Design Process

The start of my production proccess was to write up my own storyline and script

Storyline-

A young man is trying to do everyday things such as cooking dinner, coming home from work and even going to bed. But he just cant do anything without being reminded of the memories shared with his girlfriend who had not long passed away, it is not clear until the end of the film that she's died, it jsut seems like she isnt there at the time.

Scripting-

I wrote up a script based on the storyline i had previously written, including camera shots adn angles, setting and time of day:

CONDOLENCES

By Danielle Herbert

BLACK SCREEN

FADE IN

QUOTE: "If the people we love are taken from us, the way they live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever." – The crow- 1994

FADE OUT

BLACK SCREEN

TITLE SEQUENCE

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. COURTYARD TO A SMALL HOUSE WITH SEVERAL OTHER HOUSES- EARLY EVENING

(CAR ENGINE SOUNDS)

LONG SHOT showing a car driving round and parking in front of a small house.

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/KITCHEN- EARLY EVENING

(SOUNDS OF THE DOOR OPENING)

CLOSE UP of the door handle as it’s being pulled down and the door starts to open. Camera zooms out to show a smartly dressed young man walking through the door.

CUT TO:

LONG SHOT of the young man walking toward the kettle.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of his hand as he places the keys on the kitchen side.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/KITCHEN- DAYTIME

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP of the young man with a young girl playing around with the key, both characters looking really happy.

FAST TRANSISTION TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOSUE/KITCHEN- EVENING

Back to the CLOSE-UP of the young man’s hand still holding onto the keys, he squeezes the keys and then places his hand next to them.

CUT TO:

LONG SHOT of him filling up the kettle and putting it back on the stand.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of his hand flicking the kettle on. As he flicks it down…

FAST TRANSITION TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/KITCHEN- DAYTIME

LONG SHOT of the young girl holding the young man from behind whilst he’s making two cups of tea.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOSUE/KITCHEN- EVENING

(KETTLE SQUEELS)

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP, TRACKING SHOT of the young man picking up the kettle and throwing it into the sink. After he’s thrown it into the sink he stops and throws his head into his hands

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/KITCHEN. EVENING

MEDIUM CLOSE UP of the young man getting a pan out of the cupboard

CUT TO:

MEDIUM CLOSE UP TRACKING SHOT showing him walking to the sink and filling the pan with water.

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of the hob as he places the pan of water on it.

CUT TO:

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP TRACKING SHOT of him picking up the box of rice from the side.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT, OVER THE SHOULDER of the young man showing the young girl cooking his dinner and she turns to smile at him

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of the rice in his hand, he lets go and drops it.

CLOSE-UP, TRACKING SHOT of the rice falling and hitting the kitchen side.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/ KITCHEN- EVENING

LONG SHOT of him walking towards the sink with his empty bowl. He begins to wash the dishes.

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of a tea towel on the side, his hand enters the shot, as he grabs the tea towel….

FAST TRANSITIONG TO:

LONG SHOT of the couple playing around hitting each other with tea towels (laughing)

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT of the the young man as he snaps out of the memory, he throws the tea towel onto the floor in distress.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of the tea towel on the floor. His hand enters the shot to pick the spoon up. As he goes to get the tea towel…

FAST TRANSITION TO:

INT. OUTSIDE ON SOME GRASS- DAYTIME

CLOSE UP of his hand in some grass

CUT TO:

MEDIUM CLOSE UP of the couple lying together on the grass. The young girl turns to the young man.

GIRL

I love you

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT, TRACKING him walking up the stairs to his room.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM- EVENING

MEDIUM CLOSE of him sat by the DVD shelf looking for a DVD to watch.

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of his hand as he brushes it along the DVDs.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT of the couple play fighting about what film to watch, they both have a film each in their hands, as he leans in to kiss her…

CUT TO:

MEDUIM CLOSE UP of him leaning like he’s about to kiss someone but there isn’t anyone there. As his hand reaches for the floor to stop him falling..

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of the film in his hand as it hits the floor. It’s the film she was holding in the memory.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. BEDROOM- EVENING

LONG SHOT from the end of the bed showing him lying alone. He rolls over to face the empty side of the bed. He bunches the duvet under his arms. Almost like he’s cuddling it.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT from the end of the bed showing the couple lying together. He rolls over to face her.

YOUNG MAN

I love you

CUT TO:

LONG SHOT from the end of the bed showing him lying along with the quilt bunched up in his arms.

PANNING SHOT from the LONG SHOT of him lying in bed, to a small table in the corner of the room.

ZOOMS to show a photograph of the young girl surrounded by flowers and condolences cards.

FADE OUT

END CREDITS

Quote from: http://inner_mercy.tripod.com/Quotes.html

"when the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them, buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever"

Casting-

Casting can be a tricky thing, you have to find people that can play the role exactly how you want it to be played and to connect to the other characters the way they need to.

There are only two characters in my film, a young couple.
i chose my boyfriend Lewis Warren to play the male part and therefore it would be a good idea to play the female role myself, hoping it will make it easier for Lewis to play the role of a young man who has lost the love of his life.

Setting-

I chose to use the male roles own house as the setting, again to make it easier for him to get into character and show what i intended in the scripting. i also think it portrays well what a young couple with not alot of money's house would be like, it's almost like a flat.

Costume -

Again i used the actors own clothes/uniform in my film to make their characters work well nad how i intended. it also shows the age of the couple well without having to say anything.

After designing the script and all the mise-en-scene parts of my film i designed my own production logo to go at the start of my short film.

I also created the title sequence that will appear after this in my short film, before the actual film.