IB Film Studies Standard Level

In Plain Sight

Production Portfolio

Director

Personal Code: gpz506

Session: May 2018

Rationale Word Count: 98

Word Count: 1182

Rationale:

In Plain Sight is about a group of police detectives working a high profile murder case where must uncover the culprit, only to discover it was one of them all along. Right before Captain Wade’s breakthrough, the killer finally comes forward, robbing him of the satisfaction of solving the case that has been driving him mad. The film explores the the turning of a crazed mind and shows how the deception of a close ally can be earth shattering. This film was loosely inspired by the twist ending in The Usual Suspects and the last scene’s haunting ambiguity.

Word Count: 98

The role I have assumed for this Production Portfolio is director.

Genre Research: Crime Films

In my search for the perfect genre, I decided that a quick paced crime film would be the perfect mix of suspense and surprise. The ending scene in The Usual Suspects was my inspiration behind my production’s twists and turns throughout the story. This inspired the unnerving character reveal at the end of my production, In Plain Sight.

The high energy of the scenes of this film are to be mimicked through my production as the fast nature of crime/thrillers is one of the main draws that an audience has to this specific genre.

Visualization:

I spent a lot of time thinking about how the shot types and composition must adequately communicate the suspicious and mysterious feeling of the production. One scene from The Usual Suspects that I could not get out of my head was when Detective Dave Kujan finally realized who the culprit was. This scene used voice overs alongside rapid shots of evidence to communicate the character’s sudden realization. I wanted to create a similar sequence, letting the audience put things together alongside the detective.

Location Scouting:

One of the hardest locations to find was an alley for the opening scene. It was hard because I wanted it to be filmed in the daytime to show that the killer doesn’t necessarily only strike at night, giving the feeling of general unease, both day and night. This was difficult because a lot of the alleys were too bright and didn’t give off a murder-y vibe. I ended up choosing the one below because the grime made up for some of the brighter colors.

The other scenes are shot in an office which was fairly easy to gain access to.

Casting:

In this film, the most vital character was actually not the murderer, but the Captain of the detective team. He had to have a hard outer shell, but also someone the audience could connect to. One of the challenges for casting was when our actor for the Captain decided he didn’t have room in his schedule and left our film. Because I didn’t want to make a rushed decision for casting such an important role, I rearranged the actors so they played different characters, and left one of the more minor roles open to be filled later.

Production

ActorsThe way I had originally cast the production was extremely different than it turned out. Originally, the antagonist was played by a male, after he decided he could mo longer act in the film due to scheduling conflicts we were not only put behind schedule, but we had to find a replacement. I did not want our rush the replacement process and sacrifice quality, so I reshuffled all of the characters and moved the stronger actors to the main roles and left a supporting role to be recast. However, the antagonist was replaced by an actress, meaning I had to rewrite certain scenes. The dynamic of the production changed for the better because of this. Terri, the new antagonist shows a darker side of the feminine mystique which also adds an element of surprise when she reveals the plot twist, that she is the murderer. I found it best to let my actors roam free with their deliveries for the most part because it made the emotion just that more realistic; in some scenes I even told them to take the script more as a suggestion because I believe that improv is often better than anything I could have planned.

Directing the CinematographyToward the end of my production the amount of close ups increases greatly, this helps create the sense that the main Captain Wade is getting closer and closer to the truth as the film progresses. In the beginning my film looks very realistic using angled birds eye view shots to mimic that of a security camera (fig 2.2) or follow shots to create the feeling that the audience is actually witnessing what is happening in real life (fig 2.3). As the film goes on, the shots become more cinematic. They are shot from odd angles (fig 2.4) that you would never see as a person, and the the sequencing is composed of many close up shots that one would scarcely notice in a real life situation (fig 2.5). I decided that this not only highlights how out of hand the police investigation is getting, but it also communicates Captain Wade’s slow descent into a mental frenzy. The shots are reflective of his mental progress throughout the film and how he starts to view the world around him.

(figure 2.3)(figure 2.2)

(figure2.1)

ShootingDue to previously mentioned casting issues I had to rearrange the original shooting schedule as well. I had to work around the fact that we were down an actor until I finally found a replacement about a week later. A majority of my focus went toward shooting the footage for the montages because those were the most critical element of both furthering the plot and elevating the cinematic language in the production.

(figure2.5)(figure2.4)

Post Production:

After the completion of my production I came to an interesting dilemma: I had created two different endings to the film. In one ending Terri is seen sitting outside of a pub trying to assimilate back into normal life. The camera zooms in on a wall behind her to an old wanted poster (of her) and abruptly cuts to black. In an alternate ending Terri sits outside the pub reading a magazine when an old man walks by, picks up the old poster that has fallen to the ground, and throws it away without a glance; it ends with establishing shots of cars driving down the road and fades to black. While the first ending communicated the shocking nature of Terri’s ability to get away with murder numerous times, I ended up choosing the second ending due to the overall message that Terri’s is just one small story in the grand scheme of time and the world will keep turning whether she is caught or not. It reflects her cyclical nature and the ambiguous ending does the same for her uncharted personality.

Reflection:

One of my biggest mistakes was how plot heavy I made the film; I was trying to cram too much information in such a small amount of time and if I had to do it over again I would have gone a completely different direction. I also regret some of our location choices as I felt the yellows and oranges of the police station seemed too cheery for what message I was trying to send.

In the beginning I was really worried because of all the casting issues and reshuffling of roles but I think it actually worked out for the better as one of my replacement actresses turned out to be the most talented. Overall, I was surprised at my production’s end product quality because we had run into so many unforeseen issues that there were points I felt like the story would get lost in translation from my mind to on screen.

Equipment List:

Adobe Premiere Pro CC Canon Rebel T5i Camera (with lens cap and camera strap) Canon Rebel T6s Camera (with lens cap and camera strap) Canon EFS 18-55mm lens (with lens cap) Canon EFS 18-135mm (with lens cap) Shoulder rig Watson camera battery x3 Sandisk SD card (two 16 GB) Sony tripod Rode video microphone (with two wind busters) Music keyboard