Female Actress

Our Female Actress is an actress called Jenny Hansel,
an actress based in London.

Finding Actors

To find actors we started by going onto the website Star Now, then by refining the search to 18-25, boy and girl, london. We found a huge selection to browse through.
After then finding some people who we think could fit the role we went to social media to then message them and ask if they would be interested.
Some people didn't reply, Some were busy.
 

 Finally, we got some replies with people who were interested in reading the script.

Then we sent over the script and waited for our reply, We have our female actress, and just finishing arrangements with the male.

Ending 2

Script the birthday  3 copy from mediastudiesf1n34rts

Ending 1

Script the birthday  from mediastudiesf1n34rts

Ending issue

As we were struggling to decide an ending we thought that we should write two different endings, and then get audience feedback to decide which ending will be better.

Mood boards

Using a DSLR

This was really useful to find out how to film on a DLSR, to learn things like setting the IOS. What I found really interesting was to see what a someone with such experience would say about filming. Firstly -  about the colouring of the film and how you can tell about by setting that immediately.
Secondly - focusing on a how it is important to differentiate shots and how those shots will tell a lot and set the mood.
After watching this video, I went back over my script and thought about what I wanted to say in each shot, that then meant that there was a significant change to really try and interpret the mood.
For example - at the end of our film we made the conversation between the couple a close up, this shows a increase in dramatic tension and from all the medium and long shots this is a dramatic contrast.

Storyboard

Change of idea

Change of idea 

We wrote the treatment for our original idea: Zippo. However, after not being able to find an ending we realised that the reason for this was because we didn't know what our film was about and how to end it effectively. We then changed our approach. We started focusing on moments and making our short film relatable. After much discussion, we decided to hone in on that awkward moment when you don't know wether to pursue someone through juvenile discomfort. 

This therefore has changed our genre from being more of a classic drama to being more of a teen comedy.

The Birthday - Script feedback

The feedback that we got was positive with the person we showed getting quite excited by the script as it is something that is relatable to most people; of all ages and all genders. The feedback we got consisted mostly with adding more description, changing the format mostly, and switching where we noted a scene. What was the most helpful was that he questioned how we would show inner thought processes which is something that we will definitely consider. Also how old the characters will be. We are still rethinking the ending. 

The Birthday - Treatment

Eli Jones (?) & Poppy Hughes (?)

It was Eli's birthday and they had had a good night out. They are on their way home, and live a few roads away from each other, they haven't seen each other since school. Eli being the nice soul that he is, is walking her home. They stroll down the street, chatting and laughing and they get to a fork in the road, he normally walks up and she goes to the right. There's an awkward moment when they notice they have come to that bit and he unsurely asks if she wants him to walk her home, she says yes, They get to her front door and there's a bit of that awkward silence. Then she suggests that he comes in for a final drink and he panics. In his head he is thinking do I? don't I? eventually he accidentally blurts out that he has a girlfriend, she is confused and he shoots off back home. As he hears the door shut as he turned the corner he is regretting his decision and goes to call her. As he goes to call her, his phone dies. He runs home, get's in the door way and runs to put his phone on charge. As he is waiting, it takes painfully long, with him checking every two seconds. Eventually his phone comes back on and it takes a little while to get it working as it keeps freezing. Eventually he calls her, and the first one goes to voicemail. He is gutted. A few seconds later we hear the phone ring and he picks it up to her. He then explains himself to her and she ends with well do you wanna come over. He then grabs the closest thing he can to get there as fast as he can. It is his mum's scooter, he then scoots down the road back to her house, we end with her opening the door and awkwardly looking at the scooter, he is grinning stupidly and slightly sweating.