Izzi preproduction evalutaion first draft

Pre-Production Evaluation- Director
1. My role in this production is the organiser, the initiator, the main decision maker, amongst many more. This means that it is my job to find the actors, to ensure they are up to the level that we require for the film. I need to find the location, and during the production it will be up to me to organise the shoots for a time that is suitable for both the cast and the crew. I will be the one, also, telling the actors what to do, guiding and advising them on how to improve, this will also mean that I have to be extremely clear in what I tell them to do, and have to know exactly what I want, before I tell the actors to do it. Further more, it’s up to me that the mise-en-scene is sorted out, we have the appropriate props, costume, make up, everything. It’s up to me to make this film believable. Finally, I need to be the one making sure that everything gets done; the script is written- and really the writing of the script is my responsibility, the storyboard and shot lists are done, everything. It is my responsibility that everything is getting blogged, and also any arrangements to meet up for planning, including walking through the film, taking headshots of actors, anything like hat; it’s my responsibility that they get done.

2. My idea came after watching ‘The haunting’ by Robert Wise, my family and I were having dinner and my dad was telling us how the doorbell kept on ringing in the middle of the night, waking him up. This got me thinking, seeing as haunted houses were fresh on my mind, that this could be a good starting point for our film. Then after watching other haunted house films particularly ‘The Orphanage’ with lots of shots of corridors, the idea for this film really started to develop and come together. And given that I have a good house for a haunted house, we thought it was the perfect type of film to do.

3. Robert Wise initially was my main influence because the way he built up the tension is very gripping, and the distorted angles that are used, along with the dramatic, erratic music and the use of dark shadows puts the audience on the edge of their seats, so I thought these were very effective techniques and I tried to write a script that would enable me to do this. Also Juan Antonio Bayuna’s use of long foreboding corridors, and long pauses, which really make the rhythm of the film not very fluid, are also elements of the film which really put the audience in suspense and I wanted to incorporate this in mine too.

4. The opening will be the audience on edge, and make them really quite uncomfortable, because there is no equilibrium, from the very start, someone dies, which is immediately uncomfortable for the audience, and puts them in good stead to be scarred later on. We use a lot of corridor shots and lots of shots from different angles, some tracking, lots of close ups, to make it feel like the couple are being watched, so hopefully this will scare the audience.
The threat is also a little girl which is very disconcerting, as normally, innocent little girls are the victim, so it shifts the perspective of the film somewhat. There are also instances where tension is being very built up, for example, when something walking up the driveway, the last time this happened, someone died. And leaving the opening with the inevitability that the couple will be haunted is a sure way of putting the audience ill at ease.

5. I have been very conventional on the whole, there is a haunted house, there is a threat (the ghost of a dead person) there will be lots of use of dark corridors and corners. Because it’s an opening we won’t show any haunting, but there would be in the rest of the film. The main unconventional element of the film is the little girl, but even nowadays, it’s becoming more conventional to have a child threat.