Inspiration 1

The filming of the piece is planned to be fairly uncomplicated in terms of blocking, lighting and shooting; the majority of the film is conversation which develops into an argument between the two characters. However, I think it is important to get a feel for the build up in tension that arises between the Mother and daughter characters through out the duration of the film, which I think will rely heavily on the way each scene is lit, shot and edited.

Lighting 

My sisters keeper (2009) is a film I researched into, and has provided good inspiration for the lighting  techniques I would like to employ for my film. I feel the way each scene is lit has a strong impact on the emotional engagement the viewer has with the content and the characters. Happy and cheerful scene are shot in a more high-contrast lighting, while more dramatic, emotional scenes are shot in low-contrast lighting; these techniques are not heavily used, but just enough to effect the audiences emotion. This is something I feel would be appropriate to use in my film, it helps to move and guide the emotional connection the viewer would have with the situation of each scene, as it goes from Alice's cheerful success from her test results, to the fatal accident that takes place as a result of conflict.  

My Sister's Keeper (2009) Nick Cassavetes 

My Sister's Keeper (2009) Nick Cassavetes

The low-key lighting of the scene helps to enhance the emotional impact on the viewer during a tense period conflict in the narrative. 

Likewise for the opposite, the high-key lighting helps the viewer to sense the emotions of the scene. 

Camera

In terms of shooting, I would really like to film as much hand-held footage as possible, particularly when it comes to the argument scene and the crane scenes. I think this is because it reflects the frustrated and frantic mind-set that the characters would be in, I think it's really important in order to indicate to the viewer the thoughts and feelings which are going on within the characters of the scene. Inspiration for this came from Blue Valentine (2010), there is a scene which takes place in a hospital between the two main characters, it is shot entirely hand-held, and adds a deep impact to the tension behind the scene, it is incredibly effective. 

  

Script- First draft

This is the first draft I have written of my script, with a few small changes from Michelina. Having taken the time for us all to review it, I feel it has gone the wrong way in that it focuses on Alice in too much of a negative light, making her look like something of a spoilt brat, having a similar effect on the Mother character. I think this is because it's so hard to write an argument and make it look as natural as possible, the subject it is about I think is fine, it's just how it is expressed which needs a lot of work. 

Pitch- Crane

In todays session, we pitched our idea to the rest of the group. After our first meeting, I went away and began to develop the characters and the story, which we decided would centre around the idea of the legend of the paper cranes. I began first by thinking about the girls motivation for creating theses cranes was and how they would fit in with the storyline. There were various questions I felt need answering in regards to her character. For example; what was the purpose of creating the paper cranes? Was she hoping for redemption and comfort? Or maybe just a distraction? Does her wish come true in the end? Is it a happy or sad ending?
The answers to these questions would of course be answered properly as the development of the script continued, but I felt they needed to be included in the character's backstory as well, to give their motivations some context.
We explained our idea to the rest of the group, and the following questions were raised;

What made her so angry that she killed her mother?

Was it an accident, or was it on purpose?

What are the dynamics of their relationship beforehand?

How are you going to show it?

What is the purpose of the poem?

I think the best way to approach answering the questions in regards to the characters, is to develop as much as possible both of their backstories, and to express this through the script. I don't want it to look as though it's just a typical fight between Mother and Daughter; it needs to appear as though this is a long time coming, and is a result of ongoing tension between the two characters. I think otherwise, it would look far too melodramatic, and, in the worst case, quite comical.
In regards to the questions about the poem, I felt that the paper cranes needed some context, especially as the Japanese legend may certainly not be know by a lot of viewers. I wanted it to be subtle though, I think the use of the poem will work to portray this.

In regards to developing the relationship between my characters, It was suggested that I researched how tenuous relationships have been portrayed in past productions. One which came to mind, was that between the characters of Sarah and Anna in My Sister's Keeper (2009), for the reason that, although their is a lot of bitter tension between the two characters, their is still the evident Mother-Daughter love and connection, which is something that I envision for my own two characters.

Initial Ideas

After the initial briefing session, I began straight away find inspiration, in order to develop a character and a scenario, as a starting point for our film. I watched the film below (Origami Street Art, by Mademoiselle Maurice), which prompted me to have a go at folding a few shapes myself.

Mademoiselle Maurice - Origami Street Art from ufunk parseError on Vimeo.

As well as researching the technique of folding the paper Crane, I also researched the meaning, which represents a significant folktale found within Japanese culture. In Japan, the Crane is the most mystical and holy creatures, and are said to live for 1000 years. Japanese legend says that, by folding 1000 paper cranes (one for each year of their life), one wish will be granted to the folder.

I began trying to think what my character might wish for, and came up with a few different choices e.g. Love, forgiveness, happiness, wealth, success. Initially, my character was going to wish for love.
I had the idea that she would visit the same place everyday, and leave a collection of cranes whenever she left, in hope of catching the attention of her love interest. He would then catch on, and began leaving the Cranes for her to find. In the end they would have made 1000 between them, and their wish to finally meet each other would come true.
Although I liked this story, I felt it would need something extra to help it to avoid becoming too cliché and boring, which it easily could. I wanted to keep the character and the symbol of the crane, but I didn't want to make a film about romantic love.

I then developed this into a film about loss and grief; her wish this time being for closure/relief from the pain she felt following the loss of her Mother. The 1000 cranes she folds would represent her wish to feel happiness again.

I took this idea to the small presentation we held amongst our group. Kayleigh came with a short character development, and Michalina came with her own story idea. Kayleigh's character was too under-developed to make much use of, so we focused on mine and Michalina's ideas. I got the impression that the rest of the group thought my idea wasn't exciting enough, and that it needed some kind of shock or sudden development, although they agreed that the symbolism of the crane was a good idea. Michalina came with a much more 'shocking' story, about someone who had committed a murder, but was acting very casual about it, just going about their daily life. This may have been a good idea, but it would be a struggle to extend it to be 5 minutes long, without it become boring to watch. We then had the idea to sort of merge our two ideas together; the girl in my story had lost her mother, and was dealing with grief, but then we questioned; what else would she feel if it was her fault? Our film would tell the story of a girl, wishing for acceptance and closure after causing her mother's death.

This was a very productive session in my opinion; we established our two characters, and decided on a location to film it in. Michelina and I agreed to go away and work on the script and character development, planning to meet again later on in the week.

Brief

Group/Roles-

During the briefing session we were required to get into groups of five/six as before. Like the previous assignment, I found myself in a group with only two other people, as there were two extra members who were rarely in our sessions and thus, unconfirmed. Regardless of this, we all decided on our roles during the seminar, planning on taking on the extra positions if our other group members didn't turn up. These were as follows;

Myself- Camera/Editing

Kayleigh Asquith- Producer 

Michelina Kubiak- Director/Sound design

Hannah Porter- Sound recordist

Patrick Clifton- Sound design

(Update-Since the briefing session, Patrick has been removed as Sound recordist due to lack of contact. The role of sound designer has been taken up by Michelina.)

At the end of the session, we agreed to go away and come up with a few of our own ideas or a character development, and we would gather as a group to put together a story for our pitch. 

During the session we also watched a series of short films, providing examples and inspiration, as well as looking at how to develop characters and their backstory/profile.