Actors

Costume and Props

Some ideas of what kind of clothing are shown below.

The costumes we will be using are along the lines of smart casual or just plane for example the use of suits and dresses. Of course I cannot show exactly what we will be filming with but suits pea coats dresses and the like. We are dressing our detective in a suit and pea coat with the collar turned up to create the connotation of mystery and perhaps of a romantic period in film history. Under the coat he'll be wearing a white shirt and bracers smart suit trousers and oxfords or brogues depending the actors choice. The love interest will be dressed still smart but a little more causal a shirt and jeans with braces if the actor chooses. Finally our murder will be dressed in black to create the idea of anonymity we hope to try and stay ambiguous when it comes to gender but there are limitations when it comes to how non descriptor we can make her however it would help to enhance the mystery.

Some ideas of the costume elements that we plan to use are shown below:

Editing

We want to try and create the sense that our main character is being followed or stalked by the camera, we don't want to do this to insight any form of fear but instead use it to give the idea that no one is to be trusted and that the walls have eyes and ears. You can probably see some of these themes coming out in our story board. In order to active this kind of feeling we want to use some fad in and outs. For example we are tracking parallel to where our main character is walking and as he passes out of view and the screen is filled by a full shot of a brick wall we will fade out to black then back out of black in a different shot for example the detective walking away from the camera. At the very end of the film opening we want to have again a fade to black and have a poof of steam or smoke cross the screen to reveal the title, Dark coffee, to active this we can likely just use a CGI inbuilt or tutorial in sony vegas the editing software we intend to use. Beside from some of these more complex and difficult shots we will be using normal cuts but also some cut aways from the murder walking down a lane to his crime and then back again.

Script Draft

All of our dialogue is spoken my a narrator in the style of 1950's radio show presenter. Because of this we won't have a range of people that speak. The following is the draft for the script. Also as you will see below we have settled on the name dark coffee

Dark Coffee

*Fade in from black as sound track begins*

*Dan is walking the streets of portishead*

Archie: Portishead …. a dirty little seaside town, once the jewel of the south west, it’s since fallen into the gutter and now swims with the same filth and villainy as our cousins over the sea. We once walked in the garden of eden amongst those perfect trees, ascended the stairs to heaven and  were held in the arms of the angel yet no more … But all is not yet lost, one man Detective Frost, on loan from scotland yard, has just arrived,  and is going to check on his lover’s well being, their love is unknown and could get them into trouble with the locals. SPeaking of the locals, the town is in a state of panic. a series of murders have taken place and the killer, or killers, are still at large The details of these murders could turn the stomach of a hardened detective. while in other news the *click …. static …. silence*

Time table

Date	Task	Notes
28/11/15	Film as much as possible
29/11/15	Reshoots
30/11/15	Editing, plan more reshoots if necessary.
16/12/15	Editing Deadline
7/12/15	Audience feedback
8/12/15	Amend issues
17/12/15	Polish
18/12/15	Deadline	Do not miss this one

Actors

Josh, George, Rosie, Tom/Emily

Archie voiceover

Story Board

Story Board from M1DWAN

Getting permission to use Music

I contacted Garry Schyman a massively talented composer who worked on all of the Bioshock games sound tracks as well as the sound track for shadow of Mordor. Should he reply and allow me to use his initally wanted to "Welcome to rapture" that will be the music that will appear as the backing track to the film opening.

Music and Sound

We intend to use a voice over to give the audience an idea of the story and introduce the main character and his love interest. This also goes for the criminal we however of course the narrator won't be giving the identity away but will simply describe the crime he committed as it is shown on screen. We hope to use ambient diegetic sound to help add some degree of realism to the opening this could include the soft sound of waves or water moving in general the sound of sea gulls foot steps and breathing. We hope to avoid dialogue to give the story a sense of mystery and make up for a lack of experienced actors. We are hopping to use a song from the game Bioshock's sound track as the backing music as it fits with are nautical theme and neo-noire theme extra-ordinarily well. Finally the voice over will be done ether in a gruff detective voice as if the detective is recounting the story as he knows it so far to the audience or as a 40's/50's radio presenter as if it were a radio show giving an over view of the case.

The ambient or diegetic sound that might occur during filming won't greatly affect the quality of the film opening but of course it is difficult to say any of this for a certainty. However it's best to avoid any potential problems by simply not using any diegetic sound and completely muting the video we take and using the sound track as the only sound in the opening. 

The back ground noise when the music isn't playing at the very end along with the voice over has been a point that we've been  discussing a lot and we've decided to use a rain sound effect to emphasis the dark and moody atmosphere.

Location Of Shots

For most of the opening shots or tracking shots will be done in the port marine area.

We will be attempting to do the shots during at dusk kind of time to give a slight more dark and brooding tone which is common across a lot of noire film.

For the shots in which we show the criminal walking away from the crime he just committed by throwing the dead body into the water.

This is the location for the first couple shots the angle and frame will also be similar to the one shown below.

This is the shot for the detective walking up the stairs and turning off to meet his lover. 

Story ideas and overview

Weather season:
Autum/winter
rainy/ foggy/ overcast

Setting:
Harbour
Built up area

Time period:
Modern

Characters:
Grizzeled old cop
Love interest
criminal

Moods:
Dark

Music:
Bioshock

Crime:
Water based
Drowning

The opening will be cutting between the murder/crime and the present day with the detective arriving and looking at the scene.



Over all story idea:
The over all idea for the film is a young but experienced detective has moved away from the city for undisclosed reasons with his lover. They arrive to work in a small fishing town far away from the loud bustle of the city however this town while appearing light and charming at day harbours a sinister underworld by night and our detective gets dragged into this spiral of crime that puts him and those he loves in danger.