Planning - Preliminary Task
The preliminary task involves recording a person walking into a room, sitting down and having a conversation and requires the shot-reverse shot technique. Since my chosen genre is cop I think it would be effective if my preliminary task involves a detective walking into a room and questioning a suspect about a crime. This would provide practice and brainstorming ideas for my actual piece.
To begin I could have a shot or two of the detective walking to/in to the room, utilizing close-ups of his chest and feet as he walks up, the recording of the feet as they walk may prove difficult, however, keeping the face a secret until a specific point in the short clip will create an element of mystery and draw the audience in so they feel compelled to watch.
The next shots/scenes will be of him sitting down, collecting his papers and then speaking, the first few lines will be over his shoulder, focused on the suspect, continuing to hide his face as he goes over the basic details of the interview, the suspect will then reply at some point saying something along the lines of "Who do you think you are" at for which it will be a close up of his face for. The camera will then pan around to show the detective's face or alternatively a point of view shot of his face, panning from his chest upwards or, I can pan while the camera is still behind the detective's shoulders.
The script will then just be some arbitrary dialogue between the two using shot reverse shot as the owner of the conversation changes, maybe staying behind one character slightly more to provide some change and difference.
A storyboard can be seen below.
The script will be basic, as this is a preliminary task and will not be marked however I will still put effort into the first draft and finalising it. The final script can be seen below.
Scene 1 – Corridor
There is no speaking in this scene, it is just the detective walking towards the ‘interrogation room’ and walking in and closing the door. Camera will follow his feet for a few seconds then a straight edit to following his torso with the arms in shot then a straight edit to his back, the camera will be fixated on this point and follow him until he turns to go into the room where it will rotate but stop moving. The door closing will mark the end of the scene
Scene 2 – Interrogation Room
The detective will walk in and the camera will be positioned just behind the door, focused on the suspect, the detective will walk past the camera to the chair, keeping their face hidden using a hat (preferably a black fedora) and sit down, placing the ‘Case files’ on the table prior to him taking a seat, the camera will straight edit to behind his shoulder as he sits down. After this, a straight edit will put the paper in view, panning down to show the entirety of the page. The detective will play a recorder on the table (in this case a phone), start the recording and then speak.
Detective: “Suspect’s full name, Steve Johnson, correct?” Jester to the suspect that you are asking a question
Steve: “Yes”
Detective: “Age 25 2-5, current address 256 2-5-6 Dunkin Road, Peterborough, Occupation unemployed, correct?”
Steve: “Yes it is all correct; I had to sign to say it was why are you asking me?”
Detective: “Procedure” to be said in a plain voice, no emotion
Steve: “Look, if I’m going to be interrogated I want to know who by, Mr.” hold on to the r sound so it sounds like a question
At this point the camera will focus in on the badge the detective is wearing around his neck and pan up towards his ID badge
Detective: “Me? Oh I’m no one special, just an everyday detective who had a perfect family, a wife and a daughter, but then my daughter was murdered and my wife couldn’t take the grief so she killed herself, so now I’m an everyday detective who has no family and the first thing I’m going to do is to put the man who killed my daughter, away (short pause) but you can call me Detective West”
When he says west the camera should be focused completely on the ID then straight edit to focus on his mouth as he continues
Detective: “It’s not been easy, I had to prove that I could act above board on this investigation, considering it hit so close to home the process was nothing, but then I found out you were our main suspect”
The detective will take his hat off and then it will cut to focus on Steve’s face who should act surprised and a little scared.
Steve: “Bill-“
Straight edit to Bill’s face
Bill: “its Detective West to you” This should be sharp and interrupt Steve, for this line the camera should be focused on his face, a close-up
Bill: “Now, I will begin the questioning, do not interrupt me until I have finished speaking, it will allow the interview to run smoothly”
Straight edit to behind the suspect’s shoulders
Bill: “So, Mr. Johnson, where were you on November 21st 2015 approximately at 9:00 PM?”
Steve: “I was in my flat washing the dishes after finishing my meal with my partner”
Bill: “Can I ask you to state your partner’s full name please”
Steve: “Why? You know it; I know this is about her I was told prior to being sent in here so I should call my lawyer”
Bill: “I asked you to state her name, we are not aware of people’s personal lives; you could have a second partner or lover who you were with.”
Steve: “Don’t be silly… my partner was Sophia West”
Bill: “And where was she at this time?”
Straight edit to a mid-side shot of Steve
Steve: “I was unaware, after dinner we had watched some TV and she said she was going out and would be back later, no specification on where she was going or how long she would be,” at this point the camera will be a mid-side shot to the side of Bill as Steve continues talking, “I got up to do the dishes, by the time I finished it was nearly half 9, she hadn’t come home so I went out looking while calling her, check my phone records if you don’t believe me, they’ll line up”
Bill: “AM or PM?”
Steve: “PM, who has dinner in the early morning?”
Camera will cut to behind the suspect, slightly to the left and looking at the suspects face, the camera will begin to arc around the head of the suspect, going behind his head, the next lines will be said as this is happening
Bill: “Do you own a gun or a knife not including the kitchen ones”
Steve: “Yes, I own an old revolver, it’s not been used as far as I’m aware, its part of my families lineage,”
Fade out/in will be hidden by the darkness of Steve’s head, will go to behind the detective’s head, the audio from both scenes should play, overlapping one another, one getting quieter and one getting louder as the arc occurs. The arc will continue from the back of bill’s head to the right. A passing of time should be shown in this shot, the detective and suspect removing their jackets, some cups of water on the table.
Steve: “I told you I didn’t kill my own fiancé, why would I, what’s my motive, all these questions have done nothing but establish what I know you’re already aware of.”
Bill: “Well, for now I have no further questions, you will be called in for questioning a second time, so don’t leave the county.”
Steve: “Why am I being called in a second time?”
Bill will get up as Steve starts to talk, he’ll get to the door and open it, the camera should be behind him as he gets up and then as he opens the door the camera should be in front of it so it can watch it open. As the door opens Steve finishes his sentence,
Steve: “You just spent 2 hours questioning me; surely I shouldn’t need to come in again”
The camera should be a mid shot of Bill,
Bill: “These weren’t official questions, I had a few favors to call in, I needed to question you myself, in a situation you though was official.” He then leaves and the camera watches the door close, as it does and thuds close screen goes black.
The End.
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