River: A2 Media

Empire magazine is well known for it's movie reviews, and this is very much justified. their slick designs mixed with their insightful criticism is the reason they are top of the movie magazine business. Because of this, we have decided to base our own magazine review on Empire's. To the right, is Empire's review on  Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a  movie that I have seen myself and thoroughly enjoyed. However, Empire's take on it was interesting. They have given Star Wars their deserved two-page spread, yet they have not glorified it. They give some honest  criticism while also Being truthful about what it did right, showing the writer is a true connoisseur of movies. We wanted to take inspiration from this and be as honest as possible about our film, while also building hype for it and encouraging people to go watch it. Secondly, this review is very effective visually. Kylo Ren is the prominence of the review, suggesting his importance in the film, maybe a ch...

Our third day of filming was an overall successful day, seeing we got bulk of our scenes done. The weather was better, as it was less windy and there was no rain. It was still quite cold however, meaning we were rushing slightly due to the clothes of the main characters not being too warm. Despite this, we braved the cold and filmed the shots while also recording the audio of the scenes simultaneously. Even though this was not on the first day of filming, our actors still did well to look the same to keep the continuity of the film. As I  was the writer, it was my duty to make sure the cast were saying there lines correctly and with conviction.

This was an easier scene to film, as it was shorter and we weren't effected by weather conditions. It is a short, 20 second scene about the ferry man's interview. It was the perfect room to film in, as it was cramped, claustrophobic and silent, which was perfect as we were trying to capture the nervousness in the room. My role as the writer left me in showing the contrast in the interviewer and Ron in the lines. I did this by giving the interviewer's lines conviction and power, while making Ron's the opposite of this: Nervous and anxious.

We filmed the initial scenes between Ron and Kevin today, which were overall successful. However, there were a few setbacks. It was very cold conditions, meaning it was difficult for our actors to stay comfortable while filming, especially Caolan (playing Kevin) as he only had a hoodie. Secondly, it was very windy, which meant our audio was a struggle. However, this was simply avoided by covering the receptors on the handheld microphone,  which  worked quite well. Although we are unable to film tomorrow and Monday , I'm confident that we will be done filming soon.

Someone else who inspired me when writing the script for River was the English director, Alex Garland. He was the director for one of my favourite films, Ex-Machina, and was recently involved with the Netflix film  Annihilation, which is just as emotional and surreal. What I find riveting in Garland's scripts is the sheer amount of detail he puts into a small part of the screenplay, as he wants to convey meaning throughout, especially in a subtle manner. Something that Garland manages to do in his script for  Ex-Machina  which was inspiring for me was build tension and the change the mood very quickly. In these lines, he establishes a character bridge between Ava and Caleb that Nathan is not connected to, creating a sense of secrecy, thus building tension and suspense. Garland also creates this mood amazingly through the quick, short alternating lines, building urgency and inducing the viewer with fear. This was all possible due to the power of script...

DAY 1 Sunday, 18th March 11am - 4pm Twinbrook, Lagmore John Campbell’s house, Aaron Esteban’s house, Main twinbrook road Main walking scenes, Opening scene in John’s house, DAY 2 Monday, 19th March 11am - 4pm Twinbrook, Lisburn Main twinbrook Road, Ciaran Hines’ house, Matthew miskimmon scene, Amy’s house, DAY 3 Tuesday, 20th March Night-time (9pm) Twinbrook street Drunk scene

Audience is a vital part of any film, as knowing who your target audience is helps you in advertising your film and making it enjoyable. To do this, we made a survey, which entailed questions about age, gender and what you prefer in a film. From these statistics we can see that people from the ages 15-21 are interested in low budget films and films that present death in a different way. These people usually find out about films by watching YouTube, YouTube advertisements and TV, and most people favour surrealism and symbolism within a short film,

Lighting : As a lot of the film takes place outside, some of which may be in the morning (and one possible scene at night), there is a risk of the natural lighting therefore being sub-par. To overcome this problem, we will be prepared to use external lighting if necessary. However, due to this being filmed in March and April, it will more than likely be bright enough during the daytime scenes, regardless of whether they are filmed in the morning or the afternoon. Also, if we do choose to film one specific scene at night, we believe that the street lighting would be sufficient. Weather : Another issue that arises from filming outside is the weather, especially considering the fact that it has been very poor recently, with a lot rain, snow and a below zero temperature, in some cases. To combat this problem we will have to keep up to date with the weather forecast, over the coming weeks, and schedule a date to film where it appears that the weather will be both appropriate for the fi...

Production title River Crew name Crew roles Eoin McCoy Cinematographer Ciaran Hines Writer Aaron Esteban Editor Ryan O’Neill Director Actor name Cast name John Campbell Ron (Ferry Man) Cathal Tierney Interviewer Amy Demeulemester Amy Caolan Plumb Kevin Aaron Esteban Limbo

One of the greatest plot twists of all time is from the film Fight Club. To spoil the plot twists would be breaking the 'first rule of fight club', yet it can be mutually agreed that a plot twist in a film can have an amazing effect on the viewer and is the sign of a well thought-out dramatic film. I tried to replicate the effects of a plot twist in River. Here, Kevin's friend tells him that it was his fault that he is now dead, and that he was not killed, but he committed suicide. This is surprising for a few reasons. Firstly, it becomes apparent to the viewer that the messages of the dead are usually positive, so a negative message such as this evokes sadness and surprise from the viewer. Also, the viewer most likely presumed Kevin to be a morally good character up to this point, however this twist was put in place to try and throw the reader off. After all, it's the element of surprise that usually has the best effect on the viewer. I felt I wrote this plot twis...