Unavailbility of rooms

During production, we faced many issues of gaining access to the drama studio, a key area for our project. As the drama studio became unavailable it meant we had to postpone our shoot for a week. In order to make use of our time during these four days, we decided to focus our energy towards the other scenes first. As we had unlimited access to the flat and near unlimited access to the car, it seemed as the most secure decision to continue filming later scenes and do the remaining drama studio scene during a later date when the room becomes available. This change in schedule helped us keep on track.

Weather issues

The car scene was the only scene that was actually shot outside. As such it was the only scene we had to worry about weather conditions for. We would prefer a typical cloudy and dry weather conditions. This is due to give the scene a mundane feel to further enchance our thriller. The bright sunny weather would indeed look 'nice' however it would not suit the tone of the project as we intend to make a dark undertone to suit the scene rather a sunny, happy feeling. We decided not to film during rain either - rain tends to be the most unpredictable factor of typical British weather and would potentially damage our equipment. Indeed it would suit the conventions of thriller if it rained by setting a 'mood' however the conditions for us to use that type of weather seemed to unreliable. We decided to film the car scene all in one day, in order to ensure we kept the right weather conditions. This meant we had to get what we needed without much reshooting.

Rain which we did not want. Rain came a week later from our shot.

Our ideal weather condition. Murky and dark, with small rays of diluted light.

- Sharmarke.

Production schedule

• Filming period - 1 week
• Editing period - 1.5-2 weeks

Actors and their roles, choices we made and the replacement of characters

The actors for our five characters were chosen. They comprised of the three of us and two other individuals from outside our group. These were:

• myself
• Sharmarke
• Aram
• Ali
• and Luke

Sharmarke.

Aram.

Luke (left) and Ali (right).

Our actor decision were based on a number of different factors. We considered availability, possible stereotypes and suitability of each actor. The reason for choosing ourselves to take part was the fact that we were always available to take part, along with the stereotypes associated with black people for Sharmarke. Our choice in choosing Luke was similarly because of the stereotypes associated with white people and how they are rich individuals. Aram was chosen to be the driver/mastermind of the plot due his ethnicity. A very extreme stereotype of an Arab is their ability to plot which is why we decided to fit this stereotype into our film opening in the form of Aram. This again enable the film opening to be carefully planned out with suitable characters playing each role.

Previously, we had two other characters replacing myself and Luke. These were Shadia and Charlie. We had replaced the two due to Charlie being permanently unavailable and Shadia not being able to help out anymore.

- Kausar.

Character Issues

We had encountered some issues with regards to who would be playing our main character in our project. As the three of us had undertaken other roles, we had to find someone else to fill in the role as the main character. We already had two characters for the remaining roles (the other poker player and the dealer), so all we needed was to find a main character. After a little searching, this was going to be played by a student called Charlie. However, we hadn't anticipated that he would be leaving our sixth form. As we were unable to get him back to help us, it meant we had to restart the filming process with a new main character, leading to the disappointing loss of twenty or so minutes of shooting. This set back had led to the loss of a lot of valuable time where we could have been filming. We found a reliable student called Luke, who would be available for us whenever we need to film. Now all we needed to do was fix some aspects of our previous footage and reintroduce it into our project during the new shoot.

- Sharmarke.

Shotlist

1. Card Scene

• Master shot of the poker room. Possibly an aerial shot.
• CU of the final hand being dealt by the dealer.
• MCU of the dealer glancing at the gambler. Cuts to a POV shot of what he's looking at (the dealer)
• OTS over the gambler at the dealer - dialogue - 'final bets'
• Reverse OTS shot over the dealer at the gambler.
• Cut to an ECU of his hands pushing the money to the centre.
• Cut back to a CU of his face - dialogue - 'I'm all in'.

2. Outside Scene

• WS of the driver waiting at the car. Driver pulls out his phone. 
• ECU of his phone to read the text he has received.
• Cut to a MCU of the driver. He looks up the street and down the street as he puts his phone away.
• Dissolve into a MS of gambler as he walks. Holds his pocket and smiles.
• WSs of the car as the driver walks around it to open the door for the gambler.
• LS of the car as the driver closes the door.
• MS of the driver as he walks around the car.
• CU as the driver enters the car. Cut to black on the sound of the door shutting.

3. 'Driving Scene' - Credits Scene

• No shot. Stays black for a few seconds. Can hear car engine starting up.

4. Gambler's Home Scene

• LS of the gambler walking into his building.
• WS him walking up the stairs.
• LS of the gambler walking down the corridor.
• POV shot as he approaches his door.
• OTS MCU shot over the killer at the gambler.
• TS of the killer pulling the gambler in the house. Door closes.

5. Final Scene - Corridor Scene

• MS of the killer walking out of the house. ECU of his hand holding the money.
• MS of the killer walking away from the door and throwing money to someone.
• Cuts to a MS of the driver catching it.
• ECU as he examines the money.
• CU of the killer as he removes the mask. His identity is revealed.
• CU of the drivers face. Dialogue - "time for number 13."
• Fade to black. "FILM TITLE".

- Sharmarke.