The Killing of Virginia Morse - Movie Review Example

The Killing of Virginia Morse Institution: Name: Date: Introduction The choice on the film I am to shoot came after an extensive research on the major crimes in Australia. Amongst my searches are, Anita Cobby, Dr Victor Chang, Janine Balding and I have narrowed down to Virginia Morse for various reasons that I can identify with. Firstly, the film is based on a true story, Secondly it was set in the country of my origin. Further to this, I have a passion in shooting films which are based on true events and crime stories evidenced from my previous work on a film called Severed that I shot the previous year. Severed inspired this film because of the passion i have in making films based on true life stories, events and true crime stories happening around us and beyond also. The scripts that I make mainly come from the many various researches that I conduct; Most of my researches I obtain or rather get them from reading a number of newspaper articles, and also watching news of which I personally prefer Channel 7 news. I normally do more research to a story that gets my attention by been interesting to me, and thus I intensify my research in a bid to get more insight of the story. This has so far turned out to be a good way for to capturing interesting stories that boost me when it comes to my film making. I was born in 1968 and hence, I can’t recall much of the Virginia’s story since i was young then. I was about the age of 5 years when she got murdered. I remember during my young age times both my parents and grandparents used to tell me a lot about the crime and how the crime was not only a shocking one but one of the worst crimes that had happened in Australia. The murder of Virgina Morse and how she had been killed changed many husbands whom before the happening of this event used to leave behind their wives and kids, as they went for work away from their homes. Not forgetting this mainly happened to those housewives that lived in properties. My passion for films based on true events and stories run through the family since my mother is also a fun of true stories, films and Docos’ also. The passion for true stories is to such a great extent that I even enjoy telling stories that are based on real events that are happening or already happened. Script Under this section, I have recorded any comments that I have received from those who had known or read Virginia Morse’s case. Core Theme I have got the core theme of what to come up in my film from a number of different researches and referenced from the many crimes that had shocked Australia. The Killing of Virginia Morse is outstanding because the story is set or rather came from my country and it is about a mother of 2 young children who was sexually abused by being raped and kidnapped at gun point, the worst part was that she is later killed after undergoing such a horrible incident. It all started when Allan Baker and Kevin Crump bought a .308 rifle to conduct highway robberies on which on their first trial dint prove t be successful as no oncoming vehicles would stop to help them in the faked vehicle breakdown. They ended up murdering Ian James, a complete stranger to them who was sleeping in his vehicle to save on accommodation costs. They wiped off their finger prints from the vehicle and put his body behind his vehicle an covered him with a blanket and was later to be discovered four days later. It was after the first killing that they headed to the home of Brian Morse where one of them had been working as a farm labourer and abducted Virginia, ransacked the house to run off with guns in the homestead and 30 dollars which they used for food and gas along the way. After raping her repeatedly while tying her to a tree, none of them heard her plea to free her but the instead aimed at her in an execution style killing, one of the two delayed and the other shot her on her face, rolled her into river Weir, burnt down her clothes and drove back to their site. Definition of the ideal theme The short film is based on a true story that took place in the year 1973. The story is about a mother of 2 young children who was kidnapped, sexually abused by been raped and later on murdered in November 1973. This crime shocked Australia and many Australians wanted justice to prevail by having a death penalty for the two criminals involved for such an in human and cruel act to Virginia Morse. Visual/ aural reference consulted I have actively been finding, collecting, keenly going through any material that is related to the story so as to getting something capturing, interesting and that will be useful in my film making. In this particular case I have gathered my information from books, theatre, music, films, arts, newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. I have done video sketching from the researched materials and my thoughts and ideas of how i will shoot the film. The above sources are where i got the materials for my research of the story but mainly the internet has been very useful and convenient to me in the making of the film because i have been able to view a video of the interviews done to the husband and the analysis by crime investigators. I have however attached my log book that has all my research that I had found. Process development Process development focuses on the stages of making a film or films; to begin with the 1st stage i have come up with the ideas. Still in the 1st stage writing of treatment is involved which i have followed with drafting of a screen play but this happens after the writing of the treatment is well detailed all this is still done in the 1st Stage. Screen play can be done in many drafts. I know as the A Good Run I have completed around 9 version of the story but i have marked east draft with a number like a Good Run 1st Draft soon after i am happy with the final draft of the script I have then looked into the script before sending the script off to other people for them to give me their feedback on the script. Another thing i have done is to look at when and how to start casting the film by contacting the casting agency or consultants that i need to place ads on casting websites like www.at2casting.com.au or www.starnow.com.au . These websites have given me a chance to observe actors that are good and of great help for my film. Process of pre productions What follows after development is that i have now done a pre-production and this is the stage before i start filming the short film. I have finalized my cast after receiving Bios From agency or casting Consultants or through the online websites and after going through all the applications, i have shortlisted the people i need to contact, either directly or their agents to come in for auditions. I have recorded the auditions so that if need be i can revisit them later on to look at all the auditions before you calling them back for a follow up audition. The follow up audition has helped me to know a lot about the actors into details about each one of the individually, for example i have been able to answer questions such as why i need to include them in the casting of the film. Such questions are well answered after having reviewed the previous auditions. The actors must be good in the following auditions, since stands to be there last chance for them to show me why i should cast the film with them. Like in the first auditions, i have also recorded the follow up auditions to help me choose the best person for the various parts to play in different roles in the film and the one who has successfully qualified.I have finally contacted all the participants to notify them the outcome of the auditions be it positive or negative. After successfully completing the casting for the film i have come up with schedules and budget and looked at the crew that i feel and think i need and after consolidating them, we have signed a contract with all crew members and cast members before i start filming. In A Good Run we have started the rehearsals with all our selected cast 2 weeks prior for filming 2 days in a week, in many other cases you will have lots of rehearsal before you start filming. When I was doing our rehearsals stage block through a few scene in order to get them know how to act on the set when will be having the film scenes. Process production After completion of development and pre production for the film, what follows next is that i started filming by going into production, i have a film on location or studio whereby all the crew and cast are to be present during the exercise which they are required to make the film the best they can. The director on set directs the crew and actors the way i want the final film to look like with the understanding that the director has final say and he stays behind the camera to look at the film being shot. When directing the actors the director blocks the scene before we roll camera a few times the way I want the scene to be after I am happy with the block. I later check things with my crew like DP sound and many others to make sure that every think is in order as per how I want the film to be, We immediately start to shoot once all my crew indicates they are ready and that also ever thing is ok then we do a block through with the camera to get the focus points as well. Once we get the focus points and all sound ready we roll camera to shoot. Once we have finished filming, we each day create backups for all the data and sound into hard drives once we have finished our 4 day filming. I pass the hard drives with all files onto to my editor Michael carter so that he can start his job to edit the film. Process post production After the 4 days of shooting the film and wrapping I have spoken to my composer who did the music for Severed a 2011 short film he later then started composing music for my new film A Good Run then my editor Michael has assembled all the footage and sound files that was done I pass my hard drive over to my editor so he can start working on editing my film. My editor and I, have been communicating via phone and email and I had a few meeting with him to talk about the film and the right way in which I wanted it to be done. He has showed me many versions of the edit and I have directed him in the right direction. My editor is working very fast and I have no problem communicating my vision to him. I have informed him everything the way I want. We have also sat down at school and communicated other things like the areas that i feel require some adjustments. Results test screening/survey I have done the screening of my film in my own thesis class and my specialisation class, each version my editor did and have received lots of feedback from people who didn’t like the topic and they want me to change and go to a different direction with my film. And some students have given me encouraging feedback to tell me they have enjoyed my film. I took some feedback in and I have made the changes but the director had the final say of the way he wanted the film to go in screening of the different version of my film and gave student a chance to give me feedback on it the stage gave me a change to make my film better as these session help me in developing my final film. Conclusion did the film communicate why or why not On completion the film appeared to have been done very well although I could have done many other things to make it shock the audition. According to me I think the film has been done very well I am happy with the outcome and I will keep up the spirit and in my other scene make them eve much more better that is including new things that did not make them to feature in this film. Am also working hard and writing other stories that I hope to film soon so that I can put more of the story that I really want to tell in film form also, but I am totally happy with the short film A Good Run. Work cited http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8wDr7yGrUM Read More

Script Under this section, I have recorded any comments that I have received from those who had known or read Virginia Morse’s case. Core Theme I have got the core theme of what to come up in my film from a number of different researches and referenced from the many crimes that had shocked Australia. The Killing of Virginia Morse is outstanding because the story is set or rather came from my country and it is about a mother of 2 young children who was sexually abused by being raped and kidnapped at gun point, the worst part was that she is later killed after undergoing such a horrible incident.

It all started when Allan Baker and Kevin Crump bought a .308 rifle to conduct highway robberies on which on their first trial dint prove t be successful as no oncoming vehicles would stop to help them in the faked vehicle breakdown. They ended up murdering Ian James, a complete stranger to them who was sleeping in his vehicle to save on accommodation costs. They wiped off their finger prints from the vehicle and put his body behind his vehicle an covered him with a blanket and was later to be discovered four days later.

It was after the first killing that they headed to the home of Brian Morse where one of them had been working as a farm labourer and abducted Virginia, ransacked the house to run off with guns in the homestead and 30 dollars which they used for food and gas along the way. After raping her repeatedly while tying her to a tree, none of them heard her plea to free her but the instead aimed at her in an execution style killing, one of the two delayed and the other shot her on her face, rolled her into river Weir, burnt down her clothes and drove back to their site.

Definition of the ideal theme The short film is based on a true story that took place in the year 1973. The story is about a mother of 2 young children who was kidnapped, sexually abused by been raped and later on murdered in November 1973. This crime shocked Australia and many Australians wanted justice to prevail by having a death penalty for the two criminals involved for such an in human and cruel act to Virginia Morse. Visual/ aural reference consulted I have actively been finding, collecting, keenly going through any material that is related to the story so as to getting something capturing, interesting and that will be useful in my film making.

In this particular case I have gathered my information from books, theatre, music, films, arts, newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. I have done video sketching from the researched materials and my thoughts and ideas of how i will shoot the film. The above sources are where i got the materials for my research of the story but mainly the internet has been very useful and convenient to me in the making of the film because i have been able to view a video of the interviews done to the husband and the analysis by crime investigators.

I have however attached my log book that has all my research that I had found. Process development Process development focuses on the stages of making a film or films; to begin with the 1st stage i have come up with the ideas. Still in the 1st stage writing of treatment is involved which i have followed with drafting of a screen play but this happens after the writing of the treatment is well detailed all this is still done in the 1st Stage. Screen play can be done in many drafts. I know as the A Good Run I have completed around 9 version of the story but i have marked east draft with a number like a Good Run 1st Draft soon after i am happy with the final draft of the script I have then looked into the script before sending the script off to other people for them to give me their feedback on the script.

Another thing i have done is to look at when and how to start casting the film by contacting the casting agency or consultants that i need to place ads on casting websites like www.at2casting.com.au or www.starnow.com.au . These websites have given me a chance to observe actors that are good and of great help for my film.

Read More