Final Research

Location

With Badlands, I found that early location scouting allowed us to have a really good idea of how certain shots would work, which then helped streamline the shot planning process as well. We've recently been to Soar Lane, in Leicester, to do the same for our piece.

Locations marked in red are where we spent most of our time collecting Test Footage

 A compilation of all footage captured on that day will be saved for a later post, but here are some screengrabs:

Actors

James May

I think James is a really great selection. Not only is he already well experienced with the performing arts, but also lives locally and goes to the same college we do. His body of work so far is comprised of: 

 

• Playing Wishee Washee in an 'Aladdin' production at the Little Theatre, Leicester.
• Playing The Royal Herald in a 'Sleeping Beauty' production at the Little Theatre, Leicester.
• Playing 'F' in 'Status Update' at the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
• Being a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain
• Recently accepted into the Bird College of Dance

This is (clearly) an extremely impressive range of experience, however I was juggling with the idea of whether he was right for our character. However, It's clear from his work that range and adaptability really won't be an issue. I really want him to bring a real sense of maturity and believability to our final short, and am confident he can do just that. 

Narrative

Moving into our narrative, I really want to find adequate time soon to develop characters, screen cards, and a full script. Right now, it seems like our price will be divided into two key areas: Seb's Reality and Seb's Mind

• Seb's Reality

Here, we want to showcase a single day where he decides that the only course of action he has is to leave home at an early age. This is because of his abusive father, unperturbed by multiple non-molestation orders, is due to come home, as well as Seb failing various subjects at school and feeling alienated by his friends. This one day shows him leaving home and walking to the nearby park to meet with a friend. During this, they have a short conversation, which will be fully planned and fleshed out before shooting. 

The basic 'reality' structure will be as such:

1. Seb in his house, packing for leaving home. He walks out his door and plans to never come back. 
2. Seb walking past the bus stop he usually waits at for the school run, turning away from it and leaving it too. 
3. Seb meeting with his friend, easy conversation at the start. 
4. Conversation with his friend, with various reveals, implications and sub textual moments. 
5. Seb turning away from his home, and leaving it all behind. 

• Seb's Mind

On this side of the narrative, it's less about establishing a clear order and more about collecting a series of striking images that we can put into various points of our main narrative to act as compliments or counterpoints. Again, these shots need to be planned appropriately, including not only their locations but how they fit into the end piece so we're not just collecting irrelevant footage. However, if we execute this 'mind' side of the production well, it will provide us with a striking, cerebral and interesting side of our short that will be incorporated well into the 'reality' section during the editing stage. 

Conclusion 

A well-prepared set of ideas, plans and researched locations is necessary when moving into the demanding production stages of the project. For the short, scene lists, a script, and a well thought-out storyboard are particularly important; without them, we'll lack clear direction on the days that matter. However, I'm confident we've made the right choices in the research stage and I'm positive we'll continue this confidence into production.