Casting and costume

 CASTING AND COSTUME

Clem

Casting- When casting Clem, I wanted a skilled actor who could portray her both as anxious and slightly timid in the opening sequence, and then slowly as more double-crossing and deceiving as the film progresses, following the development of her guilt. One of the key moments I kept in mind when looking for someone to play Clem was their ability to perform the nightmare sequence, as this was quite intense, featuring lots of screaming. I eventually found actress Isabel Hetherington, who was perfect for the role, as her previous acting experience allowed her to bring nuance to Clem's character, and was enthusiastic to perform the more intense scenes. 

Costume- For Clem's costume in the opening sequence, I wanted her to look shaken and unprepared for the weather, as she wouldn't have thought about dressing appropriately following her circumstances. therefore, I decided to have her wear just a thin jumper, compared to Violet who wars a coat and scarf. In terms of makeup, I had her wear some slightly smudged mascara, to create the impression that she'd been crying but attempted to clean herself up. I also placed some fake blood on her hands to create the illusion that she'd carried the body into the boot of her car. 

Violet

Casting- When casting Violet, I was looking for someone who could act very level-headed and competent, hence why Clem called her to deal with this situation. I also wanted someone who could act logical, and provide a more human response to the situation, as demonstrated when she states 'You Killed someone Clem', and 'I think we shouldn't see each other for a while'. I casted Esme Willitts-King as I felt she displayed the sense of competence and logic in real life that I was looking for in Violet's character.

Costume- In the opening sequence, I wanted to represent Violet's sensible nature through her costume, and so had her dress appropriately for the weather, in a scarf and jacket, unlike Clem, helping draw a stark contrast between the two characters.

Over

 OVER

'Over' rejects the typical narrative and is in reverse chronological order, something contributing to the sense of tension and mystery surrounding the film's content, as the spectator is unaware of what has happened to result in this police investigation, as they slowly get given more clues before the answer is revealed. This is a clever and innovative way arranging narrative. 

Over's cinematography consists predominately of wide shots, intertwined with photograph's of a man's belongings clearly taken as evidence. The wide shots make the spectator feel as if they're observing the event from a distance, rather than being involved in the action. The photographs act as clues, hinting at what has happened. By including these photographs, the man becomes more personalised and the spectator is able to empathise more with his character, despite never being introduced to him alive. 

Diegetic sound in Over gives it a sinister feel, with most shots being accompanied by silence, with the occasional pocket of dialogue, creating an uncomfortable, solemn feel as this film diverts from the typical use of a non-diegetic score, and reliance on dialogue to portray its events. 

Location scouting

 LOCATION SCOUTING

When first writing my script, I originally planned for the opening sequence to be filmed in  field, however, when my vision for my film began to come together, I realised that it would be more appropriate to hide a body in the woods, than in a field, and so changed my plan for the location. When looking for woods to shoot in, I kept in mind two key criteria: 1. It must be easy to get to for myself and the cast, and 2. it couldn't be too busy. The first place that came to mind was Dulwich woods, due to it being a local and accessible area, and so i went and took some photos (shown below) to see if it would be visually suitable to shoot my film in. After visiting, I decided that it would be perfect and so visited again to record some ambient sound that I may later use, and scheduled in a day to shoot there.

My film's other two sequences are set indoors, and so I thought it would be best to shoot them in my own house, as this meant I could change my surroundings how I wanted to, without having to worry about disrupting other people's space- like I would if shooting in someone else's home. It also meant I could shoot more frequently, for shorter periods of time, rather than in one long period at someone else's house, which may result in my actors becoming tired. Overall, I think my choice to shoot in my own house was effective in the making of my film. 

Shot list

 SHOT LIST

Scene	Shot number	Shot	Angle	Movement	Description	Length
1	1	Mid, pov of body	low	Car boot lifts	From black as boot lifts, C and V stood there	long
1	2	Close up	flat	Wheel across frame	Wheelbarrow wheel moves through puddle across the frame	medium
1	3	Series of wide shots	Flat (possibly some canted)	Characters in frame	Montage of V and C walking through different areas of the woods, e.g. across bridge. Make sure montage ends on shot 1.4 (below)	Series of short shots
1	4	Extreme wide shot	flat	V and C within frame	Looking thru trees, V and C are pushing the wheelbarrow, C moves other side of wheelb	medium
1	5 v1	Mid shot reverse shot	flat	none	V talking to C, cuts each time they speak	Series of short shots
1	5 v2	Mid shot, 3rd party	flat	Camera swings between them as they talk	V talking to C, camera acts as a 3rd party swinging between them as the talk	Long
1	5 v3	Mid shot	flat	none	Mid shot of the 2 of them oppositional framing as they talk	Long
1	5 v4	Wide shot	flat	none	Wide shot of the 2 of them oppositional framing as they talk	Long
1	6	Extreme wide shot	flat	none	Cuts to looking from trees as she says ‘there’s literally no one around’	Short
1	7 v1	Shot reverse shot mid	flat	none	Shot reverse shot as they talk	Short
1	7 v2	Mid shot 3rd party	flat	Camera swings between them as they talk	Camera again acts as a 3rd party, swinging between them as they talk	medium
1	8	Close up	flat	Camera still but movement in frame	Close up on bottom of wheelbarrow as V and C’s feet push it out of frame	medium
2	1	Mid shot pov of body	low	none	Camera is pov of body in grave. Then C & V look down and talk	long
2	2	Mid shot pov of body- Cut to black	low	none	C and V pick up spades and bury the camera NOTES: sheet of plastic on 2 chairs, camera underneath, box on top. Throw dirt into box	medium
2	3 v1	Mid shot	flat	none	Mid shot of C and V shoulder up, talking. V then walks off and C turns to look at her	long
2	3v2	Mid shot	flat	Shot reverse shot	SRS of C then V then C as they talk. Then cut to mid shot of both of them as V walks away	Series of short and then one medium
2	4	Cut to black	none	none	Covered camera cuts to black screen	short
3	1	Overhead shot	flat	none	Above C’s bed, shes lying down- bed empty next to her	short
3	2	Close up	90 degrees opposite C asleep	C moves in frame	Close up, first C is facing away from the camera and then turns to face it	medium
3	3	Close up	90 degrees opposite DB	none	Close up of DB lying next to C in bed	Very short
3	4	Close up	90 degrees opposite C	none	C screams	short
3	5	Overhead shot	flat	C moves in frame	Starts with C still screaming then jumping out of bed DB lying next to her	medium
3	6 v1	Mid shot- front of C	flat	none	C moves her duvet sheets to check if the body’s still there and its gone	medium
3	6 v2	Mid shot- over the shoulder	flat	none	Back of C moves her duvet sheets to check if bodys still there and its gone	medium
3	7	Mid shot	flat	none	C turns from rifling through sheets to looking at camera when she hears the music start	medium
3	8 v1	Mid shot	flat	none	Mid shot with record player in centre of the frame	short
3	8 v2	Mid shot	canted	none	Canted mid shot with record player in centre of the frame	short
3	9	Close up- shot reverse shot	Flat (possibly canted if 8v2 chosen)	none	Shot reverse shot sequence of C looking at record player and then record player starting and stopping. C slowly walks towards it	Series of short shots
3	10	Mid shot	Reverse zoom	Reverse zoom	Reverse zoom of C as she walks towards the record player. Camera moves back as you zoom forward	medium
3	11	Mid shot	flat	none	Cut back to record player	medium
3	12	Mid shot	flat	Swing camera from looking at record player to looking at wardrobe	Stays on the record player as Clem walks into frame, her back facing the camera. Then knocking is heard from the cupboard, camera swings sharply to face it. Then back of Clem walks into frame, facing the wardrobe (see drawing)	long
3	13	Shot reverse shot	flat	none	Shot reverse shot sequence of the camera cutting between C face and the cupboard knocking	short
3	14	Mid shot	flat	none	Shot from behind C as she slams her mads on the door, the knocking stops, takes hands off, sees blood prints left on wardrobe	long
3	15	Close up	flat	none	Close up of bloody hand stain on the wardrobe	short
3	16	Close up	flat	none	Clem looks down at hands, confused	short
3	17	Close up	flat	none	C’s pov, camera looking down ant bloody hands	short
3	18	Close-mid	flat	Camera dollies backwards	C wipes her hands down her face, getting blood on it. Camera then dollies back, she starts to hear voices and screams	long
4	1	mid	flat	C sits up in frame	C is lying in bed, then jolts up to face the camera, then looks over to the bed beside her, looks ahead to phone	long
4	2	Close up- shot rev shot	flat	none	Shot reverse shot of C then picture of V	Series of short
4	3	Shot rev shot	flat	none	Shot rev shot of C then phone, then C getting out of bed	Series of short
4	4	Mid shot	Canted, low angle	none	C walks over to phone and dials number, then picks it up	medium
4	5	Close up	flat	none	C side profile holding phone as phone rings	mid
4	6	Extreme close up	flat	none	Close up on C’s mouth as she says ‘i need to report a murder’	mid
5	1	Wide shot	canted	none	Canted view of a house, 2 D’s walk into frame and up towards the door	long
5	2	Close up	flat	none	Close up of fist knocking on the door	short
5	3	Mid shot	Flat (possibly slight high)	Door within frame	Door opens, Vi looks confused	mid
5	4	Mid shot	Flat (possibly slight low)	none	Cuts to mid shot of the two detectives standing there	long
5	5	Mid shot	Flat (possibly slight high)	none	Return to Violet’s face as she says ‘yeah’	short
5	6	Wide shot	canted	none	Wide shot of Vi opening door and letting D’s in	medium
5	7	Mid shot	flat	none	Oppositional framing, Vi stands opposite Ds	medium
5	8 (7p2)	Close up	flat	Camera swings from previous position to just focus on Vi	Camera swings to become pov of Ds, dollies in on Vi as Ds voices become muffled	long
5	9	none	none	none	Black screen	none

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