out as well defined and better than I'd pictured.



The Knife

First style of the knife shot example

Second style of the knife shot example

I found that when filming the mysterious shots of a knife being toyed with, glinting in the light, that my initial idea of seeing a woman's hand playing with the knife just simply didn't work. I felt that the hand removed any sense of danger from the shot and distracted from the object. So after testing a number of ideas, my crew member and I decided to simply have an unseen hand slowly turn the knife so that it glints in the light, as the camera tracks up and down the blade. Creating a more creepy feeling and an overall better shot style.

The Bear

Example of the bear before shot

Extremely similar to the shot that I had pictured of the bear in my storyboard example, I think that the innocence of a childhood stuffed animal really comes through in this shot, with a variety of colours and textures. I'm very pleased with this result.

Example of the bear after shot

I think that there is something slightly disturbing about this shot; as was my intention. By tearing and dirtying the bear I was able to further symbolise the idea of a lost childhood. I think that the harsh shadow and dull, unkempt surroundings of the bear creates a noticeably atmospheric contrast to the before and after shots.

Cloud Time Lapse

Example of the cloud time lapse shot

Initially, I thought that I would be unable to film the sky time lapse shot that I had intended as the clouds were overcast all day. But in a brief moment of the clouds separating I was able to capture a lengthy shot of the clouds travelling and changing across the sky. I think that this will be a great cutaway shot along with resembling time passing.

Maps

Example of maps shot

The above is an example of a London map that I printed and fashioned to appear used to symbolise the character's travels through London on her journey. I also did the same with a Pennsylvania map; the hometown of and area that the character travels from. By pointing set lighting at an angle on the maps I was able to get very angular shots and a great depth of field on the locations listed.

Candle & Flame 

Example of candle and flame shot

By gently blowing on the candle's flame, causing it to flicker, and then quickly blowing the flame out completely, I was able to symbolise with this shot the idea of hope being lost - as a candle can often be a representation of hope, and when the flame goes out, the hope has too. Choosing to film the lit candle in the pitch black darkness of the night instead of during the day, I was able to create a shot that brought out the vibrancy and glowing light of the candle. I feel that the dark background, melted details that I'd created on the candle earlier and bright flame all create an effect that almost makes the footage seem edited as the shot fades to black at the bottom. I'm extremely pleased with the results of this shot.

What Worked

• Overall, the shoot day was a success. As I was able to capture every shot that I'd imagined.
• I think that using different locations when filming (garden/park/bedroom/living room etc.) will allow me to create a very lively and varying montage of footage in the opening titles.
• Using the Canon DSLR camera and Aputure lighting kit gave the footage extra flair and professional appearances.
• Using one crew member to assist in camera work when I was starring in the shots myself proved to be enough for filming. I feel that no extra crew was needed.
• The planned timing of the shots: by filming the shots that needed outside daylight in the morning when there's most light, followed by shots that required inside daylight, and then shots that were suited to being film in a dark location with a lighting kit, the schedule went to plan and I got the appearances that I needed.
• By preparing a number of props before filming day, including duplicate crayon drawings for multiple burning shots, a pristine teddy bear that I was able to damage effectively, maps that were made to look authentic, and melting down a candle with precise drips and angles for a prolonged use look, I was able to get an authentic feel to my props and footage.

What I Would Have Done Differently

• I would have filmed the holding hands shots slightly differently, creating less of a flat backdrop appearance (even though I improved on this), I still feel that the shot is slightly off - while still effective.
• I would have possibly come up with a more interesting idea for the use of the knife prop, to create more threatening footage of this.
• I would have used actresses for the parts that I starred in myself, in order for my role to remain as director and camera person only to simply just make the day go a bit smoother. However, my crew member captured exactly what I wanted from the footage of myself under my directions, so this wasn't a problem.

What's Next

After a successful shoot, I will soon begin editing the opening sequence together to create an approximately 40 second long montage style piece that fits my series.

Professional Pre-Production: Synopsis First Draft, Feedback & Changes

In order to confirm that each element of my episodes support the overall story of The Identity, as well as fine tuning the story to improve on it, I created a series synopsis, and then individual synopsis for each episode. I then received feedback on this and was advised of important changes to make.

Here is my first draft synopsis...

The Identity Synopsis

The Identity is a drama/thriller three-part miniseries that focuses on a young woman; Lauren Daniels, trying to find out who her real family is and where she comes from. Having grown up in Philadelphia with her mother Helen, Lauren has grown bored of working in the same job, meeting the same people and living the same old life. This is all completely turned around when her grandmother Joyce unexpectedly comes into her life and reveals to her that her mother isn’t who she thinks she is. Finding out from Helen and their family friend Chris that her mother changed her identity and stole her surrogate daughter from a couple in London, Lauren is furious and decides that she needs to meet her real parents.

She packs up and travels to London, abandoning her mother. Meeting a young man called Ethan, he follows her on her journey and helps her to track down her family. The pair manage to find the workplace of Lauren’s father Frank, and obtain his phone number and address. Lauren becomes suspicious of Ethan when she finds out that he’s a fraud investigator, but he quickly admits to her that he works with Chris, and that he was sent to help Lauren as a favour. Accepting that they care for each other, Lauren and Ethan admit their feelings for each other and sleep together that night.

But the next day, Lauren leaves him behind, wanting to spare him from getting into any trouble because of her. She travels to her parents’ address alone, only to find a young woman living there. It’s soon revealed that the woman is Amanda, the daughter of Lauren’s parents Frank and Kathleen, who replaced Lauren once she was stolen. Furious, Lauren tracks down her parents’ home and confronts Kathleen. Who tells her that Frank wanted to spare their family shame and embarrassment, so he left the police out of it and covered up their daughters kidnapping by illegally adopting a Romanian orphan of the same age, and using her as a replacement. Frank soon arrives mid conversation and tells Lauren to leave.

Once Lauren leaves in tears, Amanda is seen to have been eavesdropping and follows Lauren. Sat on a park bench crying, Lauren makes a phone call, saying she regrets coming to London, and tells the person where she is. She goes back to her hotel room and goes to bed early. But she is woken up in the middle of the night to find that she’s been gagged and bound by Amanda, who stands over her, frantic and paranoid from cocaine. She tells Lauren that she won’t come between her family and takes out a knife. Helen, having been called by Lauren earlier, comes in and tries to stop Amanda, but is stabbed by her in the chaos. Lauren breaks free and kills Amanda with a blunt object.

Saying goodbye to her dying mother, Helen and Lauren tell each other that they’re sorry and that they love each other, and Helen dies in her arms. Lauren is forced to clean up evidence and leave before the police arrive. The next day she sees her birth parents being told that Amanda is dead. She then calls Chris and tells him what’s happened, he tells her that he’ll send her a new passport to fly home with. Then lastly, Lauren calls Ethan and asks him if they can see each other again, Ethan is glad to hear from her and they decide to fly home together.

Tutor Feedback

• Too detailed on plot points
• The series synopsis should be broad sweeps of the story and characters
• This should focus on the key story moments

Changes

The changes that I will make:

• Narrow down the series synopsis to be more focused on key points
• Remove unnecessary extra details that belong in episode synopsis'

Episode One Synopsis

It’s England 1989, an excited couple by the name of Kathleen and Frank Porter have been having regular doctors’ check-ups and preparing for their baby for the last two months. Unable to carry a child, Kathleen has put her trust into a gestational surrogate; the gentle young American, Julia Drennen. Julia doesn’t have a biological relation to this baby, but she can’t help but feel a lot of love for him or her already. One day, mid conversation, Kathleen mentions that if the baby is a girl, she wants to name her after her late mother; Amanda. Julia starts to feel full of panic, being reminded that she won’t be able to raise her baby. 

Later that night in her home, her anxiety gets the better of her and she decides that she isn’t willing to let her baby go. She frantically starts packing her bags and makes a call, she tells the person that she’s pregnant and that she and her baby need to go into hiding. She makes plans to stay with them and travels to a hotel. Over the next few days, Julia moves from place to place, while Kathleen and Frank start becoming more and more panicked over not being able to reach her on the phone or at her apartment. Eventually, Julia receives a package full of documents, she gets into a taxi and goes straight to the airport. She hands over her passport at the check-in desk, which shows her photo next to the name ‘Helen Daniels’. She is handed back her passport with a smile from the check-in staff and with a relieved look on her face, she disappears into a crowd of people.

Its twenty-seven years later; 2016. An attractive young woman cleans the bar of a diner, making witty jokes back and forth with the customers, her co-workers address her as Lauren. She finishes up for the evening and walks to her car in a dark, urban street. She passes a sign on her drive home that says ‘Southwest Schuylkill, Philadelphia’. She arrives home to an aged Julia (now known as Helen) and gives her a kiss on the cheek, addressing her as ‘mom’. The pair talk about their days, Lauren says she’s bored; of the town, her job, everything, and that she wants to go somewhere else for once, but Helen avoids the topic. Later that night, while Helen is painting a picture downstairs, Lauren sits in her bedroom, sketching. Their landline rings and Lauren answers, a woman’s voice tells her that she urgently needs to see her and that she’s family, she gives Lauren an address, asks her to come tomorrow and tells her not to tell her mother. Lauren agrees and hangs up, looking confused and suspicious.

The next morning, Lauren tells her mother that she’s going out, she gets in her car and drives for over an hour to Dover, Delaware. She arrives at a well-kept house, and a woman who looks frail, elderly, but slightly familiar to Lauren answers, and says her name is Joyce. The pair make small talk until Lauren demands to know why she was asked to come, Joyce reveals to Lauren that she’s Helen’s mother, that she’s dying, and that she needs to tell Lauren the truth about her life. She tells her that Helen isn’t who she thinks she is, and that she stole Lauren from her real parents twenty-seven years ago. Shocked and confused, Lauren wants to know more, but Joyce tells her that’s all she knows. Lauren leaves abruptly, and drives home wanting answers from her mother.

She bursts through the door, emotional and angry, and tells Helen what she’s learned today. Helen is shocked that Joyce reached out to Lauren, as her mother had wanted nothing to do with her since running away with a stolen child, and had ignored Helen’s attempts at contact throughout the years. Helen feels unable to deny the truth to her daughter, and in a panicking flood of tears admits to her that it’s true, but begs her to listen. Disgusted, Lauren doesn’t listen and leaves to go to their family friend’s house nearby. She arrives at Chris Hillman’s house, a friend of Helen’s since childhood and who helped to raise Lauren her whole life. Lauren expects him to be shocked by what she tells him, but Chris manages to calm her down and reveals that he knew, as he was the one that helped her mother change her identity, and that they came to Philadelphia to live with him for a while. Feeling obligated to help, he tells Lauren her mother’s real name, and tells her that all he’s ever known is that her parents are called Frank and Kathleen Porter, that Lauren’s real name was supposed to be Amanda Porter and that Helen ran away from London.

Lauren decides that she needs to find her parents and know who she is. She tells Chris this and leaves in a rush, he is unable to stop her but makes a call once she leaves. Lauren returns home once more, to her mother sat silently in devastation. Lauren opens their safe and takes some money, as she rushes round packing a bag, she tells her mother that she’s going to find her real parents and that she never wants to see her again. Lauren leaves and Helen bursts into tears. Lauren gets on a bus to the airport as the sun goes down. Once she arrives she has some time to kill until her flight to London. She stops in a bar and has a drink, after knocking back a shot of whiskey, a seedy looking man approaches her and pinches her behind. A young, attractive man sitting nearby sees this and goes to step in, but Lauren is quick to jump up and backhand the seedy man across the face hard enough for him to stumble. He raises his hand to her but the young man stops him and tells him that he should leave, pointing to everyone in the bar glaring at him. The man leaves and the young man sits next to Lauren and introduces himself as Ethan Briggs. They make small talk and Ethan attempts light-hearted conversation, he makes her briefly crack a smile but Lauren gives him mostly sarcastic responses and leaves once her flight number is called for boarding.

Once on the plane, Lauren notices Ethan, who has already spotted her, sitting a few rows ahead. He asks the stranger next to her if they can switch seats and sits next to Lauren, who rolls her eyes. The pair pick up conversation again and he asks her where she’s going, Lauren hesitates but tells him that she’s going to find her family. She looks out of the plane’s window as they prepare to take off. The plane takes off and Lauren’s journey begins.

Tutor Feedback

• Too detailed in certain areas involving dialogue and precise actions
• Use descriptive words
• Joyce reaching out to Lauren doesn't feel motivated, therefore the story needs to start with Lauren finding out in a different way
• Consider a cliff hanger with Ethan at the end of the episode that represent that he's not who he says he is

Changes

The changes that I will make:

• Remove unnecessary details that don't serve as a character, visual or atmospheric description
• Use more in depth descriptions such as "She sighs as she looks at her boring, dull hometown in Philadelphia" instead of "She passes a sign on her drive home that says ‘Southwest Schuylkill, Philadelphia’"
• Remove the character of Joyce due to lack of motivation and placement within the story
• Create a new situation for Lauren to find out that Helen isn't her mother, such as an accident showing that something to donate doesn't match or Helen confessing
• Create a cliff hanger moment to reveal that Ethan is up to something

Episode Two Synopsis

Lauren arrives in England, having told Ethan about her life’s secret and why she’s travelling to England to find her parents while on the plane, he stays by her side as they go through airport security checks, asking her questions and talking to her. Once they leave the airport Lauren tries to say goodbye to Ethan, but he offers to buy her breakfast, clearly interested in spending more time with her. She seems to like him and agrees. The pair have breakfast and Ethan asks how she intends to find her parents. She says she has no idea and he offers to help her. Suspicious of his generosity, she asks him why he travelled to England. He tells her that he has a job interview in advertising in a couple of days and that he came over early to do some sightseeing. He also tells Lauren that she seems nice and that she’s interesting, so he wants to help if he can. Lauren believes him and accepts his help, so they try to think of where to start over breakfast.

They eventually decide to go to a public library and use a computer, as Lauren knows her parents’ names she decides to see if she can look them up and track them down. They hunch over one computer together and search for Kathleen Porter, but get no helpful results. They then search for Frank Porter, and get a number of different people under that name, known in different London professions. The pair make a list of workplace addresses and begin travelling to the destinations. While on the underground, heading towards the first office building, Ethan asks Lauren what she plans to do when they get to the offices. She tells him that she’s going to say that she’s a family member from out of town coming to visit, and she has Frank’s work address but lost his home address and can’t get hold of him or Kathleen, and repeat until they’re at the right office. Lauren seems aware that it’s an unlikely plan and that she’ll seem crazy at the wrong offices, but is determined to find her father.

Spending all day travelling across areas of London, Lauren and Ethan fail over and over, by either receptionists refusing to provide them with contact details, or telling them that they have the wrong Frank Porter. But on the sixth office; a real estate agency, Lauren makes another attempt at using her line on a receptionist, who says that Frank isn’t there. But, and although looking suspicious of Lauren, the woman hands over a last known phone number and address, and tells Lauren that she can reach Frank or Kathleen there. Ethan and Lauren leave shocked, Ethan is excited for Lauren but she seems suddenly scared. Not ready to make contact yet, Lauren suggests calling her parents later and suggests going to a bar with Ethan.

The pair have a drink in a bar and talk about how unusual the day’s been, and what Lauren might say when she meets her parents. The conversation and a drink inspires Lauren to call the contact number that she has written down, unknowing of what she’ll say when they answer. But the phone number has been disconnected, Ethan assures her that it’s probably just an old number, and they decide to go straight to the address the next morning. Ethan goes to the bathroom, not noticing that his wallet was left on his chair, curious, Lauren opens it, only to find a Fraud Investigator occupational business card. 

Lauren is shocked and drops the card and wallet on the chair, running out of the bar. Ethan catches sight of her leaving and sees his card on display. He chases after her and manages to grab her in the street. She angrily pushes him away, suspecting him of only helping her to open an identity fraud case against herself and Helen. Angry and emotional she tells him to stay away from her, but he chases after her again and makes her stop. He reveals to her that he works with Chris, who sent him to keep an eye on Lauren and keep her out of danger as a favour. Chris had asked him not to tell her, knowing that she wouldn’t want Ethan’s help if she knew that Chris had put him up to it. He proves this to her with a photo of himself and Chris on his phone, and his number in his contacts, along with call history.

Lauren believes him and apologises for her accusation, she tells him that he doesn’t have to keep helping her just because Chris asked him to. But he tells Lauren that he cares about her, and wants to keep helping, this seems to make Lauren happy. Ethan suggests that they turn in for the night and find a hotel. They get separate rooms at the hotel and say goodnight, but once Lauren sits on the edge of her bed, she looks thoughtful for a moment. She gets back up and knocks on Ethan’s door, he answers confused. Lauren seems nervous, and lightly kisses him on the lips, Ethan seems surprised, but doesn’t back away. They look at each other for a moment, and then kiss again, closing the door behind them. The pair continue to kiss and undress each other, eventually sleeping together and falling asleep in Ethan’s bed.

He wakes up the next morning to see that Lauren isn’t beside him anymore, just a note left on the end table. The note is written by Lauren, saying that she cares about Ethan, and doesn’t want to risk causing him problems (being a fraud investigator that knows the daughter of a fraud). She tells him that she’s glad they met, but has to do this alone now. Ethan runs to her room next door and knocks, but there’s no answer, looking disappointed he traipses back into his room.

Lauren has already left and sits on a bus, looking back and forth from the Hammersmith address in her hand and out of the window. She gets off of the bus and walks along a street, looking from house to house. She stops at the right address, and nervously approaches the front door. She knocks and a young, attractive, yet slightly worn down looking woman answers the door. Confused, Lauren asks if she has the right address and says she’s looking for Frank and Kathleen Porter. The woman tells her that they’ve moved but she has their address and invites Lauren in. While the woman searches for the address in the next room, Lauren’s eyes scan the room, she notices a picture of the woman with what looks like her parents. The woman returns and Lauren asks if this is her parents, the woman says yes, that’s her parents; Frank and Kathleen, and passes Lauren the address. Looking shocked, Lauren starts to piece things together, she asks the woman her name, which she answers ‘Amanda’. With devastation across her face, Lauren asks when Amanda was born, to which she answers 1989. Lauren gasps and realises what her parents have done, saying “they replaced me”.

Tutor Feedback

• Also too detailed in certain areas
• The episode is too flat until the end
• Ethan and Lauren need to have more of an investigation into finding Frank, with more adventure
• Create more mystery around Ethan's character. Think of a reason for why he could be travelling with/helping Lauren instead of helping Chris
• Lauren needs more information to realise that Amanda is her replacement
• A gripping story so far

Changes

The changes that I will make:

• Remove unnecessary details
• Create more drama for Lauren, with more of a journey to the end of the episode
• Create more of an investigation for Lauren and Ethan in finding Frank by creating a new situation in replacement of the above
• Create a new reason for why Ethan has accompanied Lauren on her journey that has more reasoning behind it
• Give Lauren's character more information/realisations as to why she thinks Amanda is her replacement

Episode Three Synopsis

Leaving Amanda’s house in a shocked hurry, Lauren walks down the street trying to gather her thoughts, trying figure out why her parents would have replaced her instead of looking for her. She stops in an alley and rests against a wall, trying to calm herself down. She looks at the new address in her hand, and decides she needs to go straight to her parents for answers. She goes back to the street and gets into a taxi.

Once again approaching a house, she knocks on the door and puts down her bag. A middle aged woman with a resemblance to Lauren answers, she looks at Lauren for a moment and then realises, asking if she’s who she thinks she is. With now a bitterness towards her birth mother, Lauren says that it depends on whether she’s Kathleen Porter. The woman says that she is, and Lauren responds that she is her biological daughter. Kathleen breaks down in tears, shocked that her real daughter is standing in front of her. Lauren doesn’t respond in the same way, with simple tears in her eyes and anger in her voice, she asks to come inside. Kathleen invites her in and they sit down. 

Kathleen asks how she found them, but Lauren angrily asks why her parents didn’t find her, revealing that she’s met their ‘daughter’ Amanda. Kathleen looks ashamed, saying that they made a mistake. She tells Lauren that she wanted to find her, but that Frank quickly gave up hope of ever finding his baby. He had convinced them both that the only way they were ever going to be able to have a child was to adopt. And if they wanted to save their family the shame from trusting a woman that ran away with their baby, they were never going to tell the police, and were going to have to pretend that a different baby was the same one they were expecting months later. So they flew to Romania, and illegally adopted a two month old orphan, who they named Amanda Porter.

Still in tears, Kathleen says that she was never able to love Amanda like her own daughter, and that she will regret not finding Lauren for the rest of her life. At that moment, Frank comes home to see Lauren and Kathleen sat together. Kathleen tells him that it’s her, and Frank reacts in anger. He tells Lauren to get out and that she’s not their daughter, Kathleen tries to argue with him but he doesn’t listen to her. Lauren, feeling resentment towards her father, glares at him and says she’ll leave, to Kathleen’s dismay. Lauren walks away from the house, with her angry expression turning to tears. After she’s left, we see that Amanda had followed her and listened outside of the window, looking angry and upset, she grabs Lauren’s forgotten bag from the doorstep and gets into her car.

Having realised that she left her bag behind, Lauren uses the money from her pockets to buy a bottle of booze and sits on a bench in an old abandoned park, drinking and crying in broad daylight. She takes out her phone and makes a call, saying that she’s sorry for leaving, that she shouldn’t have come here and that she misses the person. She tells them not to worry about finding her, but reluctantly gives them her hotel address anyway. After hanging up, Lauren sits in sadness for a bit longer, then throws the bottle away and starts to walk the long journey back to her hotel. Once she reaches her room, she sees that Ethan’s room is empty and being cleaned. Exhausted, she then goes straight to bed for an early night, planning on collecting her bag for her clothes and passport, and then go home tomorrow.

Ten hours later, Lauren wakes up in the middle of the night, realising that she has tape over her mouth and that her hands and feet have been tied up. She sees Amanda, lent over a chest of drawers, snorting a line of cocaine. Lauren starts to wriggle and tries to scream but it’s muffled by the tape, Amanda hears her and turns around. Appearing paranoid and emotional, Amanda tells Lauren that she knows who she is, and drops her bag next to her, which holds her hotel check-in receipt. Stumbling slightly, Amanda tells Lauren that she won’t take her family away from her, and takes out a knife. Lauren screams again, with tears rolling down her cheeks and continuing to try to wriggle free.

Amanda, tearing up, leans over Lauren with the knife and tells her that she just wanted her parents to love her, and now she knows why they don’t. Lauren’s tape comes off and her scream echoes. Amanda quickly puts her hand over her mouth, telling her to shut up. Just then, Helen bursts into the room, having caught a flight to London as soon as her daughter called her. She sees Lauren tied up, with a knife being held to her. She runs to her daughter but Amanda panics and runs at her with the knife, stabbing her in the stomach. Lauren manages to free herself at that moment, jumping up to reach her mother. Amanda turns to attack Lauren, but Lauren picks up a lamp and smashes it across her head. Amanda falls to the floor, killed on impact.

Lauren rushes to her mother and holds her as she lay dying. In floods of tears, Lauren tells her mother how sorry she is and that she loves her. Helen tells Lauren that she’s sorry for lying to her, but that she loves her more than anything. Telling Helen that she’s her real mother no matter what, Helen soon dies in her arms. Sat crying and holding her mother for a moment, Lauren looks up at Amanda’s body, and realises that the police will have been called from the disturbing noises. She’s forced to pull herself together and cleans fingerprints from objects around the room, takes her things, checks the bodies for evidence (noticing that her mother used a different ID instead of Helen Daniels) and has to leave her mother and Amanda behind. Avoiding everyone around her, Lauren hastily leaves the hotel and walks down the street. Police cars speed past her with their sirens on, but Lauren goes unnoticed.

The following morning, Lauren stands at a distance from her birth parents’ house, and watches as the police tell them that their daughter Amanda is dead. As she watches her parents react in devastation, a tear roles down her cheek, and she turns and walks away. She later calls Chris and tells him what’s happened, he tells her to wait in London and he’ll send her a new identity to travel home with as the police will be searching for her, he then hangs up and bursts into tears. Lauren then makes another call, asking Ethan if he wants to see her, he answers, sat in the restaurant where they first ate breakfast, and says he was hoping that she’d say that. Lauren later meets Ethan at the restaurant, and he says “let’s go home”, she faintly smiles with hope.

Tutor Feedback

• Too detailed in certain areas
• Not enough happens in the episode overall
• Lauren meetings her parents isn't emotional/dramatic enough
• The focus should be more so on Lauren and Amanda
• It needs to be established that the Porters aren't the family that Lauren was hoping for

Changes

• Remove unnecessary details
• Create more story arcs and more drama throughout the episode, creating new situations
• Create a more emotional and dramatic situation when Lauren meets her family
• Have Lauren and Amanda meet and interact more with new situations
• Alongside episode two, create characteristics for the Porters that are unlikable and obviously disappointing for Lauren

The in depth feedback that I received for all of my synopsis is very helpful in improving the content of my miniseries, and I will be making all of the above creative changes right away. 

Professional Pre-Production: Series Research: The Killing

The Killing: Episode One

A crime drama created by AMC, I found The Killing appealing for analyse as not only does it fit in with The Identity's part broadcasting channel, and part of it's genre. But the themes of love, family and mystery are a helpful comparison to my own work, and my previous research on Doctor Foster.

The Killing Season One Trailer

www.netflix.com/title/70180183

My Plot Summary
Detective Sarah Linden is ready to leave the force and move to California with her fiance Rick and son Jack. But once a blood soaked piece of evidence is found at a crime scene that leads to a family with a teenage daughter, Sarah starts to suspect that something could have happened to the girl known as Rosie Larsen. Refusing to leave the investigation behind, Sarah searches all areas to find out if Rosie is dead or alive.


Themes
Family
Love
Death
Mystery
Fear


Characters
Sarah Linden: Main character. A detective that's about to leave the force and move away with her son and fiance. She seems to value her job but her family more. But once she starts on her investigation into Rosie Larsen's disappearance, she feels that she needs to continue.

Rick: Fiance. He seems to love Sarah and her son, and is looking forward to them moving to California with him.

Holder: Detective. He's unconventional as a detective in appearance, but seems to be keen to find out the truth about Rosie Larsen.

Stan Larsen: Rosie's father. He suspects that Rosie has run away with a troublesome boyfriend, and is determined to find her. But is devastated when she'd found dead.

Mitch Larsen: Rosie's mother. She tries to assume that Rosie is misbehaving, but is terrified about her daughter's disappearance, and desperately wants her found. She too is devastated when she finds out that Rosie is dead.

Darren Richmond: Politician. He initially seems to be a caring and grieving man, who wants to run for city mayor. But his car has now been found to hold Rosie's body.

Sterling: Rosie's friend. A shy young girl who covered for Rosie when she planned to see Jasper, by saying that Rosie stayed with her. But comes under questioning when Rosie disappears.

Rosie Larsen: Missing girl. Rosie seems to be loved by a lot of family and friends, but is slightly misguided in who she gets into relationships with. See is seen as terrified and running before her death.

Jack: Sarah's son. He seems to be a nice boy, but is angry at his mother for moving them away with her fiance.

Jasper: Rosie's boyfriend. He's seen as a dangerous person for Rosie to spend time with, and is suspected of bringing Rosie to stay with him, except she's found to not be there.


Visual Style
Almost the entirety of The Killing is dark and dull in tones and lighting, with blue tones to signify the down beaten mood and locations. In the beginning of the episode, we see a large use of dark settings with characters using flashlights to highlight key objects or people, such as Rosie being chased in the first scene, and Sarah inspecting what she believes to be a crime scene soon after. The setting of the killing appears as a run-down area, with lots of decaying and dull locations and with varying rainfall throughout the episode. While the entire episode is set with a dark, mysterious and depressing mood through location, weather, tone and colour, the only place that appears to be visually full of life and colour is Rosie's now unused bedroom. Which is full of colourful clothes, bedding and photographs, signifying how bright and upbeat life was before Rosie was taken.


Run Time
0-10 minutes: Sarah Linden jogs through the woods in the daylight, at the same time we see a girl run through the woods in the dark, screaming and being chased. The girl, shaking and crying, hides behind a tree before she is found. What appears to be the next day, Sarah finds a dead animal in the same place. Named as 'Day One', Sarah arrives at a crime scene to find that it's actually a surprise bon voyage party for her. She returns home to her fiance Rick, whether they prepare for moving away together with her son. As she packs up her office, her replacement, Holder arrives and they discuss a recent case. Their boss enters and tells them to go to a new crime scene together. They get to know each other on the car journey and Holder and a homeless looking girl put their middle fingers up at each other through a window without Sarah noticing.

11-20 minutes: The pair arrive at the crime scene and are given a blood soaked jumper as evidence. Sarah notices a large cross tattoo on the back of Holder's neck. They discover the credit card of a Stanley Larsen and decide to investigate. We then see Stan Larsen enter a store to pick up an order of raw meet when he receives a call telling him to come home. He goes home to his wife Mitch, who he seems to have a positive relationship as they laugh together. The pair talk about their daughter and her future before he leaves. Moving on to a man standing at a grave appearing upset, he answers the phone to someone named Jamie and leaves. He's then addressed as Darren Richmond as he enters his workplace, where he seems to be sleeping with his co-worker, Darren also seems to be a successful politician. Later, Linden and Holder arrive at Mitch's address and question her about Stan. Sarah asks if they have a daughter and she says yes, and that she stayed in town while the rest of the family went camping. Mitch realises that she hasn't talked to her daughter for days, and looks immediately concerned and upset.

21-30 minutes: Now in a school, a young girl walks through the halls asking people if they've seen Rosie and Cameron. A woman questions the young girl (Sterling) about Rosie Larsen, who Sterling claims stayed at her house over the weekend but as she talks her nose begins to bleed. Elsewhere, Mrs Larsen is still being questioned about her daughter, she tells them that she was wearing a pink sweater - which matches the sweater found at the crime scene. Sarah looks at Rosie's room, full of colour and photos. Mitch is told that the last time Rosie's friends saw her was on Friday.

Later, Darren visits the school to make a speech, from the conversation with his co-worker/lover, we can gather that a female in his life died, potentially a wife or daughter. Darren's speech is postponed by an investigation that begins for finding Rosie. Sterling sees the Sarah, Holder and other police offers and walks in the other direction, making a phone call. The pair then question Rosie's teacher, who says that she was wearing a costume. Holder attempts to get the teacher to say that Rosie's attractive for a reaction, which he denies, seeming bothered. Sarah then receives a call from her son's school and leaves. Sterling is then seen meeting a boy named Kris, who she asks if Rosie spent the weekend at a boy called Jasper's house, to which Kris says that he probably wanted to hook up with her. A disturbed looking teenage boy is then seen playing video games, while a girl groans in the background. Sarah picks up her son who was found smoking, he seems resentful towards his mum for her moving them away from his friend. Holder calls Sarah and she returns to work.

31-40 minutes: Mitch is seen attempting to call her husband with no luck, her other children return home and ask for Rosie. Stan calls back and she begins to tell him about Rosie. The police continue to search the field crime scene for more evidence or a body. Stan keeps his wife calm and tells her that he'll find Rosie before leaving. Sarah and Holder trace Rosie's steps through the woods, trying to track her moves. Meanwhile, Darren receives a call from a woman named Meg, who tells him that people know about his hidden trips. Later, Sterling arrives at home to find Stan angry and questioning her about Rosie, she tells him that Rosie's at Jasper's house, he then calls his wife and tells her not to worry. Sarah is told by her boss that Rosie's at Jasper's and that the investigation's over. At Jasper's house, Stan bursts in to look for Rosie, but Jasper tells him that Rosie isn't there and the groaning girl is revealed to be someone else. While Sarah is on the phone to Rick at the crime scene, she notices a clue. The police head to a nearby lake and find a car, which they pull out of the lake.

41-45 minutes: Sarah and Holder watch as the car is lifted, and Stan calls his wife from his car to tell her that Rosie wasn't with Jasper and that he's going to the park where they found her sweater. Looking devastated as he arrives at the crime scene, he leaves his wife on the phone and gets out of his truck. Meanwhile, Sarah and Holder investigate the car and open the trunk, where they find Rosie's body, laying in a pool of water. Stan cries out for Rosie while Mitch hears on the line. Sarah, looking sympathetic, walks to Stan and tells him that she's sorry, making him realise that his daughter's dead. Mitch falls to the floor in tears, crying out for Stan, as she too realises that Rosie's dead from her husband's screams. Holder tells Sarah that the car Rosie's found in belongs to Darren Richmond's campaign. Photographs are taken of Rosie's body, as we see Stan fall to the ground in tears on the street, while Mitch does the same at home. Sarah looks on at the body, looking inquisitive.


Comparisons, Observations & Inspirations
When analysing how many characters were introduced, represented and explored throughout the first episode, it is clear that a number of characters can be brought to life in a short amount of time. However, in my opinion, not enough is learnt about the main character, Sarah, in this episode, as the focus seems to be more on learning about who Rosie was before her death.

In contrast to the recently analysed series Doctor Foster, The Killing seems to use a much larger amount of dialogue for explanation than visuals. I feel that while often dialogue is necessary, visuals can be much more stimulating as a way of explaining a situation or character's feeling than simply verbally explaining this to the audience. Also, while it seems appropriate to use dark tones for a hostile situation in the episode, I feel that the colours were too dull, steering away from situational and atmospheric expressions through tone and colour, and creating a more plain and boring effect for a story-line that's so stimulating. While I plan to create a dark mood for my own visuals, I would lean further towards Doctor Foster's example, and use brighter tones of blue and contrasting light to create an atmosphere.

Lastly, I feel that a large amount of content was able to placed within 45 minutes. Although the first ten minutes only establishes that something bad has happened to a young girl, and that our main character is Sarah, a detective that's moving away with her family. The next thirty-five minutes allows for the investigation of Rosie Larsen to start, and build up suspense not only for the characters, but for the audience, allowing us to point fingers at who could be involved, and where she could be. However, I see finding Rosie's body at the end of the episode as a story tied up and concluded, with a simple 'who did it?' situation remaining for the next episodes. For my own three episodes and plot, I plan to create much larger cliff hangers to keep the audience hooked, and not have the story fully wrap up until the end of the final episode.

I think that analysing both Doctor Foster and The Killing, alongside comparing them to each other and my own work, has allowed me to decide the best way to approach my character representations, storytelling and visuals. I now feel more knowledgeable on what is best for my series and what I should avoid.

Professional Pre-Production: Series Research: Doctor Foster

To develop my miniseries' overall style and content, I decided to gather research and inspiration from other shows and films. To analyse their themes, characters, visual style, plot and run time.

Doctor Foster: Episode One

Recommended as a good source of inspiration for my own hypothetical series, the BBC One drama/thriller series has similarities to my own. With themes of love, family, betrayal, deceit and trust, along with a character going on a journey to discover the truth, I felt that reviewing and analysing the first episode could be very helpful in The Identity's development.

Doctor Foster BBC One Trailer

www.store.bbc.com/doctor-foster?rmsrc=1&gclid=CPe7squnmdACFawW0wodkI0ENg

My Plot Summary

Gemma seems to have it all, a loving husband, a family and a job where she's appreciated and helps people. But once she finds a blonde hair on her husband Simon's scarf, she starts becoming suspicious of him and all the women that he associates with. Beginning to lose her confidence and mental state, she starts to follow him and invade his privacy to find out if he's having an affair.

Themes

Love

Marriage

Family

Suspicion

Betrayal

Deceit

Trust

Abuse

Characters

Doctor Foster (Gemma Foster): Main character. Successful doctor, loved by her colleagues and seemingly by husband, positive person. She slowly starts growing more suspicious and paranoid. Her mannerisms start to change from once holding herself with confidence, to biting her nails and hunching over in worry. As she finds more evidence pointing towards Simon having an affair, she begins to lose herself and her physical and mental state deteriorates.

Simon: Husband. He owns his own property development company and has a son with Gemma. He appears passionate towards his wife when he returns from a weekend away. He initially seems like an ideal husband as he tells his wife how wonderful she is and that he loves her. But he starts to act suspiciously and secretively, making Gemma second guess him.

Becky: Simon's assistant. A blonde haired woman that works closely Simon, making Gemma suspect her.

Anna: Family friend. A blonde woman who is close to the couple. When she touches Simon's arm Gemma worries.

Susan: Patient of Gemma's. She too has blonde hair and during dinner, Simon addresses her as Susie. When they laugh and she touches his shoulder, Gemma becomes distressed.

Carly: Patient of Gemma's. She shows concern for Gemma when she tells her about suspecting her husband of cheating on her, and helps her when Gemma bribes her with prescription pills. Soon Gemma forces Carly's abusive boyfriend to leave her and Carly continues to help her with finding out about her husband's affair.

Jack: A senior doctor who has been suspended by Gemma when becoming unstable.

Visual Style

The visuals of Doctor Foster are key in explaining the story of the series without needing constant dialogue. Along with revealing Gemma's thoughts, feelings and flashbacks, actions noticed by her, her actions symbolising her suspicion growing and mental state deteriorating, and evidence that she finds of her husbands' affair.

For example...

• We often see Gemma's expression change and her eyes focus each time she notices something that concerns her.
• In a montage form, she sees flashbacks of the evidence that she's found so far when following her husband. Including finding pink lip seal, a blonde hair, talking to Becky and Anna, and then remembering making love to him.
• Visuals are heavily used to show evidence (such as hair, his schedule with 'unavailable' marked every day) and Gemma's concern and suspicions when seeing something, causing her to take her next action (such as following him and going to his office).
• We see each individual look and touch between Simon and any woman, Gemma picks up on everything that someone usually wouldn't.
• Gemma appears as if she's losing her grip on her personality and mental state as she stares at Simon's birthday cake in the middle of the night, at him asleep in bed in the dark, and looks through their family photos on a phone, expressionless.
• As her situation becomes worse, she begins to form dark circles under her eyes from not sleeping and worrying.
• Once Gemma finds out that Simon really is having an affair, we see her hands shake as she tries to steady herself. Symbolising her devastation.
• When Gemma finds out that the car seen by Carly when Simon has an affair belongs to Susan, Gemma sees a montage flashback of Susan smiling, touching Simon's shoulder and the pair looking at each other. Feeling as if she should have realised sooner.
• When faced with her husband later, Gemma's grip tightens on a pair of scissors as she looks deep in thought, angry over the revelation of his long lasting affair. Appearing as if she's extremely close to hurting him.

The visual style of the episode is also represented through colour and tone. With noticeable changes throughout the story to match with the mood, situation and atmosphere.

Such as...

• The episode beginning with bright and colourful lighting and tones to match Gemma's upbeat, routine morning.
• The colouring changes dramatically to dark with green and blue tints when Gemma picks her son up from school, a scene which follows her discovery of a blonde hair on her husband's scarf.
• As she becomes more concerned over what she's found, the tone of the scenes begin losing their colour and become cold.
• In a situation that's supposed to feel safe and comforting for Gemma, a dinner party with the couple's friends is dark but warm a yellow.
• But as she continues to feel distressed when she goes to the kitchen, the mood becomes creepy and cold when she stands staring into the fridge with a blue light shining on her.
• When she finally breaks Simon's trust that night by searching through his phone, the room is dark and the only source of light is dim and blue from the phone, shining onto her, signifying her loneliness and how the phone is currently her only source of information.
• The scene is dark and dull, with rain pouring down the windows when Gemma is lied to by Simon about him visiting his ill mother every day. As she sees that he hasn't been checking in at the care home each day, which he would have if he'd been going there. With the lighting at it's darkest, it represents the first time that Gemma realises she can't trust Simon when he lies to her.

Run Time

0-10 minutes: In the first ten minutes of the episode, Gemma makes love to her husband when he returns home from a weekend away. That morning she finds lip seal in his pocket, but she's not suspicious of this. She later says goodbye to her family and goes to work at the doctors surgery. Everything is routine and upbeat. But once she hangs up her husband's borrowed scarf, she finds a blonde hair and appears worried. The tone changes and she seems distressed and distracted. She later bumps into her husband's assistant and connects the possibility of her being blonde with the blonde hair that she found. She starts looking at her husband with worry and suspicion. Forced to brush the issue off, Gemma prepares for a dinner party with her husband at their home.

11-20 minutes: Gemma embarrasses Simon at the dinner party after drinking. But he expresses his love for her to their friends and she becomes emotional and happy over reminiscing. But she starts becoming suspicious again as soon as their friend Anna touches his arm. Gemma starts drinking heavily over dinner and soon tells her Anna that she found the hair, Anna jokes that she's sleeping with him, but Gemma doesn't find it funny. She starts to consider going through his phone, and sees Anna using lip seal, showing that everything seems to be making her paranoid. She plans to go through Simon's phone but sees his wallpaper is set as a picture of their family and walks away. But her paranoia gets the better of her and she returns and goes through it. The next day she confines in her work friend Ros, who tells her that she's not being herself. She begins losing her patience with her regular patients and asks him to leave so that she can leave for the day.

21-30 minutes: She decides to follow her husband once he leaves the office. She sees him buy flowers and becomes worried. Simon drives to a care home for the elderly and she realises that he's visiting his mum. She admits to him that she was worrying and that she followed him, he tells her that he'd been visiting his mum every night. But she sees that he hasn't been checked in every day and grows more concerned. She decides to go to his office and looks through his things, seeing that his work schedule states that he is unavailable from 5.30pm every day, she prints this. She checks a bag and finds two condoms, but it's revealed as his assistants'. She then covers her tracks by telling Becky that she's planning a surprise holiday for her and Simon, allowing her being at his office to be a secret.

31-40 minutes: They couple and their son attend a dinner at a friend's new restaurant, and Simon addresses the friend (Susan) as Susie, who then touches his shoulder. Gemma looks concerned again. She goes outside and bumps into a patient, Carly, and confines in her. Once Simon and Gemma return home they have sex, but after, Gemma can't sleep and searches for ways to tell if a husband is cheating online. She looks at his prepared birthday cake for the next day, and stands over him at the end of the bed as he sleeps, she appears as if she's losing her mind. The next day she makes an unethical decision to bribe Carly with the sleeping pills that she wants for her help in return, by spying on Simon. Carly follows him to a house and tells Gemma. Gemma remains glued to her phone throughout a meeting over a doctor, Jack, who has lost his way and is being suspended.

41-50 minutes: Carly tells Gemma that she can see Simon kissing a woman outside of the house and it hits Gemma that he really is having an affair. Carly takes a picture of the woman's car and number plate. Gemma begins to cry, but Carly tells her that she can find out who it is. She tells Gemma that the car belongs to Susan Parks, Gemma's patient. She gives Carly sleeping pills in return for helping her, and Carly tells her that if she can go straight to sleep when she gets home then her boyfriend will leave her alone. Gemma touches her arm and Carly reacts with a pained expression and sound. She shows Gemma a large bruise and admits that her boyfriend did this to her. Gemma takes the pills away and drives to Carly's flat with her.

Gemma now seems confident and strong again as she walks to to flat number. She walks in and has one of the boyfriend Daniel's cigarettes and tells him that she's seen Carly's arm, then tells him to leave her. She says if he doesn't leave or bothers Carly again, then his employers will receive a copy of his medical records, and if they don't already put him at risk, she will alter them. He tries to grab her and she grabs him arm and holds the cigarette over his wrist as a threat, and then leaves. Carly tells Gemma to check her husband's car boot as he kept going back to it when she was spying on him. Gemma later arrives at Simon's birthday party, gets his keys and searches his boot, finding a hidden overnight bag and second phone. On the phone's wallpaper is Simon with a young woman; Susan's daughter, along with other photos of the pair together that show that they've been seeing each other for a long time. 

51-58 minutes: Gemma also then sees that all of her friends, along with Simon's assistant, have been in photos with Simon and the other woman, revealing that they're all in on the fact that he's having an affair. Along with texts from her work friend, warning him that Gemma is following him. Devastated, she takes a breath and hides the evidence that she went through his bag. She takes medical scissors out of her car and puts them in her coat pocket, then calms herself down. She looks at everyone that's betrayed her, contemplating what to do next. Simon burns his hand and Gemma takes off his wedding ring. She tightens her grip on the scissors in her hand, but Simon is called away. Simon blows out his candles and makes a speech, he talks about how much Gemma means to him. But his words bring to light for Gemma that all she's ever been to him is a source of money and help to get his dreams started over time. Gemma's asked to make a speech, she looks at her son, and then the girl that Simon's cheating with, and decides to kiss him passionately. Gemma looks at her husband from a distance with disgust, plotting her next move.

Comparisons, Observations & Inspirations

When considering the similar themes of Doctor Foster and The Identity, I feel that the ways that this series represents the plot through a heavy use of visuals is valuable inspiration exploring my own series' visual style. Inspired by the use of flashbacks, evidence found and the emotional reactions of the characters through actions and detailed shots instead of dialogue, I will be using similar elements in the description of how The Identity's hypothetical visuals would be incorporated in this way.

I also found that the 58 minute-long run time of Doctor Foster allowed for a large amount of the story to be told within the first episode, without revealing the next steps in the plot. Within the first ten minutes the audience is given an insight into the main characters life, finding out her profession, personality traits and daily routine, and quickly witnessing this all change within an instant. I noticed that within each ten minutes of the episode, Gemma's situation changes largely, as she learns new information about her husband, and grows more paranoid and angry towards him.

However each section creates a feeling that it is building towards her finally making a significant discovery, which is brought to light after 40 minutes. This amount of time seemed to allow for in depth representations of each character and their relationships, and for the audience to witness Gemma's character slowly change and deteriorate, alongside her making deductions and suspecting a number of different women. Building up the audiences coinciding suspicions, once Simon's affair is revealed, the episode hits a climactic point nearly 18 minutes before the end. But unexpectedly, the plot twists further, when Gemma discovers that Simon has in fact been sleeping with the young daughter of their friend, and that almost everyone she knows is in on this. Allowing the audience's attention to be held for the next episode, to find out why the characters would keep this from Gemma and what she's going to do for revenge.

I think that the impressive amount of twists within the 58 minutes of the episode is very inspiring for my own work, in making sure that I never let the episodes have a dull moment, and let every scene have a purpose to the overall story. And while each episode tells it's own story, the episodes needs to connect together, and end with a cliffhanger to keep the audience's attention for the upcoming episodes. Reviewing Doctor Foster has been extremely helpful in the planning of my episode synopsis, visuals and run time.

Professional Pre-Production: Opening Sequence Shot List & Further Planning

In the lead up to filming my opening sequence, I have prepared in the following ways; I have created a thorough shot list, bought and gathered props & costume, created some drawings of certain shots in a storyboard style, and have made a preparations list for the day before filming and the morning of filming. I feel that it's incredibly important to clearly plan out a shoot, as improvising shots may present themselves on the day amongst shooting, but a shoot can't run smoothly and in detail without a plan.

Shot List

Below is my shot list for filming, I've used a template that I created and have used so far for every filming project in my studies. I will refer to my shot list in the planning of the shoot, but most importantly on the day of the shoot. Using the shot list to keep myself on schedule, I can film according to daylight and location, as well as provide my crew with insight on the what will be shot on the day of filming.

Sketches

Lacking in time to create a full storyboard, I decided to create a small amount of sketches of two before and after shots within the opening sequence. I think this allowed me to decide on shot types and angles, colours, lighting and the overall appearances of these shots.

Preparations List

Below is my list of preparations, this list will keep me on track for when I need to have certain equipment, props and costume created and gathered in order to complete my planning and set up on time.

Due to the creation of the above documents and planning, I feel ready for filming next week.