Tasks to complete before filming

Applying Narrative to Final Idea

Narrative

Our short film will follow a linear narrative structure as it follows a story in chronological order as to emphasise the changes the boy makes every night. By keeping a structure linear it means we can also use lighting to enhance the changes made by the boy which wouldn't come across as clearly with a non-linear structure.

As we are making a horror our narrative will flout Todorov's narrative theory in that there will be no 'new equilibrium' this is due to our film ending on a twist/cliff hanger which suggests more horror in the story but not the plot. However, our short film will start with an 'equilibrium' and move into a 'disequilibrium' but as stated will stay in this 'disequilibrium' for horror effect.

This is common in many horror films and can be linked directly with The Woman In Black especially as the audience is led to believe for a short period of time that a new 'equilibrium' has been been found but then it is revealed to not be true in the last seconds of the film with a simple twist/cliff hanger.

Storyboard

Script

Walking Sleep

by 

Nathan, Emily & Lauren

INTERIOR. HOUSE - NIGHTTIME

Michael sits in his room reading a book with the TV on in the background.

Michael’s Father walks into his room.

FATHER

 “Michael you need to stop reading that stuff, it can’t be any good for you just before bed.”

MICHAEL

“Yeah, yeah…”

FATHER

 “Get some sleep now, its getting late.”

MICHAEL

“Ok, goodnight Dad.”

FATHER

 “Goodnight.”

(cut to black)

Michael is fast asleep. The book falls out of his hand onto his bedroom floor. We see a close-up of his feet as he begins to sleep walk.

Michael walks downstairs into the kitchen, bumping into a glass causing it to fall and smash making a very loud noise, waking Michael’s Father up. 

FATHER

“Michael, what the hell is going on?!”

MICHAEL

“Dad, I have no idea!” 

FATHER

“You must have been sleepwalking again, are you ok?”

MICHAEL

“Yeah I’m fine.”

FATHER

“Come on, get back up to bed.”

INTERIOR. HOUSE - DAYTIME 

The next morning they discuss what happened during the night and the Father tells Michael that he'll lock his door tonight to stop him wandering around. 

FATHER

“That’s the third time this month you’ve been up in the night sleepwalking.”

MICHAEL

“I can’t control it Dad.”

FATHER

“I know Michael, but I don’t want you to end up hurting yourself. I think I will lock your door tonight to stop you wandering around.”

Michael stares into his cereal bowl and takes a couple of mouthfuls.

Michael doesn't feel well enough to go to school but his Father is unsympathetic and tells him to go to school and that he'll be fine.

MICHAEL

“I really don’t feel well, do I have to go into school today?”

FATHER

“No, you’re just fine. Now come on get ready, otherwise you’ll be late.”

EXTERIOR TO INTERIOR. HOUSE - EARLY EVENING

That evening, we see the Father downstairs watching football when Michael comes in from school.

MICHAEL

(shouts) “I’m home.”

FATHER

“Did everything go ok at school then?”

MICHAEL

“It was alright.”

The Father continues to watch the football as Michael runs upstairs into his room to read the book again. 

Clock transitions from pm to am.

INTERIOR. HOUSE - MIDDLE OF NIGHT

Michael begins to bang his head on his bedroom door (in time with clock)?

The Father hears the banging and rushes to Michaels room to unlock the door. Blood is on the door and Michaels head.

INTERIOR. HOUSE - DAYTIME

The next day the father allows Michael to stay off school and leaves him playing video games when he goes to work.

Michael holds icepack on his head.

FATHER

“Right Michael I’m off to work now.”

MICHAEL

“I’m sorry Dad.”

FATHER

“Don’t be, you can’t help it. You deserve a day off, but keep that icepack on your head.”

Father leaves for work and Michael pauses video game and continues to read his book which was hidden under the sofa. 

INTERIOR. HOUSE - NIGHTTIME

That night, Michael ties himself to his bed in an attempt to prevent himself sleepwalking again. Later, we see that he has broken free from the ropes that were tied around his feet.

Michael begins to walk outside and stands on the pavement staring into the road. The Father goes into his room to check on Michael and notices ripped pages all over his room. He then sees him out of the window. Michael turns his head towards the window where his Father is looking at him. Michaels face is expressionless as he is still in a sleep/possessed state.

Car headlights appear in the distance, as they get closer Michael steps into the road. Just as he is about to be hit, his father dives into the road and saves him. Michael wakes up and has no idea what has just happened.

FATHER

(hugging Michael) “We’re going to put an end to this.”

(cut to daylight sky & sparks from the fire)

EXTERIOR. GARDEN - DAYTIME

The Father and Michael are distraught, and decide to burn the book the following day. Michael walks out with the book and all the pages in hand, then passes it to his Father. 

FATHER

“This will put an end to it. You’ll be fine now Michael.”

The Father throws the book and its pages into the fire to let it burn. 

INTERIOR. HOUSE - NIGHTTIME

The Father says goodnight to Michael.

FATHER

“Goodnight, see you in the morning.” 

Michael lays peacefully in bed with an empty table to the side, but his eyes suddenly open at an ECU and he looks to the side to see the book back beside him. 

Applying Film Language to Final Idea

Film Language

In our short film there are a variety of techniques we aim to produce, from focus pulls to tracking shots with a steadi-cam. 

Steadi-cam:

Before shooting, we will practise with the new steady-cam to enable us to get the perfect smooth shots, for example when we follow Michael down the stairs, when we track him we want to capture a fluent shot to reinforce continuity before the disruption takes place within the narrative.

Focus Pulls & Shallow depth of field:

These two techniques will play an important role in our short film as it will reinforce the distortion that Michael is experiencing from the tormenting sleep walking episodes he gets after reading this book that his Father told him to stop reading. It will also act as action and enigma codes as it foreshadows the ending, however, raises questions what he will be doing. 

These techniques link to many horror films, for example James Wan's horror films:

Conjuring
Conjuring 2
Annabelle
Saw

Lighting & Sound Decisions

Lighting

• Lighting will play an incredibly important role in our short film. This is typical of a horror as lighting has to be used in particular ways to generate moods and atmospheres and also to create a certain light on our actors. 

• During our night time interior shots of Michael, we will have a dimly lit lamp to just make Michaels face glow, creating a vignette around the frame, making the scene more dark and eerie, therefore applying the conventions that are needed in order to produce a successful horror short film. 

• To create a dark room we will use our LED light with its orange filter. This will help reinforce natural lighting, making the shot feel more realistic, generating realism for our spectators. 

• During our morning interior shots, we will use our umbrella lights which will help us direct certain light into the correct areas. We will have tests shots to see which direction looks most naturalistic. 

• When shooting our final sleep walking incident outside at night time, we will use just one LED light and also our car head lights to reinforce the shock of when Micheal is seen walking down the road. 

Sound

• Throughout our short film, our dialogue will be fully diegetic within the story world. There are no flash backs included in our narrative. We will use certain websites such as Youtube or Incomptech to research and find the correct sound tracks. 

• However, we are going to create some foley sound effects, for example, during Michaels second sleep walking incident he repeatedly hits his head against his bedroom door (our actor will not actually do this action) but we will re-create a thumping sound effect to make this action more realistic, generating emotions of shock and distress for the young teenage boy. 

Applying Audience to Final Idea

Audience

Our short film targets both genders aged 15-25. Our short film would be typically viewed on real media texts such as Vimeo or Youtube, however, you can also submit your final short film to websites like ShortFilmOfTheWeek which are films that are chosen to be shown on their websites and can even win awards. This method allows young filmmakers step onto the platform of beginning in the film industry. All of these methods to deliver your film to your target audience are a great way of gathering a following, which can lead to further demand of more short films. 

The genre of our film would also attract audiences who enjoy horror, therefore by using typical horror codes and conventions allows our target audience to recognise immediately that it is the genre that they prefer over others, it segregates it from many other genres. 

As our film is about sleep walking, which is a very common habit when sleeping, it generates reliability for our target audience making them feel more connected to our protagonists and to engage with the narrative on a better understanding for those who have not experienced sleep walking in their life.