Introduction

I am in group 1 with Pru Carter-Phillips (8128) and Ella Budgett (8120). To view my portfolio evidence please click on the following three labels, on the right, named; A2 Research and Planning; A2 Construction and A2 Evaluation.
Please view our music video for MiraJax - Best Be Believing

Please view our music video for MiraJax - Best Be Believing

Front and Back Digipak

Front and Back Digipak
Above shows the front and back panels of our digipak

Inside Digipak

Inside Digipak
Above you can see our inside panels of our digipak


Please click this image to enter our site

Tuesday 5 January 2016

AS R+P Post 10: Reflections so far/looking ahead

So far, I have enjoyed working with Ella and Flo and feel like we have thought of a solid idea which is not too complicated that it will be impossible to make but not too boring that our audience will have no interest in watching the rest of our film.
We have decided on a main location to film our opening-Flo's house- and taken into account what mirrors we will use in her house (an important feature of our opening).
I feel strongly in our drive to create an opening with social realism-a realistic, hard look at contemporary Britain. This is why we have made our characters have dysfunctional lives and be broken-down people-a popular convention of social realism films. Another convention of social realism is that female characters are shown n a negative light which we chose to also follow. However, I am very keen on our idea to break the social norms that only women are the victims of domestic violence by making our victim the male.
We have briefly discussed the use of props such as beer cans, typical home furniture, stereos etc and costume which will reflect on the middle class values and party lifestyle we are representing (skirts, dresses, sneakers, brands).
We've also created our storyboard and are in the process of creating our animatic based on our storyboard.
I think we need to plan more thoroughly our props, costume, make-up, shot types and setting then we should be ready for filming.

AS R+P Post 9: Our script

Script:
Lola: What the f*ck!
Marlon: Oh, Lola
Lola: Who the f*ck is this?
Marlon: What are you talking about?
Lola: Don't try that shit with me
Marlon: Chill out!

We have chosen to only have dialogue in the argument scene. this is because we feel possible bad acting could effect the film's professionalism/realism. We want our film opening to be as real as possible. 
The dialogue in our script will be shouted in true argument form but will be hardly heard over the booming music at the party. 

AS R+P Post 8: Our opening sequence idea,to include sound and titles

Our opening sequence starts with two title shots showing our distributor and producer (Stealth Films Ltd. and Studiocanal). We will then go straight into a master shot of the party scene. There will be a series of montage fast-pace edited shots featuring friends taking, dancing...doing all the things you'd expect to see teenagers doing at a wild party. Amongst these shots, near the beginning, the audience are introduced to Lola, our main character, in a mirror-motif mid-shot. Lola looks happy and dressed up for the night ahead. As the sequence goes on, the audience are continually brought back to different mirror shots of Lola's reflection; each time she looks less happy and less aware of herself. This will help the audience to understand something's not quite right and make them ask questions-what will happen next? Near the end of the sequence-the anti-climax-Lola sees her boyfriend, Marlon, talking to another female. At this point Lola is completely out of control of her actions and lashes out, punching her boyfriend in a moment of rage. The whole party is shocked and Lola, embarrassed and unstable, runs to the bathroom where she eventually breaks down and cries. We will show continuity in these last scenes starting from the argument to Lola breaking down and will include 2 hand-held camera tracks of Lola walking into and out of the room where the argument takes place.


We chose one backing track for our whole sequence. We felt the song reflected the London music culture of teenagers of our age and older and offers a lot of energy to our sequence. The music  will be played at he same level throughout our opening, stating to play after the 2 first titles (producer and distributor). Then, when Lola breaks down at the end, we will muffle the music and possibly add an 'outside the club' sound effect to create the feel of her being in a separate place to the party.


Titles:

For our titles, we wanted to keep them simple, short and straight-forward in terms of wording but we were thinking about them having a strobing effect where the titles are flashing on the screen to reflect on the party scene they will be run through. We want our titles to be super-imposed instead of being placed in cut-aways. This is so we can keep the montage editing style for our party scene; cutaways would feel too disjointed. 
We did some research on the Art of the Title website and found the opening sequence for Godzilla, a drama/thriller film. Below are some of the titles from the opening sequence which we will base our titles on. We like the wording and style, for example how the "a" and "production designer" is in a smaller font than the names which makes the names stand out more. We also liked the colouring: the white against a black/grey background. The placing of the titles was always in a corner of the screen where it didn't interfere with the main image:this is exactly what we want. 

After this research, we decided our titles will include the following:
  •  Producer and distributor logos
  • 4 character/actor names
  • Director
  • Music by
  • And, the film title


AS R+P Post 7: Our film's title and plot outline

We were inspired by KiDULTHOOD to call our film ADOLESCENTS which reflects on the youth culture focus of our film.


The plot
You are thrown straight into a party atmosphere in the first scene of our movie (what will be our opening). You get a feel for the friendship group and relationship dynamics. The opening focuses on Lola (a girl within the wider friendship group) who is going out with Marlon (another boy member of the friendship group). Things gradually begin to get messy at the party as Lola and her friends get more inebriated...Lola spots Marlon talking to another girl and freaks out, ending up with her punching him in the face. She is quick to realise her mistake and runs to the bathroom where she breaks down crying. Throughout the opening sequence, the audience is brought back to frequent mirror motifs of Lola showing how her emotions and self-awareness gradually deteriorate. The following scenes of the film, which we will not be filming, will feature a mix of sub-stories focusing on different individuals in the friendship group and their day-to-day lives including relatable struggles for our TA f 15-24 year olds. However, the other characters will only be loosely focused on as Lola's story is the main one we want to tell.
Although there is implied drug use in our film and opening, we will not be glamourising this in any way. Lola struggles to stay sane as she feeds her unstable drug infused life while trying to manage school and home life too. She becomes aware of er violent phases (domestic violence) towards her boyfriend, Marlon, and struggles to live with herself as she starts impacting on his mental and physical health. The film ends with Lola's tragic death, possibly caused by a drug overdose but with other factors combined.
Even though our movie has a tragic ending that some people may say Lola 'deserved', we show teens in a bad light as well as offering sympathy towards them-we all make mistakes his doesn't mean we necessarily deserve the consequences.
Effie Stonem from the TV series skins has a very similar life struggle as Lola. Effie finds herself caught up in the party lifestyle taking drugs, drinking and smoking on a regular basis. As she loses those close to her she realises she needs to sort herself out before it all goes pear-shaped. The episodes follow her as she tries to get her life in order.

AS R+P Post 6: Our chosen genre and how we plan to connote this

We were inspired by the movies Fishtank and This is England to portray social realism in our film, being part of the teen drama genre. We want to represent real British life with all its hardships and class values-this comes under the drama genre.
This Is England
Our film will be part of the teen drama genre and will be a British indie film based in London. It will also have elements of romance and coming of age.
To connote the British indie genre, we will use a hand-held camera for some scenes to create more movement which will then create more realism, also connoting the drama genre. The fact that our film will focus on real-life problems and events will connote the drama genre. Our film is based around the lives of teenagers from 16 through to the age of 18 and this is why our film is a teen drama.

AS R+P Post 5: How we plan to attract/address our target audience


The wild party lifestyle will attract our youthful TA as in general, teenagers are thought to be rebellious and keen to experiment with whatever comes their way. Many of the sub-stories our characters will take art in as the film continues, we hope our TA can relate to in their everyday lives. For example, relationship issues, friendship group issues and problems at home.
We want our film to be strong on London culture and this includes music culture in London. The British TV series 'Skins' inspired us to represent a mix of ethnicites and religious backgrounds in our film. We wanted to use this culture diversity in our film to reflect on London's own mix of people.
By using fast-paced montage editing and a hand-held camera for some of the scenes, we think this will attract fans of the indie genre by creating a gritty, modern feel.
The certificate of our film will be a 15. This will attract our TA of 15-24 year-olds.
By addressing the issues around domestic violence and who the victims are, we will attract possible victims or people who have been affected by violence in this way.
Fashion is also important amongst youths so we want to connote this in our film with clothing teens of that age may wish they had or certain styles of characters that become a fashion icon for members of the audience.
I think we have been influenced by a good group of references and made good decisions regarding the ways in which we will attract our audience. 

AS R+P Post 4: Representation of social groups in our opening sequence

We aim to represent a range of ethnicities and genders in our opening sequence and throughout our film. We want our film to be strong on London culture, therefore it needs to show a mix of social groups to achieve this. Although our two main characters in the opening sequence will both be white British, our extras and leading characters in both our opening and full film will cover many ethnicities, social classes and both genders.
Although we will have a positive representation of both genders and ethnicities, we will include an obvious negative presentation of teenagers and young adults. For example, youths will be shown to be reckless and take part in illegal activities such as drug consumption and underage drinking.
We've decided to make the social class of our teenage group middle-class. We feel we can relate to this particular class the best and so, with our normal lifestyles and environments, can accurately represent this social class.








According to data from the crime survey for England and Wales, at least 4% of men aged 16-59 experienced domestic abuse in 2014/15. This is a relatively big figure, however the stigma around domestic violence is that the female is always the victim. We hope to appeal and sympathise to the male audience in this sense, because in one of our sub-stories the female abuses her boyfriend in our film.
                                        

AS R+P Post 3: Our production and distribution institutions

Our chose distributor:

Studiocanal is a film distributing company based in the United Kingdom and Ireland with their 'Studio Canal Limited' studio located in West London. They have worked on many films but are most known for distributing independent British, Irish and American films in the UK and occasionally in Ireland. They have distributed films such as 'Attack the Block' and 'The Awakening'.
We felt this brand would be the perfect distributor to present the British indie themes of our film. Also because of the fact Attack the Block worked so well and follows the same background story as ours-a group of teens who have to go through certain obstacles in life.

Our chosen production company:

Stealth Films Limited (GB)

Stealth Films UK is a London-based production company who has produced films such as KiDULTHOOD and Slackistan. These films are both of the British Indie genre and were filmed on a low budget; this is the same as our film so we chose this production company.  

AS R+P Post 2: Our target audience




Core TA
Our chosen core target audience for our film will be 15 to 24-year-olds. We originally wanted our core TA to be 15 to 19-year-olds but after discussion, we felt this spread of 4 years was too narrow an audience and that our film would appeal to people aged 20-24 also.
Our film is not skewed towards any particular gender; our opening sequence focus' on one of the main girl characters' life but the rest of the film will be equally based on characters from both genders therefore appealing to the male and female audience.
Secondary Audience
The secondary audience for our film will be the British audience. This is because our film is based in London and will be strong on British teenage culture. Our secondary audience are also fans of the British Indie genre because we want our film to show the gritty British indie features we believed worked so well in films such as 'KiDULTHOOD' and 'Girl, Interrupted'.
Certification
We researched 'Girl, Interrupted'-a film containing similar themes to our film-and found that it was classified a 15. We then researched the features of 15 certification on IMDb which state that the use of 'strong violence', 'sexual nudity' and 'drug taking' came under the 15 category. As we have chosen to include these features in our film and believe to use these features the same way they were presented in Girl, Interrupted, we have classified our film a 15.
Tertiary Audience
We wanted our tertiary audience to be domestic abuse awareness campaigners. As our film has a sub-story about a girl abusing her boyfriend, we thought this could appeal to men who feel oppressed by thew usual stereotype that the man is the violent half in a relationship where there is violence. Campaigners or schools may like to use scenes from our movie to show in conferences or assemblies as part of their message.


AS R+P Post 1: How we intend to work as a group

Ella (left), Flo (centre) and Me (right)
Between Flo, Ella and I we have agreed on 6 separate occasions in which our group meetings will take place. This includes: Wednesdays week 1 and 2-lunchtime, Tuesdays week 1-after school, Thursdays week 1-period 6, Thursdays week 2-after school and Fridays week 2-period 1. This will give us at least 2 hours per week (a little more) to plan our project.
Meetings will be held in the Media department.
Our working principles are as follows:

  1. All members should arrive to scheduled meetings promptly and, in special cases, let every other member know and Miss Blackborow if they are unable to attend a meeting.
  2. We should all make sure that jobs allocated to us are completed to a high standard and research is brought along with us to the appropriate meetings.
  3. Lastly, each member should participate fully by bringing forward their own ideas and by playing a keen role within the group to make sure our project is the best it can be.
In order to keep in contact throughout our project, we have created an iMessage group chat where ideas or queries can be shared and acknowledged by the group.