Animatics Shot List

An animatic is:

A preliminary version of a film, produced by shooting successive sections of a storyboard and adding a soundtrack. We constructed a shot list for our animatic in order for our idea of our opening sequence to come together, in order for the chronology, continuity, and events taking place to be developed further.

1.Heels low angle, mid shot, which pans up to her looking at a photo of her sister from the right side.

2.Over the shoulder shot of her looking at photograph, high angle, tracks her moment as she goes to put photo away in drawer, which she angrily slams shut. Reaches for blusher brush.

3.Blusher application from front view.

4.Close up of blusher application, SLOW MO

5. reaching shot

6.Lip gloss opening, dripping mid-close up, tracks to lips to put it on SLO MO

7.Shot of sullen expression, camera turns to see her smiling in mirror SLO MO

8.Over the head shot, of opening locket necklace and removing picture. High angle.(putting it away which we don't see)

9.Puts on engagement ring close up, clenches fist.

10.Shot of wrist, close up, low angle perfume spray.

11.Spray on neck SLO MO

12.Eyelevel shot of back of neck, dressing gown is taken off, camera follows the dressing gown down as it falls to ground, then women stands up SLO MO

13.Pulling down dress, wide shot, man in introduced in the background

14. Man coming behind, hand reaching towards zip mid shot. Change of focus from her to him.

15. Side angle close up of man going to zip up dress, and camera track as he then does it up SLO MO

16. Boyfriend kisses her shoulder women slightly pulling away reacting slightly negatively towards him

17. Wide shot of both of them, He notices her reaction and asks “are you okay”, she takes a second to compose herself and change her sullen expression, begins to turn around.

18. Match on action of women turning around towards him, mid shot. She turns around smiling replying “yeah of course”

19. mid shot side angle women fixes boyfriends tie, as he asks "are you nervous"

20. Woman doesn't reply simply rolls eyes. (over shoulder shot we see his expression and her back)Boyfriend asks "are you ready" women is zoned out, doesn't reply, side angle

21."Rose, Are you ready to meet you dad" –we hear it muffled, she is zoned out, close up of her SLO MO

22.Mid shot from over the shoulder of her going into hug him (so we see her face). She closes her eyes and tightly squeezes him, opening them to say "I've been waiting a long time for this" into his earà SLO MO

23. Zoom out fade to black then blackout of title "vengeance" in red.

Treatment - Original Shot List

Setting

A sophisticated bedroom with a dressing table and a bed on the other side of the room, with a red throw on it  – red being the symbolic colour of the woman, symbolising passion and sexuality as well as anger and danger. The lighting in the room will be artificial – symbolic of the artificial world the woman has created (iconography to support this is the make-up and seductive clothing and shoes); it will also allow for detail to be seen, for instance in the perfume spray and zip. The lighting in the hallway is dim, as the man is there, and it is symbolic of him 'being in the dark' with this woman, and also will keep the mystery and ambiance needed for our thriller/revenge drama genre. 

Soundtrack

Vicktor Taiwo Ft. Solomon - Digital Kids (0:00-2:00)

Location

Shani’s house (stairs, landing, bedroom)

Actors

Yssy and Jurgen Kumbulla

Shot 1: low angle close-up of the back of a woman’s lower legs showing that she is wearing heels. Her stance is very strong and she is facing the door she is about to open. She opens the door and walks in. The camera tracks her movement. Low-angle to signify her status and to make her appear intimidating and powerful to the audience. Iconography of the heels signifying her femininity and sexuality and her stance signifies her power and determination. Position of the title (A Lionsgate Production) is: middle right of the frame. She will be standing still; the title will appear and then fade. She will walk off.

The first shot is a good indication that this is an opening sequence and not any other scene from the film as it is clear from the fact that the audience does not see the protagonist’s fact until later on that they have not been introduced to them yet.

Shot 2: Fade-cut to a high angle close-up of a man nervously wringing his hands. High angle makes him appear to be vulnerable and juxtaposes the low angle of the woman in the previous shot. Position of the title (Produced by Enya Phillips) is bottom left of the frame. It will face on the next shot.

Shot 3: Fade-cut to a high angle close-up of the woman’s heels as she walks over to a dressing table and sits down. The camera will tilt up to reveal the back of the woman as she is sitting on the seat. Position of the title (Directed by Shani Thanki-Franklin) is on the bottom right of the frame. It will fade on the next shot.

Shot 4: Fade-cut to an extreme close-up of the woman applying blusher to her face with a brush. The granules of makeup will be caught on the camera in an eerie fashion (reference would be Dexter. Normally mundane, normal actions put the audience on edge). Position of the title (Starring Yssy del Amo) is in the middle left of the frame. It will fade on the next shot.

Shot 5: Fade-cut to the man coming up the stairs. Shot taken from a low angle, to gain depict his powerlessness, and from behind the man, so as not to reveal his identity and keep the mysterious and tense atmosphere - as the audience is still unaware of this man identity or objective, which connotes the genre of thriller. Position of the title (Jurgen Kumbulla) is: bottom right of the frame, and will fade on the next shot.

Shot 6: Fade-cut to an extreme close up of the woman using blusher on her cheek, camera slowly pans out to reveal the smile on the woman's face. Style: Very slow and mysterious, again depicting genre. Red lipstick on the woman's lips and blusher are all to show her femininity and beauty. Position of the title (Alexander Roman) is: bottom right of the frame, as the camera pans towards the smile, fades.

Shot 7: Fade-cut to a low angle over the banister shot of the man coming up the stairs – he is nearly up them now. Again, no identity is revealed, and movement is slowed down, again depicting the genre. Position of the title (Stacy Wade) is bottom left of the frame, fades on the next shot.

Shot 8: Fade-cut to a close up of the woman spraying perfume on her neck; the close-up will be close enough to see perfume bottle and the woman's neck, and will again be slowed down so that the detail of the spray will be shown clearly. The pressing of the perfume bottle will be in time with the soundtrack. Style is almost like the Dexter title sequence, very intense and suggestive. The perfume and red painted nails will again depict this femininity; the nails are painted red along with the lipstick as red represents seduction and passion, but also anger and danger – to which the woman represents all of these.

Shot 9: Fade-cut to the boyfriend walking towards the doorway. The pace is slow, building suspense, making the audience feel on edge. For this shot should it be a high angle of the camera following behind him, or a low angle of just his shoes? (Reference the music video)For the shoes one the camera could be positioned in the doorway at a low angle with him walking towards it (symbolising the mess of woman’s situation he is walking into).

Shot 10: A close-up eye-level shot which only involves the back of the woman's head and upper back. As her shoulders are revealed, it becomes clear she is taking off her dressing gown. The slow pace in which we see this happens accentuates the sexuality and represents the themes of sexuality and vulnerability in which she will use herself and sexuality later on to get her way.

Shot 11: Cut to a close-up of just the boyfriend’s mouth. No identity is revealed, all we see is his mouth gradually form a suspicious smirk. This builds suspense, leaving the audience to question how the two cross cutting images relate to one another, feeling on edge as to why he is smirking just after we see her take off her dressing gown. This represents the thriller genre portrayed in our film, as throughout the film the audience will constantly be ‘edge of their seats’ as it is a story full of dramatic irony, uncertainty, cliffhangers and surprise.

Shot 12: Cut to a mid-shot of the women pulling down her dress, in a way that suggests she has just put it on and is adjusting it to make herself presentable. Only the lower body is seen. From the waist downwards Her dress will either be black or red, which are striking colours to represents her strength emotionally and physically. However the seductive nature of the dress also represents her sexuality and femininity.

Shot 13: The man is now walking inside the room – the camera tracks his entrance into the room from behind him, and the shot ends as he reaches towards the woman’s – who appears unaware of his entrance- back, which has the undone dress on it. Style: again very slow and intense and suggestive and the identity of these characters are still not fully revealed to depict the genre and keep audience in suspense. This shot will also reveal details of the room; the desk will have several things on it to reveal aspects of the woman. Lots of make-up and perfume to reveal the feminine aspect of the woman. There will also be a picture of her and her sister placed very prominently to show her driving force and importance of family/her sister. Also there are lots of books piled up on the side of the dressing table to show her intellect. The dressing table is very organised to show her neat and organised nature.

Shot 14: Cut to a mid-shot of the man grabbing the zip of the undone dress on the woman. Style is again very slow and tense.

Shot 15: Cut to an extreme close-up of the zip being done up – with the camera tracking the zip being done up all up the woman's back. Style is again quite slow and intense – again depicting the thriller genre.

Shot 16: Cut to a mid-shot, from a side-angle, of the woman, with the man behind her, in the mirror. The woman will be smiling slightly deviously and the man will be looking admiringly at the woman. The woman will then turn around to face the man. The fact the woman is smiling deviously at herself in the mirror shows that she is up to something, and the man will look very susceptible to her seduction, by looking lovingly at the woman; this will establish their relationship, and also be the first time their full identities are revealed.

Shot 17: Cut to a slightly closer shot, focusing on the interaction of the women fixing the boyfriends tie. This is done in now hurry which strengthens and emphasises the chemistry between the women and the boyfriend. Her alteration of the tie suggests her control of their relationship, and his willingness of her control suggests his admiration and love towards her. Their interactions establishes their relationship once more.

Shot 18: Cut to an over the shoulder shot, where the boyfriend is in view and we can only see the back of the woman. The soundtrack gradually becomes quieter to focus on our first line of dialogue,of the boyfriend lovingly questioning the women as he says “are you ready to meet my dad?”.This dialogue suggests the extent of their relationship, as meeting a parent of your partner is considered a large step. The fact he is asking her if she is ready, suggests that the woman has put in time and effort to the preparation of meeting him.

Shot 19: The shot type remains the same as the women goes into hug him. The soundtrack gradually becomes louder, back to its original volume, the pause of her response builds suspense and makes the audience question as to what exactly ‘meeting his dad’ actually resembles.

Shot 20: Cut to a reverse shot, the woman's face and expression can now be seen, and only the boyfriends back is in view. She closes her eyes and she tightly squeezes him and opens them to say, “I've been waiting a long time for this” into his ear in a very suspicious fashion. This suggests that what she is saying has a double meaning, and what the boyfriend will interpret from this is is not what she means at all. As the boyfriend cannot see her as she responds, introduces themes of deception of the women and their corrupt relationship.

Treatment: script, soundtrack, representation

We began to develop the contruction of our opening sequence, and think about the representations it involved:

SCRIPT:

B: “Are you ready to meet my dad?”

F: “I've been waiting a long time for his”

SHOT STYLE AND SOUNDTRACK:

HOW SEQUENCE INTRODUCES CHARACTERS, THEMES, SETTING
Our sequence introduces characters, themes and the setting very mysteriously. This introduces themes of deception used throughout the film especially involving our women character and how she must lie and use people (boyfriend and father) to try and find her sister.

VISUAL STYLE OF SEQUENCE:

• Tense
• Mysterious
• Suspense
• Something's not quite right, double meaning behind what she is saying.

TITLES:

• Subtle, potential colours: white, black.
• Won't take away from what's happening. 

HOW SEQUENCE DEMONSTRATES UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNIQUES OF CAMERA, COMPOSITION, MISE-EN SCENE AND CONTINUITY:
We use range of close-up and extreme close ups are used to disorientate the audience, but still follow the rules of continuity between the shots.

LOCATION, WHO AND WHEN OPENING SEQUENCE WILL BE FILMED:
A sophisticated bedroom with a dressing table and a bed on the other side of the room, with a red throw on it  – red being the symbolic colour of the woman: symbolising passion and sexuality, and also anger and danger. The lighting in the room will be artificial  – symbolic of the artificial world the woman has created (iconography to support this is the make-up and seductive clothing and shoes); it will also allow for detail to be seen, for instance in the perfume spray and zip. The lighting in the hallway is dim, as the man is there, and it is symbolic of him 'being in the dark' with this woman, and also will keep the mystery and ambiance needed for our thriller/revenge drama genre.

Proposal - Genre

The following post offers a more detailed description of our ideas for the proposal.

We have chosen the thriller and revenge drama genres for our film as thriller is extremely popular as a genre in the USA and the UK and therefore we have a bigger chance of making our film reach a global market, subsequently giving us more of a potential to make a profit.

Although we aim to defy normal conventions in our film with regards to having a woman as the strong protagonist, we will keep the convention of Hero Vs Villain in order to make the characters more identifiable and therefore comfortable for the audience. The protagonist is physically strong, however we will also keep to some of the stereotypical representations of women as she will use, to some extent, her sexuality to get what she wants.

Our main reference points for the genre are:

• Revenge 
• Kill Bill 
• Homeland 
• The Hunger Games
• Haywire 
Hanna 

Proposal - Audience

The following post provides a more detailed description of the ideas we had for the proposal.

Target Audience

Our target audience was young adults, male and female, most likely interested in the action genre. We would be aiming for the film to be a certificate 15 due to the moderate violence, swearing and sexual themes.

The film provides sex appeal and action for the male audience and a strong, independent female protagonist for the female audience.

Secondary Audience

Our secondary audience is a more mature audience – men and women – who would find the gritty topic choices interesting.

Global/ National?

The film has the potential to reach a global audience due to the nature of the themes. Human Trafficking and kidnapping are issues that could occur anywhere in the world and therefore are identifiable by a wide audience.

Making a profit would be important due to the fact that it will be a Hollywood film so we would want to appeal to a wider audience.


Films and television dramas that we would use as inspiration/would have a similar audience are:

• The Hunger Games 
• Kill Bill 
• Hanna 
• Revenge 
• Homeland 
• Haywire

Proposal - Representations

The following post offers a more detailed description of our ideas for the proposal.

Our representations within the film:

Gender Representation
We want to have a strong female protagonist, who is up against and thwarts the male characters in the film, as opposed to the usual representations of women in action and revenge drama films, e.g. the damsel in distress.

We noticed that the main issue with strong female characters within the genres we are working in is they tend to lose their femininity or become cold and heartless.
We wanted to defy this representation by making her fall in love with the boyfriend as well as by using key iconography, particularly in the opening.

Iconography we planned on having;
-Perfume
-jewellery such as Necklace and Ring.
-Make-up

Film character references for the woman would be:

• Carrie from Homeland 
• Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke from Revenge 
• Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games 
• Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride from Kill Bill 
• Hanna from Hanna
• Mallony Kane from Haywire 

Her boyfriend, on the other hand, is innocent and unaware of what is going on. We noticed that usually in the action genre the man is always in the know and the woman is more likely to be unsuspecting and clueless, so in our own film we want to switch these roles around.


Narrative references for the boyfriend would be:

• Peeta from The Hunger Games 
• Daniel Grayson from Revenge 

However our representation of the boyfriends father is a very contrasting powerful man, our influence came from the following character references:

• Marko from Taken 
• Henry Hill from Goodfellas 
• Michael Corleone from The Godfather

Proposal - Media Institution

The following post offers a more detailed description of our ideas for the proposal, in Particular our institution.

More detail about Lions Gate and why we chose it as our production and Distribution company:
 

We have chosen Lionsgate Entertainment as both our production and distribution company.

It is a US company which focuses on the production and distribution of foreign films, so would be applicable for our film, which will be filmed in Britain with a British cast and accents ect.

Due to the fact that we want to appeal to a global market in order to optimize our chances to gain a profit from this film, this company would be particularly useful as it has subsidiary companies in:

• Australia
• New Zealand
• UK
• North America
• France
• Scandinavia

It has produced and distributed other films within the same genre and with similar themes such as:

• The Hunger Games- Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller
• Abduction-   Action | Mystery | Thriller

Trailers of Hunger Games and Abduction:

 

They are both films which contain high levels of suspense due to their genre, which we also plan to probe into.

Planning Process - Proposal

The following post provides more of an insight and extra information on our planning process with regards to the proposal and what our driving motives were regarding the main ideas for our film opening.

For the first two weeks of the planning process, we needed to arrange the proposal for the film opening. Therefore we had to focus mainly on the six practical areas of the film:

1. Audience
2. Media Institution
3. Genre
4. Representations
5. Basic narrative
6. Basic Outline of the 2 minute opening sequence

We focused on thinking on an idea for an opening and a target audience for the first part of the planning process. We held numerous meetings in order to establish these with two main factors driving our discussions: we wanted to create an opening sequence for an action film and we wanted to portray women in a different light. We all agreed on the fact that we wanted our protagonist to be a strong female character without being heartless or losing her femininity.

Inspired by "Kill Bill" and a television drama called "Revenge", we came to the conclusion that we wanted our whole film to be about a woman who wants to seek revenge for and find her sister who has been kidnapped and sent to a brothel. This would enable us to make a film that is gritty and acknowledges problems that do occur in modern life whilst also combating the usual stereotypes of women in modern media. As well as this, by coming up with the story line, we were able to choose the perfect genre for our film with ease. We came up with a brief synopsis of the whole film and then used this to think of the most effective film opening for that specific story and genre.

After this, our next objective was determining the ideal target audience. We thought that it would appeal to a wide range of people because of the genre. As an action film, it was likely to be popular globally and, conventionally, for a male audience. However, due to the presence of the strong female protagonist, we felt that it was likely also to appeal to women as well as increasing male interest due to the sex appeal. We thought that it was likely that a film which contains brothels  (therefore references to prostitution) was likely to be rated at least a 15 and therefore narrowed the viewer age group from there. We thought that we had the ability to make the film appeal to a global audience, mainly western, due to the fact that the themes we have chosen could occur anywhere in the world so are identifiable.

We chose the Lionsgate Entertainment as our film institution due to the fact that it produces films with similar themes and within similar genres. It has produced other films such as "The Hunger Games" and "Abduction" and also focuses on foreign films. Being an American institution, this would be relevant for our film as it is British. It would also aid us in the distribution of the film due to the fact that it has its own distribution companies within specific countries and areas: France, Australasia, North America and the United Kingdom.

Proposal Notes

This post contains the notes that we used during our proposal presentation. This involved setting the guidelines for our project by trying to consider different aspects of our film that were necessary in order to create the opening sequence.

 

1) Audience

Target and secondary audiences:
Male: from young adult to mature audience sex appeal and action genre

Female: Same age group for the strong women protagonist The age range is aimed at a mature audience due to the thrilling story-line which involves depth and gritty themes. Targeting worldwide audience, due to lack of particular nationality themes, makes it universal. Because it’s a Hollywood film it would have to appeal to a wide audience to gain profit.

References: Revenge, Kill Bill, Homeland, Hunger Games, Hanna

 

2) Institutions 

As our institution we chose Lionsgate Entertainment.

 

Lionsgate Entertainment has produced and marketed various films of similar themes and genres. Themes include self-development, exploitation and violence. For example films such as Abduction and The Hunger Games

Lionsgate also focuses in foreign films, such as in North America and the UK. This is where a lot of our audience would lie, as themes and genres of violence and action are very popular in US.

UK Distribution: Lionsgate UK

USA Distribution: Lionsgate Entertainment

 

3) Genre

We have chosen Action- Revenge Drama as our genre. This is because it is very popular in big branch cinemas and US and UK audience, making it have worldwide potential as a Universal drama.

Our convention is the Hero vs Villain. However within our film the woman is the hero against the male villain. But we keep the comfort ability as the women still uses her sexuality within the film to try and get what she wants.

Main reference points: Revenge, Kill Bill, Homeland, Hunger Games, Hannah, Haywire.

4) Representation:
Woman: hero up against man. Woman is using the man, using her looks and sexuality to be manipulative (this is stereotypical for women in action films).

But, the women is conceived as a very strong, but not heartless character, perceived from her drive to save sister and falls for boyfriend.

Doesn't lose femininity but is still strong: shown through iconography. E.g: perfume, make-up and other accessories shown in opening sequence.

 

WOMAN references:
Carrie Homeland, Emily Thorne/ Amanda Clarice Revenge, Katniss Everdeen Hunger Games, The Bride/ Beatrix Kiddo Kill Bill, Hanna HannaMallony Kane Haywire

 

 

 

 

 

Boyfriend: innocent, being  manipulated by the woman.

Impact on audience: Inspiration and empowering to women/ girls due to women protagonist character. Her character is identifiable.

Film character references:

 

BOYFRIEND references:
Peeta Hunger Games, Daniel Grayson Revenge 

5) Basic Film Narrative
Unlike film theories such as Todorov, the film begins with recognition of disruption. We begin with a disruption because it is suitable to action and revenge drama genre.

Basic structure:

• Begins with disruption: Sister is missing
• Attempt to repair disruption: Attempts to find sister
• Resolution: Finds sister
• New equilibrium is reached. Sisters are back together. The boyfriend now knows the truth yet chooses to stay.

 

Narrative references:

-Revenge:However the resolution has not been found yet as revenge is a TV series. 

-The Hangover although the genre and themes are not relatable as the hangover is a comedy, the structure is similar. Both the hangover and our film begin with a disruption and then follow onto to an attempt to solve this disruption and finally reach a new equilibrium. 

-Kill Bill

-Haywire 

 

6) Opening sequence
Structure:

The opening sequence focuses on the routine of the women getting dressed/ ready with a very suspicious nature.

The boyfriend comes in, does up her dress, emphasising the tense and suspicious atmosphere within his nature.

The identity of both of them is eventually revealed, and we hear dialogue between them which suggests the women is after the boyfriends dad. 

Something along the lines of:
Boyfriend: “Are you ready to meet my dad”

Woman: “ I've been waiting all my life for this”
Music: add tense atmosphere/ ambiance.

Iconography:
Mirror, make-up, perfume, heels represent femininity. Black dress, silk dressing gown strong character vs sexuality. Water bottle, iPod, running gear, yoga mat strong character, active, in shape. Picture of her and her sister emphasise how important the sister is to her. Books intelligent, research

Titles integrated: Nothing fancy because of the tense atmosphere.