One cell or all of the cells in general population?

This is the question posed that is currently giving us a huge headache. We met yesterday to discuss what exactly we are going to do for our filming. Are we going to use one jail cell where the character engage in for the most of their scripts or are we going to have our characters walk around the entire general population and explore multiple cells?

We are leaning more towards using multiple cells because it will add more shots to our film which will definitely make our film more interesting. If we just use one location we feel that our viewer will be rather bored and our film will not unique. But, if we use multiple jail cells and have our character explore all of the general population area as well as other parts of the entire jail and the outside of the jail, then our film will look unique and really catch the viewers attention.

Lighting. Lighting. Lighting.
We need to figure out a way to have lights flicker on and off as well as completely turn off and go into complete darkness for the climax of our film. We have thought about using flashlights but they will not give enough lighting for the exact shot we want. Another option we discussed was the use of a strobe light, only problem is the jail does not have electricity running so the strobe light will not work once plugged into an outlet. Maybe we can find a strobe light that does not require an outlet for power?

We also started drawing up our storyboard in class and so far it is coming along just fine. We are planning on writing the entire script this upcoming weekend, memorizing the script, and finally officially filming over spring break.

We finally went to the location! Unfortunately though, when we went it was too dark to film and the lighting just was not right. On the bright side, we were able to walk around the location and pick a spot where we are going to do the majority of our filming.

The spot we found and chose is near the entrance of the facility. It is an actual jail cell that is located in general population. This is perfect because it is exactly the scenery we want. Since it is in general population that means there are many other cells around it and it will really give our film the typical "jail scene" shot. The area has only a couple of windows so light really does not get in that well. This is exactly what we want. We want our shots to come off as rather dark and gloomy because we feel like it will tie in perfectly with the whole horror genre. 

The general population area is also very ran down. Clearly it has not been maintained since the prison closed three years ago. Once again this lack of care towards the facility is perfect because it makes the prison look obvious that it was abandoned. 

The best part about all of our finds was the fact that our filming location is extremely quite. There are absolutely no movements or creeks. You do not hear a sound and this will allow us to say our scripts clearly and be well understood. The lack of sound also makes our film rather mysterious because the only noise the viewers will hear will be our voices and then finally the villains scream during the climax of our film.

3/13

We are finally ready to film and we plan on going to the location (the prison) this upcoming Sunday. We also received permission to work on the closed grounds of the prison so we do not have to worry about legal issues.

We plan on using a variety of different cameras in order to complete the film in a professional, clean way. The majority of our shorts are going to be done on a camera phone in order to create the found footage effect. We will also incorporate GoPro shots in order to incorporate point of view shots and lastly we will use a professional camera in order to get good quality film in high definition.

All of our group members will be present because all four of us are going to be actors in the film. But, we also plan on bringing a female from our class because she is going to be the villain in our film. As for costume design we are just going to wear normal clothing to really give the audience the feel that the teenagers in the film are normal, curious high schoolers just going on an adventure into a forest not expecting anything unusual.

As for props, we really are not bringing much other than flashlights for lighting.

We have not really decided where exactly the majority of our filming will be shot. We want to enter the prison and roam around it until we find the perfect place to film.

Wish us luck, you never know what you will come across in an area that housed some of the most notorious female prisoners...

3/13

We recently changed the title of our movie to Midnight. The reason being, the film must be fiction and not based off of a real person. We decided to go with the name Midnight because the majority of our shooting is going to be done late at night to really give our movie a scarier feel. The title also hints mystery because it is only one word and midnight is typically when crime is committed as well as unfortunate events. As a whole we came up with the name and we feel it really fits our movie.

We also started preparing for situations that may occur in the event that we cannot film at the desired locations. We researched other locations around the area that our ran down and outdated and so far we have found two locations. The first location is a former camping ground that was demolished by the city. It has buildings that are somewhat standing but have plants and weeds growing all throughout them. This gives the location that natural wilderness look that we are going for. It is also located in the woods so that means we would not have to switch up our story, it would still follow the same exact script. The second location is an old barn located in a rural part of our community. The barn is still in use so it is in good condition but given its old age obviously it has some features that make it seem creepy and outdated. For example, there are tractors that are covered in rust and are missing wheels and there are also farming tools that quite frankly look like torture weapons! Overall we are satisfied with these locations and we plan to go adventure them so we can find out more information on them.

Our movie is going to include a girl, the girl obviously being the villain. We have asked fellow girl friends if they would be interested and luckily we already have picked one. She told us she would be more than willing to assist us and the best part of it all is that she is a drama student so she does have a background in acting and can really make our film look professional.

We came up with the title of our movie: The Curious Case of Aileen Wuornos
We researched information on the Broward Correctional Institution and then started learning about notorious prisoners that were held at the facility during the time of its function. We found Aileen Wuornos who happens to be one of the most feared serial killers in the United States. She was sentenced to death and was rumored to have turned crazy the night before her execution. Alast! We found the perfect person for our movie.
We wanted to make sure we used a person who fits our idea perfect. Our idea being scary, ruthless, and absolutely insane in the head.

Our genre is horror and we were able to establish this by coming up with a story line of three young boys who go on an adventure into a forest and stumble upon the BCI also known as the only female prison in the state of Florida that housed the women sentenced to death row.

The young boys are curious and decide to enter the prison at their own risk.

We still have not fully gotten our story down pact but we more or less know what we want to do.
We want to create a homemade, found footage type feel to our movie and we are going to do this by using phone videos as well as GoPro camera videos.