Research and Planning


Hello... it's that time again!

Hello and welcome to my A2 Level Media Blog for the G324 coursework project. My name is Jordan Sollof and I'll be showing you my journey throughout the course right here! That's right, I'm back for one year and one year only! Last year at AS Level I achieved an A grade in Media Studies, which I was very proud of, however this year I am aiming for an A* as I am always looking to improve and be as successful as I can possibly be.

KEY
- Anything I go back and add or change will be in RED
- Any key words or terminology will be highlighted in GREEN
- Any chunks of  text in blue is simply the blog being weird, just imagine it is black! 
- Look out for lots of personality! I'm talking GIFs, including of me!
- Oh and there'll be some jokes and lots of other surprises along the way!
 (I couldn't make it boring could I, you have to look at loads of these blogs!)

11/09/17

Let's get ready to ruumblleeeeeee



Today marked the official beginning of the A2 Level G324 coursework! This year, we are required to create a 5 minute short film, which can be any genre and must show a clear beginning, middle and end. Once again, using a blog we must have a detailed research and planning section along with an evaluation. However, this year we must also complete two ancillary tasks - completing a film review and creating a film poster. Overall, I am very much looking forward to embracing the challenge ahead and I will work incredibly hard to achieve my desired grade.

Amazing group!


In today's first lesson on the coursework, after we were clear on what we had to do, we were put in to our groups for the project. I was put in to a fantastic group, full of media talent, consisting of Leonardo Gilbert, Cameron Currie and Maddy Ross. I was over the moon with my group because I know that we are all very good at media and will work hard collaboratively on our short film to produce a great piece.


Here's a lovely picture of my group! Unfortunately, Cameron (left) and Leo (right) were not looking at the camera, however their faces are still extremely beautiful! We're going to be great together.

RANDOM JOKE: Uncle Ben has died. No more Mr Rice guy...

Research on other people's blogs (for inspiration!)

In order to enhance my understanding of what I am exactly required to do for the G324 coursework project this year, I researched the blogs of last year's A Level Media students at Debden Park Sixth Form. This research enabled me to understand what a low level blog looks like and things to avoid doing. It also enabled me to understand what a very high level blog looks like so I know exactly how much work I must do to achieve the very top grade that I am aiming for.


I used this page to access all of last year's media blogs. It is my media teacher's (Mr Kalogirou) blog and this was a very useful source to enhance my understanding of what the blogs should and shouldn't look like.

The important points I picked out are highlighted !
Blog 1 - Hamza Murtaza
Positives:
  • The blog is neat and tidy - well presented
  • Shows a decent understanding of the task through his writing and the pictures
Negatives:
  • The blog is short and fairly simple
  • Does not look like much effort has been put in to the blog
  • You cannot see a clear journey from nothing to a finished 5 minute film - needs dates
  • The blog needs a lot more personality
I rated this blog a 2/10 because it is evident that not a lot of effort has been put in to it and I have been reliably informed that Hamza deservedly did not achieve many marks, especially for the Research and Planning section.

What I learnt from this blog: I learnt that in order to achieve high marks, I must show a clear journey in detail from starting with nothing and finishing with a fully completed 5 minute film, along with all the research and planning and evaluation. This blog is an example of what not to do as I will not achieve the grade I would like if I don't put in lots of work and effort.

Blog 2 - Ebony Palmer

LINK - Link to Ebony's A Level Media blog from last year

Positives:
  • Very clearly presented
  • Shows a clear journey
  • Concise but shows lots of effort and dedication
  • Clearly highlights where she has gone back and made changes, showing a journey
  • Evaluation answers are clear and well thought through

Negatives:
  • Needs a bit more personality
  • Parts of the blog could be more detailed to show better research and planning
I rated this blog an 8/10 because you can clearly see that Ebony has put lots of effort in to the project and her research and planning section is very good. Although it may not be incredibly long, it is concise, to the point and pretty much ticks all of the boxes needed to get a high mark for the blog. This is a great example of what a blog should look like and I hope my blog will be as good as Ebony's, if not even better.

What I learnt from this blog: I learnt that clearly showing that I have been through a journey from beginning to end will get me the high marks that I am striving for. Ebony demonstrated a great understanding of the overall task and put in lots of effort, which paid off as she achieved high marks for her blog, and this motivates me to put in that effort in order to get the marks I want.

Blog 3 - Charlotte Holland

LINK - Link to Charlotte's A Level Media blog from last year

Positives:
  • Very detailed blog which shows that lots and lots of effort has been put in
  • Lots of creativity in the presentation of her work on the blog
  • Shows a clear journey from nothing to a finished article - has dates to show progress
  • Has shown where she has gone back and changed or added something
  • Lots of personality on the blog - it is not generalizable
  • Strong, create evaluation answers
Negatives:
  • None that I can think of! It's a brilliant blog!
I rated this blog a 10/10 because when looking through it, I can't really fault it. Charlotte has evidently put in a tremendous amount of effort and produced a fantastic, detailed blog, especially the Research and Planning section which is amazing. This blog is a perfect example of what I must do in order to achieve what I want.

What I learnt from this blog: I learnt exactly what I must do to have a very high level blog that will get me my desired grade.

Research on short films (I want my short film to be better than these!!)

Important points are highlighted !

Film 1 - Brent:



Positives:
  • There is a clear narrative which is easy to understand
  • Some of the cinematography is superb
  • The sound adds to the tension and is well-selected
  • Overall, the film seems professional and is executed well
Negatives:
  • Some of the acting was a bit flat
  • At times the film could be considered quite boring
My Overall verdict: I liked the film a lot and I was really engaged. From watching this my verdict is we must have perfect sound that really fits our narrative as this is what draws in the audience and makes a film so great.

Film 2 - Tick Tock:



Positives:
  • Very original narrative which was engaging
  • Clever camerawork and although not a simple idea, it was quite easy to follow
  • The heartbeat sound effect was brilliant - it really added to the tension created
Negatives:
  • Having to read subtitles was a bit annoying - but that's just being picky!
My Overall verdict: The film is very original and I was fascinated by the fact that every happens backwards and time is going backwards. The sound was good, especially the heart beat effects, and this gives me inspiration to create a short film that is out of the ordinary.

Film 3 - The Choice:



Positives:
  • The film is believable and seems quite professional
  • There are some good bits of cinematography
Negatives:
  • The narrative was too cliché - typical American kind of film
  • It was too expected and not original enough
My Overall verdict: This was probably the weakest short film I watched and researched because I just knew what was going to happen and it didn't engage me enough. My verdict is that this film has helped me realise that my short film must be engaging and original so that my audience do not know what will happen next.

Now to start thinking of potential ideas for the short film!




My Idea (this has the potential to be a corker!)

I thought it was a good idea to think of my own idea just to get me in to the rhythm of A Level Media and potentially share the idea to my group if I felt it was worthy. My idea centres around a young boy who keeps waking up at 3am every night, no matter how much he tries to stay asleep or be awake in the lead up to this time. His parents take him to the doctors and the doctor prescribes him medicine that should keep him asleep for 8 hours. However, to everyone's surprise the medicine does not work and the boy still wakes up at 3am. The parents take him to a specialist to have him checked, and when asked to take his clothes off, the parents and specialist see a number 3 imprinted on the bottom of his feet and on his lower back. They are alarmed by this as it is at 3am that the boy wakes up every night. The specialist asks to watch the boy for an entire night to see the activity, which the parents agree to. When watching the boy, at 3am the specialist sees the boy move and wake up, however when the specialist goes over to the boy it is a different face, one that is older and more evil. The specialist is killed and the face changes back to the boy. The film ends with the specialist dead on the floor and the little boy staring at him, trying to talk to him whilst crying.

- Funny story... I opted not to even share this idea with my group because there were already even better ideas floating around! Oh well, the idea wasn't up to my standard anyway.

18/09/17


Here we go... its time to start discussing potential narrative ideas as a group! I have to admit, at first we struggled to really come up with some good ideas, however we used Leo's initial idea of a lucid dream and along with another idea about a man trying to find his real family to come up with two main ideas:

1) Lucid dream - based on a man who has lucid dreams to relive happy memories with his late wife

2) Into the Wild - based on a man who finds out he belonged to a different family (a tribe or something along those lines) and goes searching for his real family

Idea 1 - Lucid Dream


Let's make this more creative!

I have decided that after thinking about this narrative for a few days, just a brainstorm roughly explaining it is not enough, and I therefore created a fun, creative video to explain the narrative. Here it is:



  
I decided to make a video to talk about the good and bad of the idea (I even used an umbrella here so it really is a must watch!)



Idea 2 - Into The Wild


I have decided that after thinking about this idea for a few days, just a brainstorm roughly explaining it is not enough, and I therefore created a fun, creative video to explain the narrative. Here it is: 


   
I decided to make a video to talk about the good and bad of the idea (this time I used an inflatable microphone but that's just as exciting as an umbrella). Enjoy!



22/09/17

Our final narrative is getting closer!!



After much deliberation we decided that the Into The Wild idea was the best because it is more original and less cliché. A narrative along the lines of the Into The Wild one is certain to raise eyebrows and engage an audience! Here's an updated brainstorm of our latest ideas for this more finalised narrative:

As we decided to go with something closer to the Into The Wild narrative, we got together and spoke about our ideas, which were a little more finalised. (And would you look at this group chemistry - brings a tear to my eye it really does)



23/09/17

Saturday Night Group Bonding... how nice


Through the power of Skype (what would the world be without it!) the four of us enjoyed a Skype call lasting 1 hour, 55 minutes and 6 seconds! In this time, we had great discussions about our narrative, finalising exactly what happens so that we were all clear of what the basic beginning, middle and end is. I must say though this is not completely final, as you know anything can change throughout this journey that we are on together (that sounded cringey but its true!)

I created an audio of myself explaining our most up to date narrative thus far, enjoy!



24/09/17

Genre Research - what a drama this could be!

I thought that it would be appropriate to research our chosen genre for our film. As a group we decided that after coming up with our narrative, our film will be a drama, with the sub-genre of political drama. We were certain that we did not want to create another thriller, as we have done this in Media in year 11 and year 12 and wanted to do something that we hope is different to everyone else's.

Want to find out more about the drama genre? Your wish is my command!

The purpose of a dramatic storyline is to move the audience emotionally. Drama films depend mostly on realistic characters dealing with emotional issues. In most cases the film concentrates on normal characters that are dealing with a conflict or dilemma. Dramas often give actors a chance to stretch in to a role that other genres wouldn't allow them to do. This is because drama movies focus on building up characters that the audience can engage with.

Conventions of Drama films:
  • Portrays a character's journey and development
  • Exhibits real life characters, situations, settings and stories
  • Intense social interaction
  • Dramatic sounds and exaggerated performance
  • Based on human emotions

Additionally, with political dramas, one of the main factors is that is must be based around either politics, the government, or controversial topics!


Our film is based around the controversial topic: Should prisoners be tested on instead of animals?
Common characters in Drama films:

For my film, it is not so much a stereotypical drama in the sense that we do not have a clear protagonist and antagonist. At first, we hope our audience will believe that Gary is the protagonist and Lucy is the antagonist, as she is the one that seems to be sly and is doing something secretive behind Gary's back and lying to him throughout their relationship. However, as the narrative develops their roles reverse, as the audience find out that Gary was in fact a paedophile and he becomes violent towards his wife, making him the antagonist. Lucy, although was doing something very secretive, was only part of the program to do her job and essentially do a good deed in giving a disgraced human being a second chance to live a happy life, therefore now making her the protagonist. We do not believe that we have a helper/best friend because The Observers do not really assist anyone, except Lucy when she presses the panic button. The observers are simply sly characters who work for the government higher up than Lucy.

Let's now look at four key areas within media and film, and relate it to the drama genre and my own film! (sounds fun doesn't it)
P.S. My examples are not necessarily drama films, however they show exactly what we intend to do!
Mise-en-scene:

In drama movies the Mise-en-scene helps to establish and highlight characters' personality and emotions. Lighting is usually natural lighting or very low key lighting which draws attention to the characters' faces, helping to maximise the effects that the facial expression have on the audience.
- For our film we will use natural lighting to hopefully create a realistic feel to the film to help draw attention to our characters' emotions in some scenes, for example in the argument scene between Gary and Lucy.

Real Film Example: The Revenant



Sound:

A large proportion of sound used within the drama genre is diegetic because this type of sound creates ta very natural, believable atmosphere in the films, as both the audience and the characters can hear the sound and then react to it. This causes the audience to feel as if they are submerged in the film as they can react with the characters. However, non-diegetic can also be used in drama films to help develop or enhance a specific emotion displayed in a scene. This can be orchestra style music, as this music can almost pull on the heart strings and trigger a range of emotions for the audience. 

- In our film, we are continuing with the idea of more of an anti-stereotypical drama, where we are unlikely to use much, if any diegetic sound as we feel that it would not trigger enough emotion from our narrative and would therefore be quite futile. Instead, we are going to select some perfect non-diegetic sound tracks to fit what the audience will see on screen, making them feel how our characters feel.

Real Film Example: Jaws



 Cinematography:

In the genre of Drama, films commonly consist of several different shots, particularly close ups, reaction shots and medium shots, to portray the characters' emotions and clearly display the reactions of different characters. These sorts of camera shots are incredibly engaging as they help enhance the emotions and feelings of the characters, helping drive the film's narrative. Normally, the cut length for each shot varies. Long takes can be used to assist the audience in focusing more on a single character, however if there happens to be more than one character present in the scene, cuts will occur a much quicker to help the audience quickly feel the emotion of all the characters in the scene.

- For our film we are likely to mostly use simple shots to highlight our main protagonist and to help give the audience subtle hints towards the story line. Also,  when the camera is on the protagonist, we will probably take longer to cut as we would like our audience to be completely focused on the main protagonist, as this character is at the heart of the storyline.


Real Film Example: Pulp Fiction



 Editing:

Editing in drama films is usually used to expose the emotions of characters when they are deep in conversation or reacting to a conversation, as normally emotion can drive a drama film, thus by using these methods it will enhance the emotions and will therefore ensure the narrative is more engaging for the audience. Furthermore, continuous editing can be used to create a more natural feel to the scene and help the audience feel like they are part of the scene. This will make them enjoy a film more and ensure the success of a film.

- In our 5 minute film, we want emotion to be a key part of our narrative and a key factor that engages our audience. We hope that the feelings and pure emotion  of both Lucy and Gary Henderson (our two interchanging protagonists) will add to the tense and dramatic atmosphere created, so we are very likely to include close ups, reaction shots and long takes to help display the clear emotions of our protagonists. Additionally, we hope to use continuous editing during the argument scene between Lucy and Gary  in order to ensure our audience feel submerged in the scene, as if they are a part of our narrative, which will increase the likelihood of them being engaged in our film. 

Real Film Example: The Wolf of Wall Street

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25/09/17



RANDOM JOKE: This farmer said to me "I've got 68 sheep, can you round them up for me?"
I said "Sure... 70"    

Come on you know you chuckled a little at that one!

Character Research

Gary Henderson:

The three characters that I researched that have similarities to Gary Henderson are:
  • Liam Neeson - Unknown
  • Leonardo DiCaprio - Shutter Island
  • Brad Pitt - Se7en
I created a fun video to explain my character research for Gary Henderson:


Lucy Henderson:

 January Jones - Unknown:




 Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl:


 Angelina Jolie - Mr and Mrs Smith:

I created a video to explain the links between my character Lucy Henderson and these three female characters pictured above:


The Observers :

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith - Men in Black:


The Observers are a pair of characters who are not particularly inspired by anyone, however the closest inspiration would be to Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as the Men in Black. This is because like the Observers, the Men in Black are secretive but powerful people who work for a very large organisation. The Observers are part of the government that work on experiments to wipe the brains of criminals and give them a second chance to live as good, respectable people. The Men in Black deal with aliens where as the Observers deal with the government and humans. Take out the alien bit from the Men in Black and then you've got two pairs of very similar men! 

Treatment (First Draft - so don't expect it to be perfect!)

It is the year 2025, and LUCY HENDERSON (Maddy Ross), a 38 year old blonde woman who secretly works for the government, is talking to two unnamed characters, known as THE OBSERVERS (Jordan Sollof and Cameron Currie) in front of a coffee shop. The two unknown characters cannot be seen, only the back of their heads are visible. After the conversation between these three people end, they walk away, leaving Lucy to bump into GARY HENDERSON (Leonardo Gilbert) . A couple of years later, they are all loved up living happily as husband and wife. The day before Lucy's Birthday, Gary takes the day off work to prepare for his wife's Birthday. He expresses his cheesy, romantic side by creating a collage of all of the great memories he has shared with his wife. However, he begins to realise that there are similar faces in the backgrounds of these pictures. He questions Lucy but she keeps trying to avoid the subject and talk about something else. Later on, Gary continues with the collage and comes across a file, with his name and face on it and discovers that he was a paedophile. He challenges his wife about this and she begins to tell him the truth; that she works for the government and he is part of a program that aims to wipe people's memories and give them a second chance to live life as a good person with a new identity. This infuriates Gary and he attempts to be violent with Lucy and tries to attack her. A loud banging on the door can then be heard, and when Gary opens the door, The Observers are standing there, looking very serious. It then cuts to black, and in the next scene The Observers are talking to Lucy about the next person that she must pretend to be in love with. The final shot of the film matches the opening shot with Lucy stood in the middle of the two Observers talking to them about their next target. 

Narrative References
As a group, we felt that there were four films or TV shows that jumped out at us as ones that had narratives that are in some way similar to ours. We definitely took some inspiration from these because they are unique and just so great! The four narratives that you can draw links to our current narrative are: Black Mirror: Shut Up and Dance, Gone Girl, Shutter Island, and Memento. I will now go into more detail for each one, talking about how they link clearly to our narrative:
Black Mirror - Shut Up and Dance:
The first film/TV show that inspired us was Series 3 Episode 3 of Black Mirror, a British science fiction anthology series. This particular episode is called 'Shut Up and Dance' and it is partly shares our narrative, but with obviously different types of characters and various changes to the narrative and many other elements of the show.


This final scene of Shut Up and Dance from Black Mirror, is where all the victims of blackmail get 'teased' by the anonymous character who is blackmailing them, including the protagonist who gets sent a 'troll' face. This scene has a unique, eye-opening twist because for the duration of the show right up until this end scene, you feel quite sad and sorry for the male protagonist Kenny (Alex Lawther) as he is being very brutally punished for watching adult footage (that's what everyone assumes...) However, it is revealed that he was in fact watching underage children and masturbating, creating a very controversial,  but also engaging big twist within the show.

This episode of Black Mirror inspired my group and I because we felt that it would be great to include a surprising plot twist involving the audience feeling sorry for our protagonist for the majority of our short film, before them finding out some darker things about him. In our case, the protagonist plays an innocent man who is the victim, before it is revealed that he was a paedophile earlier in life and is involved in a government program.. This really engages an audience (as we saw with a similar plot in Black Mirror) and ensures that a film or TV show is memorable.
Unknown:
Another film/TV show that inspired my group was a film entitled Unknown. This 2011 British-German-French psychological thriller action film is based on protagonist Dr Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) who after being in a bad car accident, loses some of his memory . His wife does not recognise him and another man his using his identity, with secret assasins hunting him. His wife seems to be secretly working undercover against her husband. Here is the trailer to the film:


In Unknown, the protagonist's wife seems to be working undercover against her husband, which is exactly what happens in our narrative as Lucy Henderson is secretly part of a government program, and is deceiving her 'husband' Gary Henderson. The wife in this film possesses the traits that we intend Lucy Henderson to have - that being blonde hair, blue eyes and quite a serious malicious look. Overall, this film inspired us quite a lot and there are clear links between our narrative, and the one employed in this picture.

Shutter Island:

Shutter Island is another film that definitely inspired us when creating our narrative. This film is based on protagonist Teddy Daniels (Leonardo Di Caprio) and his new partner who investigate the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando in a mental hospital. Teddy has to realise his dark past and who he really is, in order to leave the island and return to the mainland.



This was a very influential film for us because we absolutely loved the idea that the audience believe a false narrative; that Di Caprio is a detective trying to solve a case when actually it is all a trick, and he is in fact one of the most dangerous patients living out something close to a hallucination. We have decided to pretty much use this same idea, by showing our protagonist as seemingly a very normal man and in somewhat the victim of the storyline, when in fact everything around him is false and he is simply part of an experiment. There are clear similarities between the two narratives and the two protagonists.

Gone Girl:

We were inspired a little by the film Gone Girl but maybe not as much as the other films. Amy wants to take revenge on her husband as he cheated on her, so she disappears and frames him for the murder of herself. In order to get revenge, she must come up with an elaborate plan by pretending to be in love with him whilst planning her revenge.



The narrative for this film is similar to our narrative in the sense that like Amy decides her husband and pretends to be in love with him, in our film Lucy also pretends to be in love with Gary so that he doesn't find out about his dark past. She secretly works for the government and is part of a program. This secrecy links to Amy's secrecy of her plan to disappear and frame her husband in Gone Girl.

In the words of the great David Bowie... Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!


I decided that the films we looked at for our narrative research were too mainstream and I thought, why not look at smaller, more independent and personal films? So that's what I did!

After Life:

I was quite inspired by the 1998 Japanese film After Life, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. It tells the story of how newly dead people must select one single memory from their life to keep with them eternally in heaven, and their memories of everything else in their life are completely wiped. Therefore, a key theme in the film is memory loss, which links strongly to my film. Here's the trailer:


This film links strongly to my film because both narratives are clearly related to the idea of memories being wiped. In After Life, the newly dead people go to a place just before heaven, where they can choose to keep one memory eternally, and have the memory wiped for everything else that happened in their life. In my film, the protagonist Gary Henderson has his memory wiped after being convicted as a paedophile, as part of a new government program, so that he can start a fresh life with a new identity. I have learnt from the Japanese film After Life that including memory wipe in a film does work as it adds tension to a narrative and essentially fuels it.

Anastasia

Another film that I felt inspired me and linked to the narrative of my film was the 1956 American historical drama film Anastasia, directed by Anatole Litvak. It is about a female amnesic, who is convinced that she is Princess Anastasia, the only member of the of the Romanov family to escape assassination by the Bolsheviks. Once again, the idea of memory loss and being convinced that you are someone lese links very much to my film, in particular my protagonist. Here's the trailer:


The protagonist in Anastasia is described as a "puppet" in the trailer, as it is a group of men who kidnap her and make her believe she is someone else. My protagonist, who will be played by Leo, is also a "puppet" as he is being controlled by the government, as they have wiped his memory and made him believe he is a clean person and not a paedophile.  This shows how the two narratives are similar in a way, as the idea of memory loss is used to create new identities for the respective characters. Anastasia has proved to me that our film idea can work really well, giving me confidence that my short film will be successful.

Theorist Comments - let's see what the so-called "experts" have to say!

Genre: 

I created three videos/audios (whatever floats your boat) explaining the three genre theories I researched and how they apply to my film. Enjoy!

Steven Neale:



LINK - This link helped me understand Neale's theory

Daniel Chandler:








LINK - This link helped me understand Chandler's theory









Rick Altman:








LINK - This link helped me understand Altman's theory

Audience:

Stuart Hall - Reception Theory:

To enhance my understanding of this theory and how it applies to my short film, I watched this very fun video (it really is magical)



Summary of the theory:

This theory is an active audience theory which sees the audience as being actively engaged in the interpretation of media texts, rather than passive consumers. The idea is that individuals interpret texts in different ways. Stuart Hall claimed that that media texts go through stages of encoding and decoding. Media texts are encoded by the producer and contain only the ideologies of the people who created the media text. Decoding is when an audience views the text and interprets their own ideologies into the next. Not all audiences will respond in the same way, and in some cases, not how the producer intended.
Hall included three different types of audiences decoding of text:
Dominant - How the producer wants the audience to view the media text. They agree with the message it is conveying.
Negotiated - A compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings. The audience understand and agree with the text but disagree with other areas they have their own views on.
Oppositional - The audience rejects the encoded meaning and creates their own meaning for the text. They fully disagree with the message being conveyed.

LINK - Link to where I learnt more about the Reception Theory

How this applies to my short film:

Stuart Hall's Reception Theory applies to our short film as we would like our audience to be the negotiated type. This means that they will talk and debate about our film, understanding and agreeing with the text but disagreeing with other elements. This will enable the audience to have their own opinions on the subjects related to our film, such as whether prisoners should be tested on instead of animals, whether Lucy is a bad person and whether what she is doing is morally wrong. This will lead to our audience creating a variety of meanings of our films without us actually intending to.

Katz and Blumler - Uses and Gratifications Theory:

To get to grips with this theory a bit more, I watched this video that I found during my research - it's only short but remember quality not quantity!



Summary of the theory:

The Uses and Gratifications Theory is the understanding of what the audience does for the media. It is a way of understanding why and how people look for specific medias to satisfy their needs. Audiences deliberately choose media that will satisfy their needs, such as knowledge, relaxation, social interaction/companionship, diversion or escape. These are categorised into four areas which audiences use to choose media.
The four categories are...






LINK - Link to where I learnt more about the Uses and Gratifications Theory

How this applies to my short film:

I believe that my short film applies to Katz and Blumler's Uses and Gratifications Theory because my audience should choose either the area of information, or personal identity. This is because with information, my film provides a way of finding out about things, such as how the government work and how the issue of paedophilia can possibly be addressed. Additionally, with personal identity, I am sure that the audience would watch my film and relate to the characters. This does not mean relate to a paedophile, but relate to the characters of Lucy and Gary as a couple or relate to The Observers who are very secretive or suspicious. This is how the audience can look at my film to satisfy their needs.
Narrative:

Roland Barthes:

To ensure I understood good old Roland's narrative theory better, I watched this masterful video:



Summary of the theory and how it applies to my film:

Barthes said that narratives have meanings that are either open or closed. He also suggested that there are five codes that appear in every narrative. Below are the five codes, along with how each one could apply to my film:

1. Hermeneutic or 'Enigma' Code

This refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and so is a mystery or 'enigma' to the audience. In my film, the enigma code could be the fact that Gary Henderson was actually a paedophile and he is now part of a government program, attempting to refresh his life and give him a new identity. This major part of my narrative is an enigma for the audience for much of the film as it is only towards the end that they concretely find out who both Gary and Lucy really are.

2. Proairetic or 'Action' Code

This code builds tension as it refers to another action or event and indicates that something else is going to happen, which makes the audience guess what is going to happen next. In my film, the meeting between Lucy and The Observers at the start cause suspicion for the audience, making them guess what they are doing and what will happen next, therefore this scenario is the action code.

3. Semantic Code

This refers to the connotation within the story that gives additional meaning. This is shown through mise-en-scene (e.g. costume, lighting, setting, props, body language). In my film, there are several semantic codes within our narrative that give additional meaning. For example, The Observers wear matching grey suits all the time, suggesting they work together for a high authority. The photographs that Gary looks through have The Observers in the background, connoting that there is something suspicious going on.

4. Symbolic Code

This is similar to the semantic code, however it acts at a wider level through creating broader, deeper sets of meanings. This is usually shown through using Levi-Strauss' binary opposites. In our film, we show binary opposites in terms of gender, as Lucy ends up being presented as a strong woman who is only trying to help people, whereas Gary ends up being presented as a shameful man who was a paedophile and is aggressive. This acts as our clear symbolic code, that has a deeper meaning that men and women can be very different, and not what one may expect.

5. Cultural Code

This code refers to the world outside the narrative. It may not just refer to reality, but to other works of narrative, art or fiction. It also refers to anything that is founded on facts that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth (typically science or religion). In my film, we have quite a serious cultural code in the sense that we are showing the issue of paedophilia and how it could be dealt with in the future. Unfortunately, there are too many paedophiles in the world, and I am sure that many could relate to Gary's character and therefore our narrative does refer to the world outside.

Claude Levi-Strauss - Theory of Binary Opposition:

This is a sophisticated but important idea that helps us to understand how ideas and meanings are being shaped, created or reinforced in a text. Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. These are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. Narratives contain elements which can be paired according to how the oppose each other - these are binary opposites. Binary opposites make the narrative move forward for they allow actual and potential conflict, and from these we can establish meaning and relationships. Examples of binary opposites include Light/Dark, Night/Day, Good/Evil and Male/Female.

How this applies to my short film:

In my short film, the main binary opposition that we have is Male/Female. This is because the two main characters, Gary and Lucy end up being portrayed very differently to one another, showing that gender is a complete opposite. Furthermore, another binary opposition in my film is Good/Evil, and this is particularly interesting as in the beginning, the audience will think Gary is good and The observers and potentially Lucy are evil, however, by the end of my film, it will be the reverse, with the audience thinking Gary is evil (as he is revealed as an ex-paedophile) and Lucy and The Observers being good as they work for the government to try and help people, albeit in an immoral way. These are the main two binary oppositions in my film.

Group Responsibilities

As a group we created a short video to show the roles of each group member and show off our creativity and imagination:



To sum up the video, as I know it's a bit long to watch every video:

Leonardo Gilbert - Director & Actor    (Gary Henderson)
Jordan Sollof - Cameraman & Actor    (The Observer)
Maddy Ross - Editor & Actress    (Lucy Henderson)
Cameron Currie - Sound & Actor    (The Observer)

We actually found it quite straight forward to sort out the group roles for each of us, however although we have set roles each, we know that everyone will help each other and basically do every role. For example, we will all act like directors, use the camera, help to edit and work on the sound. Our brilliant group chemistry will allows us to do this efficiently.

09/11/17 - After deciding that we were going to be using Final Cut Pro to edit our film instead of iMovie, as Leo was the most experienced with this software, it made sense for him to become the Editor, and this triggered many more changes in roles between us. Here are tghe revised, final group responsibilities for the project:

 Revised Group Responsibilities:

 Leonardo Gilbert - Editor, Sound and Actor - Leo is the most experienced editor, especially using Final Cut Pro, and he has a good ear for music so I was confident he could find great music for the film.

 Jordan Sollof & Cameron Currie - Director, Cinematography and Actor - It was decided that Cameron and I would interchange between the roles of  director and cameraman because it would allow us to be more free and play to our strengths, helping towards making the film a success.

 Maddy Ross - Producer, Screenplay and Actress - Maddy has the most experience with screen writing so she is the most suitable person for this

29/09/17

Time to take the treatment apart - its editing o'clock!

Here's a fun video I created which shows me editing the first draft of my treatment:



Here's the first draft of my treatment with annotations and edits I made:



Edited Treatment:

It is the year 2025, and LUCY HENDERSON (Maddy Ross), a 38 year old confident and sophisticated woman, with luxurious flowing blonde hair who secretly works for the government, is talking to two unnamed characters, known as THE OBSERVERS (Jordan Sollof and Cameron Currie) in front of a coffee shop in London. The two unknown characters cannot be seen, only the back of their heads are visible. After the conversation between these three people end, The Observers walk away, leaving Lucy to bump into GARY HENDERSON (Leonardo Gilbert). FLASHBACK to all of Gary and Lucy's best memories together, e.g. when they marry. A couple of years later (in the present day), they are all loved up living happily as husband and wife. The day before Lucy's Birthday, Gary asks his boss if he can take the day off work to prepare for his wife's Birthday. His boss kindly grants Gary's wish, meaning Gary is able to express his cheesy, romantic side by creating a collage of all of the great memories he has shared with his wife. However, he begins to realise that there are similar faces in the backgrounds of these pictures. He questions Lucy but she keeps trying to avoid the subject and talk about something else, clearly showing that she is hiding something..

Later on, Gary continues with the collage and comes across a file, with his name and face on it and discovers that he was a paedophile. He challenges his wife about his findings and she begins to succumb to her husband; telling him the truth; that she works for the government and he is part of a program that aims to wipe people's memories and give them a second chance to live life as a good person with a new identity. This infuriates Gary and he attempts to be violent with Lucy by trying to attack her. A loud banging on the door can then be heard, and when Gary opens the door, The Observers are standing there, looking very serious. It then cuts to black, and in the next scene The Observers are talking to Lucy about the next person that she must pretend to be in love with. After Lucy talks to The Observers about their next target that they will attempt to change in to a better human being, the final shot of the film is similar to an event near the beginning of the narrative, where Lucy bumps in to her next target in almost identical fashion to the way she bumped in to Gary.

Target Audience
Today we nailed down our target audience. We believe that as our film will most likely be a 15 (will do more research on age ratings at a later date), our target audience will be around 15-35 year old men and women. This is because our film is more suitable for a younger type of audience due to us being able to educate people, and we think that the older generation will not benefit as much from the film and possibly not appreciate/enjoy it as much as younger people. I researched how to nail down and uncover a target audience for film:

Target Audience: Steps that must be taken



1. Who is your primary target audience?
Males and females aged 15 to 35.

2. What makes your movie different from competing movies?
Our narrative is extremely original and engaging and will hopefully surprise and shock our audience.

3. Why should your audience spend two hours watching your movie?
Because they will never have seen anything else like it in their entire lives and will be gripped throughout.

These action steps take me on to... Demographics!

Demographics

You may be wondering what does demographics mean... we look no further my friend.



SOURCE - Here's where I found this definition

I believe that this source is partially reliable because it includes lots of accurate factual information that is really useful for us as a group. The screenshot displayed above is a great definition of Demographics and I felt that I had to include it in my blog as it was very clear and simple to understand. The source is only partially reliable because the website is called Investopedia, meaning that it is kind of similar to Wikipedia, where anyone can add information to the website, meaning the source could be seen as unreliable. However, I have great confidence that this definition is reliable and will help my group and I to understand what demographics is.


I believe that we are targeting those that come under letter code C1 and E. This is because in E, you typically find younger people like students and as our target audience is around 15-35 year olds, this covers some students. Furthermore, in C1 there are Junior Managers and this category includes jobs which may be for younger people, therefore these people would watch our film because they are the appropriate age for it.

Psychographics


We will definitely be targeting ASPIRERS and EXPLORERS as these two groups of people are typically a younger demographic, such as students. Explorers value difference and adventure, which is what we will try to show in our film.

02/10/17 - I decided to do some further research and work on AUDIENCE in order to boost my understanding of the whole concept and look at some key theorists.

I looked at this piece on a website called Literature/Film Quarterly, written by Kylie Meikle entitled A Theory of Adaptation Audiences. Although this focuses largely on adaptations from literature (books), in to films, there are some interesting points made that I found useful for my group.


The section I have highlighted talks about theorist Rick Altman, who here likens film executives to political candidates who must both appease and exceed their voter bases in order to ensure victory. I found this useful because in some ways, my group members and I, as film executives, are political candidates because we want to appease and exceed our audience's expectations in order to be proud and have a successful film. This shows the importance of audience, as they are the heart and soul of the film and determine whether it is a success or not. 

LINK - Link to this article, where I sifted out information by different theorists

30/09/17

 Audience Research - It's time to hear what the important people think!


Today as a group we created seven questions based on our narrative in order to collect valuable data from our audience. These questions were not typical e.g. what genre do you like etc, and instead were more refined so that we could collect the smaller details and pieces of information needed to definitely please our audience and ensure our film is a huge success. 

As online technology and social media is so very popular these days, I thought it would be extremely logical to create an online survey and use social media platforms and the power of the internet to spread it! I used Survey Monkey to create my survey, and after a week, 30 people answered it! Here are all seven questions, along with the results:


 VIDEO - ANALYSIS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MY RESULTS FOR EACH QUESTION, LINKS TO MY GROUP MEMBERS' RESULTS AND HOW THE RESULTS INFLUENCED OUR DECISIONS:


 01/10/17

Good old Skype returns!



Yes you read that right! As a group we returned to Skype for another video call, lasting 59 minutes and 11 seconds (I wanted to stay on for 1 hour exactly but the others were so eager to leave and do their blogs... I don't blame them!) During this call, we discussed all of the work above, going into more detail about what characters we were researching, what narrative references we should definitely  have, and the definite theorist comments that link well to our film idea. Once again, I found this Skype call very beneficial and we enjoyed ourselves - our group chemistry continues to rise !

RANDOM JOKE: As a family we didn't know whether to have my Nan buried or cremated.
So in the end we just let her live!

It's time to meet the characters with... Character Profiles!

Name: Gary Henderson
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Relationship status: Married

Traits of Voice
Language spoken: English
Other languages known: None
Style of speaking:   Slow, thinks first
Volume of voice: Fairly quiet (unless angry)
Height: 5 foot 9 inches
Eye colour: Blue
Skin colour: White
Distinguishing features: None
Hair colour: Brown
Hair style: Short and wavy
Typical clothing: Casual clothes
Is seen by others as: Kind and caring, a potential outsider

Personality
Likes: Spending time with his wife
Dislikes: Mean people
Education: Basic GCSEs
Fears: Losing his wife
Personal goals: To get promoted and have a larger family
General attitude: Enjoys life with his wife, quite positive
General intelligence: Fairly low
General sociability: Quite high, has many friends and goes out a lot

Health
Illnesses (if any): Was a paedophile
Energy level: Medium

History
Birth country: England
Hometown: Hastings
Place of residence: Chigwell
Briefly explain life story: Mother murdered Father at young

Relationships
Parents: Mother was murdered when he was young by his Father, never really knew his Father
Siblings: None
Any enemies (and why): None
Children: None
Friends: Has many friends, strong social life

Others
Occupation: Accountant
Hobbies/past times: Bird watching, going out with his wife
Talents: Very good with numbers 



Name: Lucy Henderson
Age: 38
Gender: Female 
Relationship status: Married 

Traits of Voice
Language spoken: English
Other languages known: French
Style of speaking: Slow and fast depending on attitude and situation
Volume of voice: Quiet
Height: 5 foot 4 inches
Eye colour: Blue
Skin colour: White
Distinguishing features: None
Hair colour: Blonde
Hair style: Long
Typical clothing: Business wear
Is seen by others as: Intelligent, quite successful, normal

Personality
Likes: Her job
Dislikes: People who disagree with her
Education: Degree in Psychology and Criminology
Fears: Her husband finding out about the government program
Personal goals: To successfully complete the government program and make Gary's life better
General attitude: Quite positive, determined to succeed in life
General intelligence: Very high
General sociability: Reasonably high

Health
Illnesses (if any): None
Energy level: High

History
Birth country: England 
Hometown: London
Place of residence: Chigwell
Briefly explain life story: Brought up in an upper class environment, parents wealthy

Relationships
Parents:  Upper class couple, live in Kensington, always wanting the best out of Lucy
Siblings: None
Any enemies (and why): None
Children: None
Friends: Unable to have many friends because of her job at the government, constantly relocating

Others
Occupation: Government Employee/Agent
Hobbies/past times: Reading, being a part of various governmental programs
Talents: A good liar, hard-working



Name: The Observers
Age: Unknown
Gender: Male
Relationship status: Unknown

Traits of Voice
Language spoken: English
Other languages known: Unknown
Style of speaking: Slow and methodical
Volume of voice: Quiet
Height: Unknown
Eye colour: Blue and Brown
Skin colour: White
Distinguishing features: Spectacles
Hair colour: Brown
Hair style: Short, slicked back
Typical clothing: Suit
Is seen by others as: Unknown, mysterious

Personality
Likes: Unknown
Dislikes: Unknown
Education: Unknown
Fears: None
Personal goals: Unknown
General attitude: Positive
General intelligence: Fairly high
General sociability: Very low

Health
Illnesses (if any): Unknown
Energy level: Fairly low

History
Birth country: England
Hometown: Unknown
Place of residence: Unknown
Briefly explain life story: Unknown how they became what they are today, had strange upbringings

Relationships
Parents: Unknown what happened to them
Siblings: None
Any enemies (and why): Anyone who tries to go against their program
Children: None
Friends: None

Others

Occupation: Government Employees/Agents
Hobbies/past times: Unknown
Talents: Being deceiving and mysterious, can get things done secretly



16/10/17

Final Treatment - the wait is over :)



As a group once the four of us had created our own drafts and edited them, we brought them all together and chose the best parts from each treatment to build a super final treatment. Here it is:



Costumes

What will our characters be wearing I hear you ask? Fine I'll show you now...

Gary Henderson:

We would like Gary Henderson to be perceived as a normal human being who goes to work like everyone else, and therefore a black suit would be most appropriate as this is very common business wear for a man to wear to work. By having Gary in a plain, normal suit, it shows his plain normal personality. We will use lots of different suits to show different days however these suits will be plain and of a similar dark colour. 

Lucy Henderson:


We want to show Lucy as an innocent and caring woman who has a slightly darker side to her and we think we can achieve this by having her in dark, formal business clothing. This will show that she is a formal and quite normal wife, but the colour of her clothing will symbolise deeper connotations of the darker side to her personality.

The Observers:


We would like to show The Observers as powerful and secretive and can do this by putting them in matching suits to demonstrate their seriousness and professionalism. We will consistently have The Observers in the same grey suits throughout the entirety of the film so that they are always recognisable for the audience and the other characters. 

Props

Alarm Clock:


We will need an alarm clock for the morning scenes of our film, to symbolise the time of day and that the day is beginning. Not only will this make it clear for our audience what time it is, an alarm clock is an everyday item that you would expect to see in a bedroom in the morning, meaning this prop will add realism to our film.

Folders/Paperwork:


We are going to use the folders/paperwork when Lucy and The Observers are concluding a deal on their next target for the government program. The folders will be used to contain the vital information on each target Lucy will be involved with. The information will include background details on who the targets really are, assisting the audience's understanding of who some of the characters really are.



Laptop (x2):

We will require not one, but two laptops in our film. One laptop will be used by Gary at work, where he will look through the pictures and notice the same faces (The Observers) in the backgrounds of them. The other laptop will be used by Lucy to spy on Gary throughout his day. Both laptops are significant props because they help to develop our narrative and make it clear for our audience.

Panic Button:

We have decided that we would like to use a panic button (or an item which looks similar and can act as one) in the argument scene between Gary and Lucy, towards the conclusion of our film. The panic button will be used by Lucy when Gary goes to attack her after finding out the truth, and by using it, The Observers will be alerted to the scene to deal with the situation. The device we hope will add to the tension in the scene, as Lucy will be attempting to hide it from Gary whilst they are arguing.

Picture frame with photo:


We need a picture frame to use in the office scene with a photo of Gary's boss and his boss' family inside it, so that Gary can smile at it to indicate that he is attracted to the photo. In the photo will be his boss' children, providing the audience with a subtle hint that Gary is attracted to the children because he was a paedophile before being tricked in to the government program.

Fun video on some props and costumes that we need! (this is really worth a watch)

* Unfortunately Cameron Currie could not be with us for the creation of this video, however he was there in spirit!




Shopping List - its time to go shopping!



Panic Button:


We decided that we need to purchase an item that can act as a panic button, so therefore we have selected this Smart Tag Alarm, as it looks like a button that Lucy can press if she needs to. This panic button will be used by Lucy when Gary gets aggressive after the truth unfolds about who they both really are.

Alarm Clock:


As a group we chose to buy this digital alarm clock because it will help us to clearly show Gary and Lucy's everyday morning routine, with this alarm clock waking them up every morning. We may either have a song play each day or a radio presenter talking to act as the alarm. I believe that this item is essential in showing how our narrative clearly progresses.

Microphone Windscreen Muff:


We made the decision to add this furry microphone windscreen muff to our shopping list because we feel that having extra quality sound will be key to ensuring that our film is professional and is a level above what people may expect from us. This item will obviously not be in our film, however it will play a massive role in helping us achieve amazing sound that separates us from the rest.

Camera Light:



This is the final item we decided to purchase, as we felt that a light to attach to our camera will ensure that we have high quality lighting in certain parts of our film. Again, this item will not be in the film, but will play a significant role in making it look professional and hopefully a level above the other films being produced at A Level.

17/10/17

Storytime! I mean Storyboard time !

I decided to create my own storyboard, as I am a gifted artist (who doesn't love stickmen/women!)

Storyboard First Draft (independent):



As a group we took many pictures of everything important in our narrative in order to create a draft of our storyboard. Here it is, along with some annotations for each picture:

Storyboard Second Draft (group):








Final Storyboard:

 All credits go to Leo here who created this final storyboard for the group!





































18/10/17

Shot List

I watched a video that explains different shots and how to master a shot list:


My Shot List:

(I decided that I would keep it simple and just all of the shots, as my storyboard clearly explains the purpose of each shot)

Scene One - The Meeting:

1. Low angle shot 
2. Over the shoulder shot
3. Over the shoulder shot
4. Close up
5. Medium shot
6. Close up
7. Wide shot
8. Wide shot
9. Two shot

Scene Two - The Romantic Memories montage:

1. Medium shot
2. Two shot
3. Wide shot
4. Wide shot
5. Two shot
6. Wide shot
7. Medium shot

Scene Three - Morning Routine:

1. Close up
2. High angle shot
3. Birds eye view shot
4. Point of view shot
5. Two shot
6. Close up
7. High angle shot
8. Medium panning shot

Scene Four - The Office scene:

1. Over the shoulder shot
2. Low angle medium shot
3. Medium shot
4. Over the shoulder shot
5. Point of view shot
6. Close up shot
7. Over the shoulder shot
8. Medium shot

Scene Five - The Office scene part two:

1. Medium shot
2. Close up
3. Eye-line match
4. Medium shot
5. Close up
6. Reaction cut
7. Flashes of Gary's memories returning
8. Close up
9. Close up
10. Reaction cut
11. Close up

Scene Six - The Argument scene:

1. Close up
2. Long continuous shot, tracking Gary and Lucy's argument
3. Close up
4. Start of another long shot
5. Over the shoulder shot
6. Close up

19/10/17

Christmas has come early! A First Draft of the script! :)

To my surprise, Maddy handed each of us the first draft of our script that she had written. I decided that it would be a great idea to read and annotate Maddy's script in great detail, as this would help give me some inspiration for writing my own first draft, and I would also be able to give Maddy feedback on what she must improve on.


First Draft of the script with annotations:




Script Second Draft: 

This is a draft created by Leo which I analysed and gave feedback on so that we could improve it together and produce a final script. 


Pros
  • The script includes an accurate narrative
  • It is easy for the actors to read and understand
  • There is good detail in the descriptions of the scenes and the characters' surroundings 
Cons
  • Some of the dialogue could be worded better
  • May lack length for a script for a five minute film
  • There isn't any more it is great overall :)
24/10/17

 Settings... locations... places to film... whatever you want to call it!

Today by myself and with my group I/we focused on settings and locations that we can use to film. First of all, on my own I researched typical settings used in drama films, with the hope that I would be inspired and influenced for when we decide our settings/locations. Here's what I found:

Typical Settings for Political Drama films:

 The Home:

 I have discovered that pretty much all drama films have a setting of in the home, along with political dramas in particular. I have found this old, classic political drama with scenes in a house:

State of the Union (1948)





This is no mainstream drama film yet it still has the typical setting of being in the home. It is black and white and includes classic shots like over the shoulder shots, shot reverse shots, and two shots. You can tell it's a drama by the way the two characters are in verbal conflict, and the subject is political, showing clearly how a political drama can be presented. 



Influences for Settings - In a House:



The research I've done and the discussion as a group have ended up with us conclusion that one of our settings will be in a house. Some of the main things I learned when researching the home setting was I realised that they were fairly big homes. this means that the furniture are not obstacles for the characters and they are free to move easily around the room, especially when pacing around the house and arguing. Gary and Lucy must od this in the argument scene, which must take place at one these four houses as there is just the four of us in our group:



Jordan (my house):








Leo:



Maddy:





Cameron:

We considered our potential settings and eventually concluded that Maddy's home is where we will film. This is due to it being open planned, meaning we are able to film freely and not be restricted by furniture. Secondly, Maddy has large windows throughout her house meaning we can use natural lighting to our advantage in the scene, which will help create the effect we desire for our audience. Finally, Maddy's home is the most modern/business like out of the four, which we believe fits our main protagonist perfectly. I look forward to visiting Maddy's gaff when filming begins!

The Office:

Another typical setting in some drama films, particularly political dramas is in an office. This may be due to the fact that with politics, it is likely that there are office involved in some of the characters' professions. Here is another old, non-mainstream political drama with an office as one of it's settings:

Bulworth (1998)


This is another political drama film which is not mainstream, however it includes a typical setting/location of an office. In political films, it is likely that a character will be a political figure, such as a prime minister or president, and therefore an office is needed for that profession. This is how an office can be used and presented in a political drama.

Influences for Settings - In an Office:

From the research I have done, as a group we know that we will be using an office as one of the locations in our film because in political dramas, this is a setting you would typically see at some stage within the films. we will try to find an office somewhere, however if we are unsuccessful, we will use an office in school and make it look at realistic and professional as possible.
. 
14/11/17 - UPDATE - After trying hard to secure an office outside of school in London or anywhere local, we have been unsuccessful and will therefore film the office scene in one of the school offices. We are still extremely confident that it will look realistic and engaging for our audience. 

The City:

 The final typical setting for drama films in general and for political drama movies is in a city. We decided very early on as a group that it would be good to get some footage in a city, with London being our only option, so we went scouting for locations around London! And we went on Boris Bikes... it really was a great trip out with the gang!

Location Scouting in London!



RANDOM JOKE: What's the difference between a south London football supporter and a plasterer?

One's a Millwall fan, the other's a fill-wall man!


As some of our film requires the location of a city. We decided to use London and went on a lovely day out together to scout locations. Here's my vlog of the day... enjoy!



28/10/17

The hills are alive with the SOUND OF MUSIC!


Today I focused on music and sound! We researched music in our group and have found some beauties that fit perfectly with our narrative! We identified two main part of our narrative where music is required. The first is during the memories showing the development of Gary and Lucy's Henderson's relationship. The second is slightly deeper into the narrative during the morning routine of Gary and Lucy, which also shows the passing of time.

The memories scene is a romantic one and we would therefore like to find slower, romantic music as this would create the right atmosphere for our audience and fit seamlessly with our narrative. I tried to think of four famous songs that would be suitable (obviously we would need covers due to copyright reasons).

Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley:



 I believe that this classic song from the legendary Elvis Presley is suitable for our film because it is slow, romantic and the lyrics are very relevant. It would tell Gary and Lucy's story very well and create the atmosphere that we desire. One to consider!

Close To You - The Carpenters:



This is another slow, romantic song that would be very appropriate  for the memories scene as it would highlight Gary and Lucy's close relationship. This classic by The Carpenters is another one to consider!

Baby It's You - The Shirelles: (original version)



As a group we liked the song Baby It's You, originally by The Shirelles because it is slow, romantic and lyrics "baby it's you" fit perfectly with the relationship of Gary and Lucy as in the memories scene they are with each other and appreciate each other. However, this original version is not the style we like best - see below!

 Baby It's You - The Beatles: (preferred version):


This version of Baby It's you by the greatest band of all-time - The Beatles - is what we liked best because it's slower, more romantic and just fits perfectly! Now all we needed to do was to find a good cover of it - step forward Leonardo Gilbert !

We obviously do not have a ridiculous budget and therefore we had to find a cover of the song. Luckily, Leo found this cover below by 'BarkStudioSessions' on Sound Cloud and it's so good that we like it more than The Beatles' version!

COVER - Baby It's you - BarkStudioSessions:



Proof of Permission to use Baby It's You by BarkStudioSessions:

Leo emailed the studio and gained permission to use this piece of music! Here's the proof of the conversation he had with a great guy named David:


So that was the music for the memories scene sorted, now it was time to research and decide music for the morning routine scene! For this music we felt that we wanted it more upbeat, and based on the editing as there was lots of cuts, rather than choosing music that evokes a specific atmosphere and emotion. So we weren't focussing on the lyrics of the music as much for this scene, more the rhythm of the music so that it suited lots of cuts.

Faith - George Michael:


I thought of this great song called Faith by George Michael as suitable to play during the morning routine because it has a clear beat and rhythm to it which can match to the editing and the cuts. This is definitely a song to consider as it is more upbeat and would fit quite nicely in to the narrative and the editing in the scene.

 Blame It on the Boogie - The Jacksons:


 


This is another song I personally thought of and researched and I believe that it is appropriate for the morning routine in our film because again it is upbeat and has a background rhythm which would match up well with the editing and the cuts during the scene and make the scene look really professional and engaging. This is another song to seriously consider!

 Fly Like An Eagle - Steve Miller Band: 





As a group we found this sound we believe it is absolutely PERFECT for the morning routine because it has a clear beat, and even some of the lyrics are relevant. It would fit perfectly with the scene and match seamlessly with the editing and the cuts, making this scene look amazing. We have decided we will be using this song!



Obviously like with the other piece of music, due to us not having a ridiculously large budget to create this short film, we will need to find a cover for this song to use! Once again the sexy Leonardo Gilbert delivers the goods. He found a fantastic cover of Fly Like An Eagle on Sound Cloud by a band called Big Sweater. The cover is just as good as the original, have a listen:



COVER - Fly Like An Eagle - Big Sweater:




Proof of Permission to use Fly Like An Eagle by Big Sweater:



As we really wanted to use this cover in our film but needed permission otherwise we would get in to trouble, super Leo managed to contact the band and had a successful conversation with them. Here it is:











31/10/17

Final Script - we got there in the end!

After all four of us created our own versions of the script, we collated our ideas and worked well as a team to create a super final script! There was a lot of discussion and debating, however this simply showed how passionate we were and eventually, we completed our final script:



06/11/17

What equipment will we need? Well I'll tell ya right now!

Camera and Microphone:


We will use the EOS 700D Cannon camera with the Rode Videomic Pro microphone. This is because the quality of footage that we are able to capture with this cannon camera is very high, and the sound quality with this particular microphone is also of a high level. Furthermore, this equipment is easy to use and very manageable, which makes it appealing for my group. 

Tripod:


We will use this "hama" tripod during the filming phase of the G324 project. This is because it is easily extendable and easy to use with our cannon camera. For the majority of our shots we will require this tripod as we want steady and still footage. 

Shoulder Mount:


We will use this shoulder mount because specific parts of our film require following/tracking shots. We would rather have elements of our film that are continuous, such as the argument scene between Gary and Lucy Henderson, rather than constantly cutting to different shots, as this will help certain aspects of the narrative to flow. 

Boom Pole:



We will use this boom pole for certain scenes of our short film, particularly those where sound is very important, for example the argument between Gary and Lucy where there is lots of dialogue, in order to have top quality sound, as the microphone attached to the camera may not pick up the sound as clearly as we would like.

07/11/17
Well, as we had a single hour lesson today I thought it would be appropriate to look at Age Ratings and pick a suitable one for our film. You may be wondering, are age ratings really that important? Let's ask Donald...


There you have it! Donald believes that age ratings are very, very important! (Hilary doesn't agree though LOL) Anyway I believe they are worth looking at and doing some research on so let's go.

Age Ratings

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC):

The BBFC is a self-financing and non-profitable media content regulator. It operates transparent, consistent and trusted classification and labelling systems in the UK. It's mission is to protect the public, and especially children, from content which might raise harm risks along with many other things all to benefit us. A film can be rated by the BBFC out of seven main different ratings - U, PG, 12, 12A, 15, 18 and R18. This means that when creating a film, directors and producers must consider not only their target audience, but also what age rating they would like their film to be. For example, a director/producer would not create a funny cartoon animation film and rate it an R18 as this would be eliminated the target audience of children, therefore the film would be unsuccessful. The BBFC classifies films mainly for the benefit of the audience, so that before they decide to watch a film they know exactly what sort of content to expect, e.g. if the film is rated an 18 it will be very violent and graphic with sexual scenes and extremely bad language, whilst a U rated film would be clean and appropriate for kids as young as 4 years old.




Above is the official BBFC logo, along with the main seven different age ratings that the BBFC use to classify films. As you move from left to right, the age ratings increase, and are given depending on the content of a film, in order to benefit audiences so that they know roughly what to expect from a film through the rating it has been given.

After this research it was time to decide what age rating the BBFC would classify my short film as. I immediately ruled out three categories: U, PG, and R18. There is a distressing topic in our film and violence that is more extreme than mild, which rules out U and PG. R18 films typically involve explicit sex or strong fetish material involving adults and my short film definitely has none of that. This left me with four categories to choose from: 12, 12A, 15, and 18. After much deliberation, my fellow group members and I came to the decision that our film is a...


Here is why we believe our film is rated a 15 (lifted from the BBFC official website):

Discrimination - The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language.
My film has no bad language or discriminatory behaviour in it, therefore meeting this requirement.

Drugs - Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse (for example, through instructional detail). The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.
There is no drug taking at all in my film and therefore it is suitable.

Imitable behaviour - Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Whether the depiction of easily accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context and setting.
During the argument scene there is potentially dangerous behaviour but this does not dwell on detail.

Language  - There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification.
There is no strong language in my film and therefore it is clearly appropriate.

Nudity - There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail.
There is no nudity at all in my film and it is therefore very suitable.

Sex - Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
In my film there is no sexual activity or references to sexual behaviour, meaning it's appropriate.

Threat - There may be strong threat and horror. A sustained focus on sadistic or sexual threat is unlikely to be acceptable.
In the argument scene Gary shows strong threat towards Lucy, but this is not sadistic or sexual.

Violence - Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but the depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context.
There is mild violence in the argument scene  however there's no focus on the infliction of pain.

10/11/17

 Production Company Name and Logo

 Today we focussed on what to call our production company and what logo we should have. First of all I researched popular production companies and looked at what the names are and what the logos look like. Here's what I found:

 When you think of popular production companies, you think of 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Walt Disney, Warner brothers, Universal etc. These names are memorable and represent something, and that's exactly what we want. 

 I thought it would be good to use the internet to find inspiration for a new name - a name that represents us as a group and what we aspire to be. I used a website called 'Anadea', where I was able to put in a word and generate names related to that word, in the hope that there would be at least one production name that I liked and we could use:
Names such as 'Vision Production' and 'Fly Production' inspired my group and I to come up with several different potential production names:

After arguing over an unimaginable number of different production names, we have all agreed on this name:

 NEW VISION PRODUCTIONS

 This name we thought was the most creative of all, and it represents what we stand for as a group, as we are aiming ton create a great film which is fresh and shows a new vision. 

 Now that the production company name was sorted, it was time to secure a logo!

 As I previously said before, production logos must be memorable, like the mountains for Paramount, or the classic WB logo for Warner Brothers. Even the simply clouds for DreamWorks are perfect. Below is a small collage of logos of some of the most popular production companies:

Using these logos as inspiration, we wanted to show a 'new vision' by having a crystal ball, with scenery instead of a still image, to show that by looking in to the crystal ball, you're looking for a new vision.

On WhatsApp as a group we discussed production logos and came to the idea of a Crystal Ball:


Here's a closer look at the kind of thing Maddy was suggesting:


This is a moving image like we were suggesting, which makes our production logo more interesting. A person's hand is holding the crystal ball which is very interesting, however we are unsure yet of whether this is the idea we are looking for.

Another possible option:


This is a very nice option, as you can see the Milky Way in the Crystal Ball and really represents New Vision in my opinion. This is definitely a logo to strongly consider.

 Chosen Production Logo:

This logo was found by beautiful Leonardo and we all love it the most and want it to be our production logo for several reasons. Firstly, it completely represents 'New Vision', with the Crystal Ball being in full focus and the moving background completely out of focus. The rippling water we also thought created a sense of 'peace' and a feeling that we want to achieve. We will obviously put our own stamp ion this production logo, however we are very happy with our decision on both our production company name and the logo. 

 Production/ Film Title

 Okay, maybe we should have done this by now, but we are yet to decide on a film title for our short film, and today this is gonna change.

When someone says think of a film title:


Yes we definitely will do that! I thought it would be best to do a bit of research in to film titles and see what makes a really great one and why they're really important!

The Guardian - Article on the Importance of Film Titles:



SOURCE - Link to the article above that I analysed

This article is from The Guardian online, written by John Patterson, and he talks about the importance of having a good film title. I learnt a lot from this research and am motivated and inspired to create a good film title with my group. Technically Mr Patterson is a THEORIST that inspired my group and I to 

 Some things I learnt from the article were:

  • A short title is more effective
  • The title must help the audience understand the film a bit before they see it 
  • The title should link to an important detail within the narrative of the film
  • A good title makes an audience happier before and after watching the film
After discussing with my group, we ended up with six potential film titles, which I discuss in a fun(ish) video I created at home. Watch below if you have 4 minutes 30 seconds of your time to spare:

Potential Film Titles:


If you didn't watch the video, the six potential film titles we have considered are: Fraudulent, A Second Chance, Illusion, The Observers, The Unknown, and The Hendersons.

So... after discussing potential film titles, we decided that our production will be named:

THE HENDERSONS

This is because it does not give too much of the film away but it still hints that there is something significant with The Hendersons. It is short and snappy, making it easier for our audience to remember and also helping to trick them in to believing that Gary Henderson is an actual person and that it is based on his character and not the old real identity. 


 12/11/17

IT'S FILMING TIME !!!!!

I decided that I will create a filming log showing behind the scenes footage of our days filming along with some evaluation of how the days went!

Filming Day 1 - Behind the Scenes:
Here is a vlog I created of the behind the scenes footage from Day 1 of filming in Victoria and Oxford Circus in London.



17/11/17

Filming Day 2 - Behind the Scenes:

Here is a vlog I created of the behind the scenes footage from Day 2 of filming at Maddy's house and in the forest in Chigwell, Essex.




24/11/17

Filming Day 3 - Behind the Scenes:

Here is a vlog I created of the behind the scenes footage from Day 3 of filming at Maddy's house in Chigwell, Essex.



26/11/17 - Unfortunately, after looking at the footage taken from Day 3, we were not entirely happy with it and have decided that we will re-film the argument scene in order to ensure that the footage looks as good as possible. We'll keep doing it until we get it right!

08/12/17

 Filming Day 4 - Audio:

 Here is an audio I created of day 4 of filming as I was too depressed to vlog at the time due to the NIGHTMARE DAY we experienced!


13/12/17

 Filming Day 5:

 Sorry not vlog today as we were in a rush to film. Me, Leo and Daniel filmed the office scene at school and we only had 90 minutes to get it done, however Daniel nailed his parts first time and filming overall went quite smoothly. After Daniel's parts were over, Leo and I continued the rest of the scene and managed to get it done on time! So overall it's all good today :)

14/12/17

 Filming Day 6:

Apologies I did not vlog today's filming because we were in a bit of a rush and had to finish before a deadline. We had to finish the entire argument scene - which is probably the longest and most significant scene in the film - and this put a lot of pressure on us. Ideally, having no deadline and being able to relax would have been better, however I don't mind performing under pressure. The filming actually went very well as the majority of the scene is one long take, which was planned out before hand, so we knew exactly where the actors (Maddy and Leo) and the cameramen (Me and Cameron) needed to go.
15/12/17 - I am gutted to say that in today's lesson when we looked back at the footage, although the majority of it was great, there were a few parts we were simply not happy with and we knew we'd be marked down if we did not change it. The biggest mistake was the shot from the outside, as you can see my reflection in the window - a silly mistake that I was not really aware of at the time. So... we have to re-film the argument scene AGAIN! 

 22/12/17

 Filming Day 7:

 No video again today as we only had two hours to re-film the argument scene (for a third time) however we all worked well together at Maddy's house and finished with 30 minutes to spare! Filming went very well and wait for it... THAT'S A WRAP! Filming is complete and we are all really happy! Now just the editing stage and our 5 minute film will be complete :)

08/01/18

 After the Christmas holiday, believing that we had basically completed our film, we showed several of our peers and they gave us constructive feedback. I have created a video below to discuss exactly what our audience feedback was from our peers and what we are going to do to make use of the feedback to improve our film. We are disappointed that we must film more, however we will all do whatever it takes to achieve highly!

 Audience Feedback - what it was and how we will move forward


This audience feedback was extremely beneficial for us as a group because we are able to use the constructive feedback that we received, to improve our film and make it as good as it can possibly be. The main criticisms were that we need to make the story itself clearer for the audience by explaining it more at the end and building up to it rather than giving too much away too early. We will therefore remove any hints throughout the narrative that potentially give something away, and shoot a new scene at the end, which will explain everything more explicitly, making the film clearer and more tense. We will also re-film the office scene as it did not look realistic and believable enough. Let's do this!

16/01/18

 Filming Day 8:

After receiving very valuable constructive audience feedback, we added some more footage to our film in order to make our narrative clearer. We returned to Maddy's house again to film a few shots and then we added an entire new scene at the end in a car, to explain more explicitly the narrative and what was really happening. Overall, we are much happier with our narrative now.

17/01/18

 Filming Day 9:

 Today we completely re-filmed the office scene in a completely different location within the school premises and made it much more realistic and believable. We're happier with the outcome from our filming today and fingers crossed there should only be some editing left to do! #TheEndIsNear #That'sAWrapForTheSecondTime

RESEARCH AND PLANNING COMPLETED!

 I have now completed my research and planning! Here's a checklist of everything I've done:

  • Research on other people's blogs
  • Research on short films
  • My own initial narrative idea
  • Potential narrative ideas as a group
  • Development of selected narrative idea
  • Genre research
  • Character research
  • Treatment drafting
  • Narrative references
  • Theorist comments - genre, audience, narrative
  • Group responsibilities
  • Target audience
  • Demographics
  • Psychographics
  • Audience research
  • Character profiles
  • Final treatment
  • Costumes
  • Props
  • Shopping List
  • Storyboard drafting
  • Settings/locations research
  • Location scouting
  • Music research
  • Final script
  • Equipment list
  • Age ratings
  • Production company name and logo
  • Production/film title
  • Filming behind the scenes/day summaries
  • Audience feedback





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