Results

After the screening we gave out questionnaires for people to fill in.
Overall, we got an average score out of 10 of 8.19
When asked how they felt about the film
-8 out of 21 said it was very good
-13 out of 21 said it was good

Some of the improvements suggested were:
'the grainy shots in places'
'ending revealing the whole film being a dream sequence, bit cleche'
'Hint at plot/themes and twists rather than making it obvious'

Overall, the film was very well received by the people invited to the screening.

FILM LINK

INTERROGATION- LINK TO VIMEO

Self-Assessment Essay

Interrogation is a story of a young man who has been lead down a bad track by a combination of peer pressure and bad decisions. The film is supposed to depict the struggles that young men have with peer pressure and dealing with the fact that it’s time to grow up. We wanted to create a film that could be influential and relatable to students who were about to face the leap and join the real world. One of the main influences to our film was the flashbacks from ‘Source Code’, which split up the main narrative of the film and added a depth to the structure, rather than it just being a linear timeline.  I was appointed director of the film, Phil Johnson was editor and as he was responsible for getting the final vision to the screen, we decided he should also be an assistant director on set. Nathan was originally given the role of Director of Photography and Camera Operator, however, due to him showing a lack of enthusiasm and not showing up to the majority of production meetings, we made a collective decision to give Rob Hughes the position instead and have Nathan as a cameraman. 

Once we had decided on the idea for the project; Phil and I sat down to flesh out a rough script. I think this stage of the process happened a lot quicker having only two of us doing it, although we had had some input of ideas from Rob, which we implemented. We then took our script to the whole group and made changes accordingly. One of the biggest problems we faced in the planning stages of the project was sourcing performers. In fact, this was a problem that we took right up to the filming. We had such a problem sourcing extras; we had to completely change the layout of our poker scene, as there weren’t enough bodies to fill the whole room. I think this problem would have been easier to resolve if there was a budget to pay the extras for their time. The other problem I faced with using less skilled actors was them not remaining professional whilst in the background of a shot. So there was several wasted takes where some of the extras have started laughing or doing something inappropriate. In terms of post-production, Phil did the majority of the editing. One of the main issues he had was getting the sound right. This was down to several factors, such as only using a mono microphone input, meaning there was a dead channel that developed unwanted noise. The other issue was the fact that we forgot to use a clapped board for the majority of the scenes so syncing audio was an issue.

Overall, I feel the project has gone well and the final outcome has got very good feedback from people when screened. If I were to start the project again I would definitely keep a closer eye on what shots are looking like, especially the dolly zoom shots, as the moving dolly makes it hard to get a live feed from the camera. I would also plan more time to brief the actors before we get to location, as I spent a lot of time doing this on set which made it harder to look at the shots from a technical point of you. 

Treatment

Interrogation – Treatment

Interrogation is a story of a young man who has been lead down a bad track by a combination of peer pressure and bad decisions. The backbone of the story is an interrogation of Billy, who is struggling to remember the events of the night before. As the plot unfolds the audience sees flashbacks of the events that happened to get him in this position. There film finished by revealing to the audience that this interrogation has been happening in Billy’s head and he is in fact laid in a gutter.  The plot depicts the struggle that young men have with peer pressure and facing up to the fact that there not a teenager anymore.

The film will open on Billy, who is tied down to a chair looking a dazed and confused. A mysterious voice off camera starts interrogating him and pressuring him to remember the events that have led to him being here. The voice triggers a flash back of Billy at the start of the night in his flat. The scene starts with him greeting his mates at the flat door; at this point he is enthusiastic towards them and appears to be ready for a good night out. When they get into the flat, Ruby is washing up and looks annoyed at the boys. One of Ruby’s possessions is smashed, which triggers a chat between Ruby and Billy, in which, Ruby tries to bring Billy back down to earth and ground him in reality. This is undone by his mates who pull him back towards the ‘fun’ living room. Billy finds himself back in the interrogation room and looks even more tired and his shirt is less clean. The interrogator (still off camera) starts questioning him again, triggering another flashback. We now see Billy at a poker game in which, he appears to have a winning hand and be in a betting competition with another player, who also seems to have a winning hand. We see Billy go all in and as the dealer lays down the flop, he slowly realises that he has lost to the opponent. We then see him storm out of the room, followed by Geoff who is sat to his right. They enter the bar and sit down with some shots to have a heart to heart chat. This ends with Geoff persuading Billy to go out to a club and spend some of his overdraft. We go back to the interrogation and Billy is now looking messed up with rips in his shirt etc. The interrogator is getting angrier now and is shouting by the time Billy plunges into his final flashback. We see him in a club, making his was round a few different girls, before he settles on the girl in the stripy dress and they make their way out of the club and start making out in the alleyway outside. They are cut short by the girl’s real boyfriend punching Harry, knocking him to the ground. We are back in the interrogation room where Billy is realizing what he has done wrong. We emerge back in the alley. It’s now morning and Ruby had found Billy and is reassuring him as he apologizes.

The main style of the film is in the Interrogation scenes as that is the backbone to the story. The lighting on the subject is harsh and the background is in complete darkness to give the impression that he is in a void. A lot of the visual style of the film was achieved using in-camera fx; such as the slow shutter speed in the club scene, which gave the scene a look of drunken confusion. We also used a dolly zoom shot in the casino scene to exaggerate the expression on Billy’s face when he realizes he’s lost all his money. The earlier flashbacks also use a variety of warm gels to contrast with the later scenes.

Our target audience is students or people who have not long since ben students, aiming to encourage make the film relatable to them and, maybe even encourage them to grow up a little bit. 

Promo and premiere

In order to get some feedback from a fresh audience and to allow the cast to see the film we have decided to organize a screening of the film on a big screen with a proper PA system. Phil has produced a promo image to advertise the premiere.

Editing

As Phil (the editor) had his own copy of Final Cut Pro, he was able to get working on a rough cut fairly quickly. Me and Rob did have several meetings with Phil to check on the progress and offer constructive criticism. Unfortunately, Nathan was not available for any of the editing review sessions, so he has not had chance to offer an opinion on the edit. On Sunday 29th April Phil invites us to see the full film with all of his colour correction and effects. We were both taken aback by how well the film flows and how good the edit looks and other than a few minor changes we thought it was ready for a public screening.

Shoot day 3

Me and Harry got to location at about 9.00 and set up the set for the interrogation scene. Rob and Phil turned up about 9.45 and after setting up the cameras we started filming with Harry. This scene was fairly easy to get right as there was only one actor to direct. Phil fed Harry his cue lines of that the spacing would flow well.

Nathan turned up on location at about 11AM, which meant I was able to focus more on directing.

We finished shooting the interrogation scene at about 12, and as Phil had planned the extras from 11.30 they were ready to go straight into the club scene, which was in the same location.

While Harry was removing the fake blood from his face, we set up the lighting which came from a T-bar with some moving disco lights on them.

This coupled with the slow shutter speed on the XM2s gave the look that the scene was clustered and 'club like'.

I called a Rap on shooting at 12.45 and we all had to go to out 1PM lecture.

At 3PM we went back to the location to record the V.O. audio and pack down the equipment. This took about 30 mins.

We then took out main actor to the bar for a quick 'RAP' drink and then took the equipment back to the kit stores before it closed.

Later that evening me and Phil met up in the VFX lab to get the footage off the DV tapes and check the footage in the process.  

Shoot day 2

Due to lateness of the previous night and the amount of time Harry spent to do his hair in the morning, we didn't get to the Hubs till about 9.15, shortly followed by Phil, Nathan and Rob.

We had set up our poker scene by 10.15 and unfortunately the majority of the extras had not shown up. The technical crew at the Hubs had been very kind in setting up some overhead lights in the rig so that we could reduce the amount of lights needed on the floor.

At about 10.30 Phil suggested that we change the scene so that it only involved one poker table and the bar was in the other room. We all agreed that this would work better as we didn't have enough extras to fill the room. The first shot we got on was the Dolly zoom reaction shot when billy loses his hand. Unfortunately, due to the moving dolly it was not practical to have the AV monitor cable connected to the camera, meaning that I was unable to tell whether the shot had worked or not. This proved to be a mistake as, despite 10 mins of practice, and 7 takes Nathan didn't manage to get a smooth shot that was good enough to sell the effect, meaning Phil didn't have a lot of options when it came to editing. The rest of the shots went fairly smoothly, however, continuity when we were resetting was an absolute nightmare, as all the chips and cards had to be reset for every take.

We finished filming the poker at about 13.30 and because we only had the room till 15.00 we had to go straight into the Bar scene.  As we had set up the bar earlier that day we were able to get through the shoot fairly quickly. We had a bit of a problem with the audio in this scene as the bar fridges were very load an appeared on the tape.

We finished filming at about 15.30. During the pack down of the equipment, while Phil went home to get changed and get the stuff for the evening shoot, Nathan informed me that he was going home and was not going  home. This meant that we would be a cameraman and team member down for the second evening shoot in a row.

At about 5PM we went to the alleyway and filmed the morning alley scene. This scene may have been a little bit rushed as there was a rain cloud coming over. We finished the scene just as the rain started, which meant a quick pack down and getting the equipment back into the dryness of the Hubs.

After an evening meal at the Pub and ensuring the main actor had had a few hours break, we met up in the Hubs to brief the actors on the evening shoot before moving to the location.

As Harry Lee is trained in stage combat, he briefed Lawrence on how to punch correctly without the danger of breaking his nose.

When we got to location we did a rehearsal, expecting the making out scene to take a while to get right. We were all surprised at how passionate the kiss looked. So much so that I forgot to call cut.

We finished the scene at about 22.00 and moved the equipment back to Phil's overnight.

Shoot day 1

The day started a little bit later than planned, I got top the kit store at 12.30 to start our production meeting. It was at this point I realized that, Nathan hadn't Pre-booked any of the kit. While we were lucky in the fact that all the kit we required was still available; the performance studio that we had planned to shoot in was fully booked for all the shooting days. This meant we would have to find another location on the day.

Our Lead actor, had rang me up the night before, explaining that he had been required to work in York until 5. This paired with the fact that we didn't have a suitable location, meant that we would have to change the schedule.

Rob turned up at about 1pm; however, kit stores had closed for lunch, so we decided to go to the Hubs location to see if we could use it for a replacement to the performance studio. Phil joined us at about 2pm at which point we headed back over to the kit store to collect the kit.

Unfortunately the weather was absolutely terrible, when we had got all the equipment to Phil's flat (closest to locations) we made the decision that the it was too wet to go ahead with the outside alley shoot.

We decided to bring forward the interior flat shoot. This proved to be a logistical nightmare as all the extras were prepared for Thursday night, and the location had not been prepared. We left it to Phil to sort out the extras and i went home to prepare the buffet for the next day’s shoot.

I got to Phil's for about 6PM, to find him setting up the room for the shoot. Our main actor had been delayed due to the weather so we had a full 2 hours to dress the set and.

When Harry got to the set we quickly briefed him on the situation and then the scene. Having had chance to learn his lines on the train, we were able to start shooting almost straight away.

Because we had to change the scene so drastically I had to think on my feet and direct the actors, while making sure that the changes we were making would still work with the plot of the film.

Due to the late start to the shoot, we didn't get finish the filming till 23.30 and by the time we packed down it was passed 12.

Poker Research

Monday 16th April

Tonight we set up a poker game for the cast and crew; this was largely to teach everyone how to play poker. This proved to be very useful as it ensured the cast could play the game ion a believable way. It also gave us a chance to discuss the best way to film a poker game.

The cash game made us realize how different people play when they are betting with their own money. Even a game with a £5 buy in made people play as if their life savings were on the table. The game ended with Phil (who was £20 up) getting drown into a hand with Lawrence and with a pot of about £40 lost his profit.

Day by Day checklist

Wednesday 18th April

Afternoon Shoot- Interrogation

-2x XM2s

-2x Tripods

-2x Monitors

-1x Dolly

-1x Dodo light pack

-1x Reflector

-1x Chair

-3x shirts

-1x fake blood

Crew roles

Simon- Director

Phil- AD and Sound

Nathan- Camera Operator

Rob- Second Camera Operator

Evening Shoot- Alleyway

-2x XM2s

-2x Tripods

-1x Dolly

-1x Reflector

-2x shirts

-1x fake blood

Crew roles

Simon- Director

Phil-Camera/ Sound

Nathan- N/A

Rob- Second Camera Operator

Thursday 19th April

Morning Shoot- Casino/ Bar

-2x XM2s

-2x Tripods

-2x Monitors

-1x Dolly

-2x Dodo lightpack

-1x Reflector

-3x Poker Tables

-3x shirts

-Bar Bottles

Crew roles

Simon- Director

Phil- AD and Sound

Nathan- Camera Operator

Rob- Second Camera Operator

Night Shoot- House interior

-2x XM2s

-2x Tripods

-2x Monitors

-2x Dolly

-2x Dodo light pack

-1x Reflector

-1x reflect media

-1x shirts

-Set props

Crew roles

Simon- Director

Phil-Camera/Sound

Nathan- N/A

Rob- Second Camera Operator

Friday 20th April

Morning Shoot- Club

-2x XM2s

-2x Tripods

-2x Monitors

-2x Dodo lightpack

-1x Reflector

-1x shirts

-Bar Bottles

-T-bar

-Moving head lights

Crew roles

Simon- Director

Phil- AD and Sound

Nathan- Camera Operator

Rob- Second Camera Operator

//These are the lists that me and Phil came up with in our production meeting in our production meeting on Thursday 17th April and had change slightly by the time we came to shoot

Call Sheets

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Shooting Schedule- as of Monday 16th April

Wednesday 18th April

12.00- meet outside Stores for a final production meeting to make sure all crew are fully prepared

12.30- Collect equipment from stores

13.00- Rob and Phil top start setting up for interrogation scene, while me and Nathan move Kit to location

14.00- Shoot starts with Harry Lee filming interrogation scenes

17.00- Break for Tea

18.00- Set up starts for alley way scene (morning after)

19.00- Alleyway morning scene

20.00-Break

21.00-Alleyway night scene

22.30-End of Day

Thursday 19th April

9.00- Start setting up at Hubs for poker scene

10.00- start briefing actors

10.30- Casino Scene

13.00- Lunch

14.00- Bar Scene

15.00-Break for Rest

17.00- start setting up Phil's Flat

20.00- Flat Scene (int)

22.00- Flat Scene (ext)

22.30- Pack Down

Friday 20th April

9.00- Start setting up club scene

10.00- Brief actors

10.30- club scene

//Times subject to change

Shot List

Scene One

Shot 1 - Extreme Close up on Billy's face

Shot 2 - Medium shot

Shot 3 - Medium (Side) shot, Struggling

Shot 4 - Close up of tied hands

Shot 5 - Close up on Billy's face reacting to door

Scene Two

Shot 1 - Extreme Wide (panning - Right to left) shot

Shot 2 - Wide shot entering the building

Shot 3 - Medium shot of Ruby washing dishes

Shot 4 - Medium shot in front of kitchen door

Shot 5 - Close up of Billy looking at Ruby

Shot 6 - Over shoulder of Billy to Ruby glaring at him

Shot 7 - Close up of ornament smashing

Shot 8 - Medium shot of friend apologising

Shot 9 - Over shoulder of Billy's lines

Shot 10 - Close (SIde) up of Ruby pissed off

Shot 11 - Medium shot of ruby, Billy entering kitchen

Shot 12 - Close up of Billy's lines

Shot 13 - Over Over shoulder of Billy to Ruby

Shot 14 - Close up of Ruby's lines

Cut A way shots

- Guy sitting down, opening beers

- general drinking

- Close up of dish washing

- GREEN SCREEN

Scene Three

Shot 1 - Close up on Billy's face - Dolly diagonal

Shot 2 - Medium Shot - Dolly diagonal reverse

Shot 3 - Close up on Billy's face - Stationary

Scene Four

Shot 1 - Dolly shot following the actors from the side

Shot 2 - Dolly shot from behind showing Billy and the Bin

Shot 3 -  reverse dolly shot with pan

Shot 4 - Wide shot - pan. Actors sitting down, buying in

Shot 5 - REACTIONS (Close ups and Medium shots)

Shot 6 - CHIPS

Shot 7 - CHIP TRICKS

Shot 8 - Hands

Shot 9 - Medium shot of billy pushing in all his chips

Shot 10 - Close up of opponent calling

Shot 11 - Close up on Billy worried

Shot 12 - Medium shot of dealer announcing winner

Shot 13 - Doll zoom on Billy losing.

Shot 14 - medium shot of Blaine and Geoff at the bar, Billy in the background walks towards them

Shot 15 Close up on Billy

Shot 16 - Close up on Geoff

Shot 17 - Close up on Blaine

Shot 18 - over shoulder of Geoff to barman

Shot 19 - Close up of drinks

Scene Five

Shot 1 - Wide angle on Billy

Shot 2 - medium side shot of billy struggling - focus pull to his arm

Shot 3 - Medium Shot of Billy

Shot 4 - hero shot - close up

shot 5 - Close up

Shot 6 - Close up looking down of billy screaming

Scene Six

SHUTTER SPEEDS!

Shot 1 - Close up, dancing - Handheld

Shot 2 - Medium shot -waist height  - Chloe grinding on Billy

Shot 3 - Close up on Billy downing drinks

Shot 4 - Close up on Billy laughing

Shot 5 - close up on Blaine laughing

Shot 6 - Close up on Chloe bum squeeze

Shot 7 - close up on Billy and Chloe close together

Shot 8 - Wide shot, Billy and Chloe appear round the corner

Shot 9 - Close up of Billy and Chloe kissing - focus pull to boyfriend

Shot 10 - Over shoulder of boyfriend walking and punching Billy

Shot 11 - Close up on Billy's face falling towards the ground (Slow mo - high shutter speed)

Scene Seven

Shot 1 - Close up on Billy looking up

Shot 2 - Close up on Billy moving around with him

Shot 3 - Overhead shot of Billy looking around

Shot 4 - Close up of billy looking around

Shot 5 - medium shot of billy breaking free and getting slapped

Scene Eight

Shot 1 - close up of Billy's face being slapped

Shot 2 - Hero shot of Ruby -  close up

Shot 3  - Dolly shot pulling back

Location Scouting

Location Scouting

Hubs

The main location we have settled on for the club, bar and casino scene is The Hubs. I have booked A-Pod as it seemed to be the most suited to the needs of the script. There are several advantages to using this as a location for the film; the room has a full lighting rig with several fixtures and moving lights (which will make it easy to light the scenes, without having to worry about getting lights in shot), i am also trained to use the lights, as well as having contacts in the venue that will work for food :-), the room also has a built in bar on one side, but it’s a blank enough canvas to film the other scenes. 

 The room does have some quite noticeable defects, such as holes in the wall; however, I hope to solve this by hanging drapes over them. The other main problem is that the bar is not set up meaning that we will have to provide our own bottles and drinks etc. to make it look like a working bar.

Alley

We decided that the main aspect that would make the alley suitable for the scene would be the light conditions as we want the scene to be light enough to be seen on camera. Because of this me and Phil waited until it was getting dark and went for a scouting session with Phil's camera. The first alley way we came across was Brown Ln near Hallam Union. This proved to be a lucky find as it was well lit by street lamps and it was out of the way of the main road which would make it easier to film on.

 Most of the other alleys we found were too dark or they were too open which wasn't the look we were going for.

 THE FLAT

As we were having problems finding a house that would be both suitable and available for the filming, we decided we would alter the scene of that we could film in Phil's flat. However, we don't want it to look like student accommodation, so we will have to do a lot of set dressing (and cleaning) to make it look homely.