Traitor in the mist FMP
I confirm that the attached portfolio is all of my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone but myself.
DEVELOPMENT
PRODUCTION DEVELOPING
Idea
My idea for this year is going to be a mafia movie. It will fit into the crime genre as well as mystery. The story will start with Romano Mezzorani a son of a mafia boss being shot in a club bathroom by a mysterious person. After finding out about his son death the mafia boss Sorrentino instructs his family members in England to find the killer as he cannot due to being in Sicily. The mafia members try to find clues but fail causing the boss to send his nephew Giovanni to go to England and deal with it himself however this does not end up following plan and he ends up being killed by a mysterious person. The boss can’t handle it anymore and fly’s to England himself to handle it personally after finding out who it is he meets the mysterious killer at a secluded location with the intention of finding out the betrayal.
Pitch
Proposal
Treatment
Synopsis
The son of a mafia boss is killed in England and the gang that was meant to work and protect him must find his killer however the killer is unknown and they must find his identity and make him pay before time runs out and they get killed for failing their jobs.
Draft Script
Research
I have taken in massive amounts of research through the forms or media such as movies and documentaries and books. However, the main form was in movies an example The Godfather which is one of the famous most classic mafia movies out there I also watched movies such as Goodfellas, the Irishman, The Ruthless and many more. As for TV shows I have watched the Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Suburra Blood on Rome all of which have inspired me and gave me such good ideas that I will integrate into my own movie. The thing about movies is that they call always show things differently to how they actually are, so I decided to watch documentaries instead about the mafia in Italy and their operations as well as watching footage from carabinieri (Italian police) arrests to give me a better understanding of what the mafia actually is about rather than what its portrayed as in the movies.
Crew list
For my crew I recruited Bailey Gamble as I believe we work together quite well and because I am creating a short 7-10 minute film I believed that it would be best to have only 2 crew members as not too become disorganized and crowded.
My Crew roles consists of
Bailey Blyth: Director, producer, lighting and sound technician, editor, screenwriter
Bailey Gamble: Director of photography, set design, script supervisor
Equipment list
This is the equipment I will be utilizing for my production
- Camera
- Camera batteries
- Camera bag
- Headphones
- Tripod
- Fig rig
- SD card
PRE-PRODUCTION
CASTING DOCUMENTATION
Script
Draft 1:
Draft 2:
Draft 3:
Character breakdown
Antonio is the boss of the gang in England and reports directly to the bosses in Italy. He is tactical and calm and doesn’t make unnecessary moves unless he has too, he cares for his men however friendship doesn’t exist when you work for a criminal organization.
Freddie: Freddie is the member of the gang who makes sure that orders are completed as well as money collecting. He jokes around with Henry a lot but is serious when he needs to be. He follows whatever he is told by his higher up.
Casting information/sign up sheet
Release forms
This is what the release forms look like for my film however I can't show the signed ones to keep my actors privacy.
Cast contact list
Cast unavailability
All actors agreed to being available for each day scheduled.
LOCATION INFORMATION
Risk assessments
1.
Location agreements
The Dubliners (private location) - Agreed by owner
The Zetland Hotel (private location) - Agreed by owner
Stockton flee market (public location) - Agreed by owner
Directions
The Dubliners directions
The Zetland Hotel directions
Stockton Market directions
Location photographs
The Dubliners
The Zetland Hotel
Stockton Flee market
Location unavailability
All locations are available to film
COSTUME, MAKE UP, DESIGN DOCUMENTATION
Costume requirements
Make up requirements
No make up was required for this production due to the short amount of time I had to film this i found it to be more efficient to not use make up.
SCHEDULING INFORMATION
Scheduling cards
Shooting schedule
DAILY PAPERWORK
Production daily report
24th of May 2022
Today i am filming scenes 3 and 4. I started filming at 1pm as I didn't need to finish until 4pm. I packed the equipment and collected my crew and actors and headed to the filming location. An hour in and it started to rain heavily so I waited for 15 minutes to see if it would, in the end it continued so I had to cancel scene 4 and try and use footage from scene 3 that I could. When I got back to college I noticed that the audio on the microphone was low and the rain affected the look of the scene so I decided to not use that footage and instead reschedule scene 4 to a different day and cancel scene 3 as it doesn't really affect the story and was only there to make the film take more time.
25th of May 2022
Today filming began at 11am. As yesterday I collected equipment, actors and my crew and set off to the location to film scene 2 and 5. Even though I called the owner of the pub multiple times yesterday I decided to double check with her today to which she said it was okay to film so everything went well. I got to the location and let my actors rehearsal till 1pm which is when I started to film. Filming only took 2 hours and everything went well meaning I got both scenes completed.
1st of June 2022
Today is the day I rescheduled scene 4 to. I arrived at college at 10am where my crew was waiting for me with the camera equipment. Then I waited for my actors too arrive, once they all arrived we headed to the location only for it to be locked because of the limited time frame to film this I had to think quick meaning I had to resort to my first location so I went to the town. It wasn't that busy so the actors went over there lines and we started filming at 1pm. It lasted for about 2 hours but I finally got it done.
10th of June 2022
Today is the last day of filming. My actors told me they were sick so they couldn't attend meaning the scene had to be done by my crew member instead as an improvisation as I couldn't not film because this scene is important. The train got to saltburn at 1:30pm and I went to the room where we were filming and went through it with my crew so that they knew what they were doing. After this we started filming and it lasted and hour as it was only a short scene and I had too recreate it and go from script 3.
Shot list
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Risk assessments in filming order
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 2
Scene 5
Scene 1
LINK TO MY SHORT FILM
(1) Traitor in the mist short film - YouTube
Evaluation
It was a long journey from the start of filming to the finish but with my amazing crew and actors not to mention quick thinking I managed to pull it off despite the bumpy road I felt like I was on. What I think went well about my film was the ease of finding locations as well as acting. I really enjoyed filming because of these first few reason and filming is always better when there's less stress not to say the heat wasn't on but now that I have successfully finished I feel achieved because of it.
As for what could have went better I would say a few things one of the main being scheduling because the week the class was meant to film Ofstead came in meaning all filming scheduling was cancelled till the following week which was a battle in itself, as for scheduling after because of the blood brothers performance and the sharing of actors scheduling had to be tightly fit and chosen to film in. Another issue was lack of equipment such as the fig rig or the Tripod but then again that could fit into the scheduling issue.
Weather was also an issue at times but rescheduling fixed that however because of the weather i had to cut a scene out meaning the film didn't end up as long as i would have liked. During editing week i caught covid which was a pain because i could not go in to film extra scenes even if i wanted to. Overall though filming despite these issues went rather well. I think the next time I make a film project such as this I will make sure I have more contingencies plans for the weather and for covid cases as well as doing scheduling as soon as i can so i can make filming go a lot smoother.
What has been great about filming is the fact that i had fun making it and it was great learning in more ways then one and i feel like that's the reason it was a success because now i know how to improve for any future projects so that i can make them better.
Distribution
As for Distribution I plan to screen my film at the ARC Cinema in Stockton town. It will be a formal event where people will wear suits and dresses and win awards. It will be screened on 20th of June 2022 and will premier at 6:30pm and end at 9pm.
