Mood board

I decided to create four mood boards to try and show my group how I interpret our opening sequence idea as the visual representation may help communicate my ideas about the sequence clearer.

For this first mood board (pictured above) I wanted to portray some angles of shots that I would imagine would be in our sequence for example profile shots, low angles and high angles. I wanted to also represent what I would think some of the interactions between the characters through images. The top left would be how I imagine some of the fighting would look like, and if you look at towards the bottom, I chose a picture from 500 days of summer as I thought this shot and the way the characters are dressed matches how I would dress the characters and how I would shoot this mid shot. 

 

For this second mood board, I wanted to encapsulate the character of the man in the lift. I paid attention to his costume, and his posture which the majority of these characters have in common. In the top left, I wanted to get inspiration for a smart casual outfit and I thought the blazer and shirt was a good balance.  In the centre image, I focused more on what the shot looked like, as this image was a clear representation of a shot in the scene that I had imagined in my head. The two images at the bottom of the mood board are images that I imagine the man to look like. They seem like quite menacing people, which is my intention as the whole reason why the woman wants to kill this man, is because he committed an awful crime, so he needs to look like a criminal.

This next mood board is to do with how I picture the location of the scene which is set in a lift. Firstly, I didn't want the lift to look fancy, I want there to be an element of it being slightly musty/ old, because it is unlikely that this man would be living in an apartment block that had a nice looking lift. I also feel like the aesthetic of the mood board, reflects the tone of the sequence, which is dark and slightly eerie. This will make the audience suspect that something isn't quite right, as the atmosphere will make the scene more tense. I have included various excerpts like the buttons of the lift, and the CCTV camera, as well as some CCTV footage which we hope to recreate in the final sequence.

In this final mood board, I wanted to create some images to portray how I see the woman in the lift. I wanted to show what props she may be holding which includes the letter, I also wanted to show what costume she may wear, which is represented by the picture shown in the top left and what I believe she may look like which is shown in the top centre picture. Finally I used another CCTV camera shot, to show what she may look like in the surveillance footage.

Casting: Organising

We emailed our cast list to check their availability and whether they would be happy with taking on the role.

Here are some screenshots of the emails we sent:

 

Casting: who and why?

Olivia Rooks is our first option for playing 'woman,' in our opening sequence:

Gender: female

Age: We wanted them to fit into the age category of young adult

Why: we know that she dances and is an, therefore she would be able to embody the role of a killer well, and would be professional.

Also, she is older than the other candidates so she will fit the age of the character better. She is also a small height which will make the twist of her being a killer even bigger as women are stereotypically ‘weaker,’ than men, and her height helps feed into this. However she also looks like she could ‘pack a punch,’ which is key as we need to portray her as a kickass female character who looks like they are capable of killing someone.

My back up would be consisting of Lottie Alford-Warren and Eve Elliot-Sidi. This is because both are competent dancers and actresses, and are of a similar height and build as Liv. The reason they are a back up, is because they look younger than Liv, as they are younger. Also, Eve is taller than Liv and we ideally want a shorter Woman.

If we hypothetically could cast anyone regardless of budget, I would cast Natalia Dyer for this role. This is because she is exactly what my group is looking for. She is most well known for her role as Nancy in the TV series 'Stranger things.' However she has been in multiple Netflix originals including 'Yes, God, yes,' and 'velvet Buzzsaw.'

We would cast Jake Pratt as our first option for 'man,' in our opening sequence:

Gender: male

Age: around the same age as woman, so early 20s.

why: We know that Jake has acted before and would therefore be a good choice as he is experienced. He would be able to respond to constructive criticism well and be able to work with other cast members well.

Jake is also of an average height for a male which is ideal for us as Liv is shorter than average, so the height difference will still be there. It will also be easier to film if he is more average height. For our role of 'man,' we needed some one who looks quite ordinary and does not stand out too much e.g hair colour or piercings. However we also want our man to be sinister looking which is why Jake will be a suitable actor for this role. 

My back ups would consist of Keir Edkins and Joel Baine. This is because both boys are capable at acting and doing fight scenes effectively. They also have a good build for this scene as they are taller than average and need to look like they are intimidating for the role they are playing. However they are not our first choice, as they are quite a lot younger than Jake, which will not make them look as convincing as young adults as Jake would be. 

If we could hypothetically cast anyone regardless of budget, I would cast Nick Robinson. This is because he is slightly taller than Jake, but they are not dissimilar in how they look age wise. Also, I feel like Nick could play a sinister character who would beat up a female attacker. However, at first glance he looks quite normal/ nothing stands out greatly which is also what we are looking for. He is most well known for his role in 'Jurassic world,' and 'Love Simon.'