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Candidate Number - 5343

'The Last Secret' Final film opening

Filming for our film opening

Filming day 1 12/3/11

This was our first day that we began filming for our opening. On that day we did not actually film any footage for our piece but recorded the voice over for Ella. We did this by recording the voice of our young actress and will later put it onto our film to make it look like Ella is talking to her mum even though she is dead. We had her read out each line and had her do each one a couple of times over to make sure we got it and to make sure we had enough to choose from when we edited.

Filming day 2

On this day we began filming the final scene which is set in Paige’s bedroom. We decided to do this scene first and not in running order as we felt it would be a good idea to do a scene that we may need to come back to first as it was our longest scene and a range of different angles and shots. We found that filming this scene ran a lot smoother than expected and we did not face many difficulties. It was the longest scene to film but this is was we predicted and we made sure we gave ourselves enough time to do so. The only difficulties we faced were being able to position the camera in the correct place to get the lighting we wanted. We discovered that different parts of the room changed the lighting that was seen on camera which we later avoided when editing where we changed the brightness to make the shots look continuous.    

Filming Day 3

On the same day as filming the bedroom scene we found that we had enough time to film more. We did not want to waste any spare time that we had and moved onto filming the next scene to get it completed quicker and move onto editing. We decided on moving onto the birthday scene as all the props we needed were ready and felt that it would be a quick one to shoot. We set up the setting to how we wanted by adding balloons, banners, presents and a birthday cake to make the scenario seem realistic. As the birthday part scene was only a flashback there was no live dialogue but only a voice over which we added in when editing. Because of this it was easier to film compared to the bedroom scene as we only had to pan the room to show the environment before and after and also a long shot of Sarah standing with the birthday cake. Initially we wanted to spin the camera around to show the destruction of the party once Nick enters but found this would be too difficult to make look good given the equipment we had. Instead we felt we could achieve an equally effective transition into that shot by adding a transition to make it look as though the shots dissolve into one another.

Filming Day 4

When watching back some of the footage we captured we felt confident with the birthday scene but felt that the bedroom scene could be improved. We could have left it how it was but wanted to make it the best we could and to do that we knew we had to re-film some parts. Before we moved onto filming the park scene we wanted to re-do this one first to get it done with. We re-filmed some parts where Sarah is looking at photographs of Paige as we wanted to get a wider range of shots and also wanted more emotion. We achieved this once we finished filming and felt confident that we had enough choice of shots to choose form when we came to editing.

Filming Day 5

On this day we had to film the park scene which was the second scene in the running order of our film. We made sure the weather was correct for the mood we wanted to create and chose a day where it looked quite dull. It was compulsory that it wasn’t raining as we did not want the effect to be lost by the rain and those kinds of conditions for the cameras would not have been suitable. Instead we settled for a dull atmosphere that reflected how Nick was never there to share the memories with his family. This scene was filmed fairly quickly as all we needed to do was film parts of the park to get the feel as though it was somewhere Paige was playing in. We did this by filming a roundabout moving to make it look like she had just been on it without actually seeing her. By doing this it also gave it a quite eerie feel as by now the audience knows that Paige is no longer alive but her memory is.

Filming Day 5

This was our final day of filming and was also the quickest as we filming the beginning of our opening. Our film starts off showing home videos of Paige when she was younger so for this we filmed a television with home videos on it to get the effect that Sarah is watching back memories of her daughter. This scene we believe was a good way to open our film as the emotion combined with the happy memories is a perfect combination to set the mood for the rest of the film.  

Audition Process

For our film opening it was compulsory to hold auditions. This was to make the decision easier of who to choose to act in our piece but to also try out different people and experiment. Our group had already thought about who would star in our piece before the auditions began so this made it easier. Even though we had this idea we still had to audition others to see if we found anyone else more suited and to also see if the people we had In mind meted our expectations.

The two actors in our piece, Nick and Sarah are both adults. Because of this it would have been more effective to use adults in our opening. We still decided to audition people younger to see if it would still work but when we watched them back we did not feel the connection with someone young talking about their child.

Our final actors that we chose were Olly Young and Ellie Dodwell. Not only were they a similar age and both older than anyone else we auditioned but also had acting experience. We also auditioned people with little or no experience in acting to experiment with different types of abilities and people. We realised when we watched it back that have acting skills was vital for Sarah in particular as she has to be able to show the right amount of emotion when talking about her daughter and looking back on memories.

The decision to choose Ellie and Olly was quite simple as it was clear that they were the better two that we auditioned but also had the right image and age and were exactly what we were looking for the make our opening what we wanted it to be

Comparing our film with films of the same genre

My Sisters Keeper (2009)

The tragic drama film 'My Sisters Keeper' is a film our group frequently associate our film being similar to. We found that a lot of our ideas were similar and the use of certain characters and the ways they came across are sometimes alike.

One of the main similarities with this film and ours is the use of children that results in family conflict and issues. Even though the age of the children is different the impact they have on the storyline is very similar. Also the theme of death is something that links them but the difference is the death in our film is shown at the start whereas in 'My Sisters Keeper' it is kept until the end.

Our film focus's on the relationship between Nick and Sarah and we feel like even though 'My Sisters Keeper' does not use the mother and fathers relationship as a main point it is still something that is touched upon and something we felt was similar. This is shown through the way both marriages are put through difficulties and they both face times where they are close to breaking up and have arguments. The stress that is put on the couples relationships is both down to children but more different reasons as they only want what is best for their children as well as preserve their memory.

The theme of death is something that occurs quite frequently in drama films. Because we are creating a tragic drama we felt it was necessary to include this as other successful film like 'My Sisters Keeper' have used this to make the film altogether more emotional to be able to meet the expectations of a tragic drama.

'My Sisters Keeper' film opening sequence - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS55xHZWzEo

Film trailer-

Similar Screen Shots

These two screen shots from both 'My Sisters Keeper' and 'The Last Secret' are two shots from both film we feel are similar. They are both close up of a young child's face and both of these children are the ones that are the main focus in both films. They are also both home videos and the shot from 'My Sisters Keeper' is used at the beginning of the film which is also like our film as the close up of Paige is used in the first part.

The two screen shots of the mum's in both films is similar as they are positioned in similar positions but also the situation they are in at that point is very alike. They both play the part of a mother who is very emotional and is put through tough times which puts stress upon their marriages. They both try to hide their emotions and put on a brave face for their loved ones but neither can deny their worry and sadness over their children

G321 - Types of people that could star in our opening

Sarah Young

The type of actress that i could imagine playing the role of Sarah would have to be someone who is in their thirties who has a soft look about them and who usually plays quite motherly and loving roles. The character of Sarah is someone that is not threatening but she is very emotional so the actress would have to be someone who could pull of that emotion and be able to portray a stay at home, ordinary mum who is dedicated to her children

Actress 1 - Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts is an actress who would suit the role of Sarah perfectly as she is the correct age and also plays similar roles. She is well known for acting in many drama's and often plays a down to earth character with a kind nature. She has also played the part of a devoted mother in the film 'Erin Brockovich' (2000). Because of this she would easily be able to pull off being a loving mother and would be able to bring across the correct emotion.

Actress 2 - Keri Russell

Keri Russell is the kind of actress who would be able to pull of the character of Sarah perfectly. In most of her roles she plays a likable character who comes across as being caring and never the villain. In 'August Rush' (2007) she plays the role of a mother who is desperate to be with her son again. This is a very similar role to what we are aiming for as she portrays a loving mother well in this film so would be perfect as Sarah in our film. Also is 'Extraudinary Measures' (2010) she plays yet again another role of a typical mother who would do anything for her children. This is exactly how we want Sarah to come across. Her look also matches our expectations as she is the correct age and would pull off the look of a typical mum who is grieving over her daughter

Actress 3 - Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock portrays a caring mother in the film 'The blind side' (2009) which is the type of character we want Sarah to come across as. In this film she is not only a devoted mum she is very independent and strong. This is how we want Sarah to be but we want to show how without her daughter her life is beginning to crumble as her children are her life. Sandra Bullock is also her perfect age for Sarah and would be able to play her character well as she has experience in acting in drama's were emotion is involved.





Nick Young
The type of actor who would play the character of Nick would have to be someone very involved in their work and very professional. Hes not necessarily the villain but he holding back what he thinks and isn't being there for his wife like he knows he should be. It should be an actor who is not associated in playing romantic roles as in our opening he certainly isn't loving towards Sarah. He isn't aggressive towards her or a threat but he just isn't the typical role of a husband but as time has passed and the family falls apart the gap between them has got further apart without control. Because of this his characters would have to be quite serious but also the audience should be able to feel sympathy towards him in certain parts.

Actor 1 - Clive Owen

This actor is someone who could play the character of Nick well as he has played similar roles in other Drama's. He plays the kind of characters where he is likable yet can be serious when he wants to. 'The boys are back' (2009) shows Clive Owen playing the part of a single father. In our opening even though he does not feel as though he can show his emotions he is still a father and no matter what loves his children but just struggles to come to terms with finding out that Ella is not his. Clive Owen portrays the typical father who would do anything for his children and in other films often plays the typical business worker which is the kind of character we want Nick to be like.

Actor 2 - Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg is an actor who often plays roles that portray quite a tough character who is very strong minded. He has a good image and age that fits the role of Nick and has also played varies roles of father like in 'The Lovely Bones' (2009) and 'The happening' (2008). These roles show him as a naturally loving father but also concentrates on other matters. We want Nick to come across as though he is not bad and actually loves his children but is afraid to show his emotions and struggles to open up due to the discovery he has kept hidden from his wife. He plays characters who are usually lead independent roles which is exactly how we want Nick to be as he is now seen alone without the connection he used to have with his wife.

Paige Young
The type of actress that would play the part of Paige would have to be someone young and have the kind of image that we have created for her. Even though her character is only seen through flashbacks she is still the focus of our film making her an equally important part which would mean her actress would have to suit the role. She would have to have a sense of innocence about her and have a youthful look that shows her as a vunreble young female. It is vital that she has an innocent lok as we need the audiance to feel sympathy for her.

Actress 1 - Elle Fanning

This young actress is perfect for the part of Paige as she has the exact look we are looking for. Her blonde hair and striking features make her appear angelic and innocent which is what we are after. When researching  the films she has starred in she tends to play the type of child that provides the emotion as she is the one put through the stress or conflict. 'Phoebe in Wonderland' (2008) shows her as a young girl who faces mental health problems therefore is put through strain and provides the film with emotion as you follow her through her struggle in trying to cope but also acting obvlivious to her problems. Because of this her family also suffer. This is something similar to our film as the family in our film are also put through difficult situations because of thier greif over loosing thier daughter. 

G321 - My sisters keeper opening sequence titles timeline

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS55xHZWzEo

0.01 - 0.03  - Nick Cassavetes (Director)
0.07 - 0.10 - Cameron Diaz (Main actress)
0.16 - 0.18 - Abigail Breslin (name appears once the speaking starts - actress to the narrative voice)
0.23 - 0.26 - My Sisters Keeper (Title of film)
0.32 - 0.35 - Alec Baldwin (Smaller characters appear after the title and after the two main roles)
0.37 - 0.39 - Jason Patric (Actor name)
0.40 - 0.43 - Sofia Vassilieva (one of the main actresses)
0.46 - 0.56 - Other names of minor actors and smaller roles
1.02 - 1.05 - Costume designer
1.09 - 1.11 - Names of who music is by
1.13 - 1.15 - Co-producers
(Carries of with names of executive producers)
1.51 - 1.53 - Based on the novel by Jodi Picoult
1.55 - 1.58 - (Produced by...)
2.00 - (Screenplay by...)
2.05 - Directed by Nick Cassavetes


The titles that appear in this opening sequence are in some ways different to what is usually seen in an opening. Typically in films the name of the director is something that appears last and in this opening it does but also is the first name that appears at the beginning. The title of the film  appears quite early on which is something that is seen frequently in opening so it is something to consider when editing our opening. Also the running order of actors and actresses is in order of which actors are the main ones and which are more minor roles. The main actor or actress will usually appear first followed by other other main roles and is then followed by the title of the film. This is shown in this opening and then carries on with stating the names of smaller characters in the film. I have also recognised that the names of the screenwriter and producer come after the names of the actors which is something that should also be considered.