Props and Costume

Below is the hand out that we gave in advance to all of our actors to ensure they correctly portrayed their character via costume. 

Here is our props list:

Props and costume were both very imported to create the desired mise en scene. 

Storyboard

Here are some pictures of our storyboard. We made a storyboard so we could pin down how each shot would be set up and how it would be framed and arranged. 

We did this storyboard to plan our opening sequence more specifically, shot by shot. The blue squares are our moving shots, which is where we are going to see through the perspective of our main character. It helped us to prepare for our animatic as we could get pictures of our shots and also helped to make improvements to our opening sequence order and variety.

Script

This is our film script. We wrote this script after our test shoot so that the actors knew exactly what they were doing and to make the shoot run smoothly on the the real shoot day. We also did it because it helped our group to order the sequence of events and to give our sequence continuity. As well as what everyone's lines were, we also put in actions, so that everyone was exactly sure of what they were doing.

Feedback

We got feedback on our proposal to try to improve our opening sequence to heighten audience appeal. 

Need to do :

-Pin down specifics and practicalities
- Start planning exact shots
- Decide on your exact lighting eg. high contrast lighting, over saturated shots with dark background
- Start the timeline, planning shots and storyboard


Representation
The stereotype of teenagers taking drugs is being reinforced rather than broken, desipte that drugs are not being endorsed in the sequence.

Main Character
Plan her interactions with people and any dialogue within the sequence. Plan how you are going to get her characteristics across to the audience. How will she seem strong and independent.

Lighting
Light training on Friday 1st.
We can take portable lighting kits back to Alice's house to test lighting and the set up of our shoot.
Plan in detail the type of ligghting we want in the party scene in contrast to the overdose scene.
The vision of the shots needs to be decided fully.

Planning Stage
Decided on:
Sunday 3rd: Test shoot
Dry run one day after school
Real shoot 1
Real shoot 2

This is the double sided handout we made to give to the 
class when we presented our proposal to them for feedback.

Typical Audience Member Example

These are more specific examples of the typical audience members we are aiming to attract: 

PRIMARY AUDIENCE:

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Occupation: Student at sixth form

Subjects taken: Art, English, French

Favourite Genre: Black Comedy, Teenage Drama

Favourite Films: Heathers, Thirteen, Submarine, The Virgin Suicides

Favourite Characters: Veronica (Heathers), Effy (Skins), Cook (Skins), Lux (The Virgin Suicides).  

Favourite television series: Skins, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Prison Break

Words/phrases to describe her: Spontaneous, Intelligent, Sociable 

On a typical weekend: Goes out with friends on Friday nights, parties on Saturday night and goes to the cinema on Sunday night. Would listen to indie music. Read empire magazine to make informed choices about what she wants to see at the cinema.
Appeal: She may idolize our main character Mandy who is a strong independent woman and be inspired by her. She will also relate to the themes of partying we explore in our film. 

SECONDARY AUDIENCE NUMBER 1:

Age: 19
Gender: Male
Occupation: Student at uni
Subjects studied: Maths or science
Favorite Genre: Black Comedy, Action/Adventure
Favourite Films: Trainspotting, Four Lions, Project X
Words/phrases to describe him: Sociable, Boisterous
On a typical weekend: Would go out partying with his friends. Listen to dance music. Play video games. Go to the gym.
Appeal: The black comedy genre will attract him to the film, as well as the attractive female lead. As she is slightly femme-fatale like, males of his age should want to see the film. Also, he can relate to the themes of teenage drama we include in the film.

SECONDARY AUDIENCE NUMBER 2:


Age: 41
Gender: Male
Occupation: Cab driver in London
Favourite Genre: Thriller, Black Comedy
Favourite Films: Four Lions, Heathers, Pulp Fiction
Favourite television series: Inbetweeners, Fresh Meat
Words/phrases to describe him: Concerned parent, longing to go back to his partying days.
On a typical weekend: Go to the cinema with his wife, going to the pub with his old friends and work colleges.
Appeal: As a parent, he would like to get an insight to what his children may get up to in a light hearted way such as in a black comedy. He also might be keen to live his college/university vicariously through the film, as he would've gone partying in his school life. He also likes teenage humour such as in the Inbetweeners.

Sound

This is a diagram to represent the sound that at this stage we have planned to use in our opening.

Heathers Credits Style Analysis

Here is a credit style analysis of Heathers because it is similar to our film and has been a very important influence for us. We can use this as an influence for our own credits, and learn how to make them genre appropriate, and to what extend they relate to the opening sequence. 

• They use a simple white font. The colour and style is effective in that the credits stand out but do not detract from the action.

• The credits overlay the shots. The use of fonts over the scenes is good because it maintains the audience's interest through the credit sequence - since plain backgrounds with writing can be boring if they last for a long time.

• The fonts are different for names other text. This means that the names catch the audiences eye specifically - not just ignored as more text.

• The credits move around the screen, appearing in different places each time. This suggest the film will be unpredictable and not too formulaic. It contrasts with the girly font and pink shadow to suggest the film is not just another chick flick.

• The film title fills the whole screen. This emphasises the title and sets up the idea of Heathers being important - since it is followed by a scene of the Heathers, although the audience do not yet know who they are.

• The film title appears first. This introduces mystery for the audience as it does not give anything away about the plot.

Credits are highly related to the opening sequence and must work together with shots to create one sole image that does not look mismatched. Following credit conventions will help audiences understand the medium we have produced. 

Black Comedy

We have researched the black comedy genre to find out how we could relate it to our opening. If the genre is unclear than we may end up connoting unintended things.

Black Comedy

Black comedies tend to have a negative atmosphere with the comedy coming from the negative situations that arise to the characters in the film. They are usually dark natured and involve controversial themes, such as death or situations such as pain. Irony often plays a key role in genre. It is also a very immersive genre, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat due to slight confusion  and anticipation of what is to happen.
Black comedies often take a humorous approach to dark or controversial subject matter using a sarcastic tone and sometimes the humour can come from completely normal straightforward characters put in controversial circumstances, or the characters may be morally or ethically questionable, especially to audience, causing the situation they are within to be treated differently by the audience. Black comedies present dark subject matter in a comedic, sometimes satirical way.

Our two minute opening sequence includes black comedy, as our protagonist leaves the room she does a dark, twisted, evil smile, despite the situation, in which someone has just overdosed and in severe conditions. It is a dark situation, but the protagonist is happy about it. The whole film would also be a black comedy, as the protagonist who overdoses her best friend then triggers a chain of revenge. After a downward spiral, people realise they're wrong, but it is too late and the police capture many of them.

As previously mentioned, much of our influence has come from the teen drama Heathers, also a black comedy. In Heathers every scene is darkly comedic and filled with irony. The film deals with teen suicide in a comical way; shocking, funny, and very very unconventional. The film also deals with teen pressure and comes up with some dark character stereotypes. This has influenced our film, because Heathers explores the serious events within a group of high school teenagers lifes, and our film is targeting a similar age group and aiming to explore the lifes of young adults, and their relationships between eachother, trying to hurt and gain revenge at eachother in a comical way, in order for the audience to laugh and enjoy the film but also perhaps add a layer of discomfort as they laugh, because they feel like they shouldn't be - part of the thrill factor of watching dark comedy. Other black comedies include films such as Pulp Fiction in which Uma Thurman plays Mia Wallace, who overdoses on heroin, after thinking it to be cocaine and is found by Vince foaming at the mouth, and lying on the floor sweating and completely out of it.

Basic Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en scene is important for us because it will set the scene in the establishing shot, especially because there will be no digetic sound. We will use cultural codes within the mise-en-scene to hopefully connote messages to our audience. 

Setting and Location: Our film opening will be filmed in Alice's basement; it is intended to be one of the rooms in which a party is taking place. To make it into a party scene we will have careful consideration of props. 

Props: On set we will have a sofa for the actors to sit on to realistically represent the event. We will have empty bottles of alcohol placed around the room. We will put lining paper on the walls so we can stick up posters and so that people can draw on it.

Actors: They will be doing a range of things to represent a normal party scene. Some will be dancing, some smoking or talking and others kissing. 

Lighting: Lighting will be low key for realism but also to create enigma. When Amanda leaves she will enter high key and high contrast lighting. 

Shot type: At first the shots will be lengthy long shots, from Amanda's point of view. There will be a variety of high and low angles dependent on what she is looking at. We will include some closer shots such as ECUs to create weird effects but will predominantly use long shots to set the scene. 

Influences and Similar Mise-en-Scene:

From Left to Right: 10 Things I Hate About You, Project X, Skins

Overdose Research

We conducted this research because none of us have scene an overdose in real life before. We needed to know how it is conventionally portrayed, so that where appropriate we can follow suit. This is important so that audiences can immediately recognise what is happening. 

In researching the symptoms of an overdose, we found that the victim could possibly:

• Start shaking
• Dangerous Overheating
• Foam coming out of their mouth
• Rapid movement of the eyes - abnormal activity in the pupils
• Seizures
• Unconciousness
• Have a stroke
• Have a heart attack

Because our victim doesn't die (although this is left ambiguous in the opening), we aren't going to show a stroke a heart attack. This is the best way to go, as this could be hard to act out and may be a bit too disturbing for our certification of 15. However we are going to keep it as realistic as possible and conform to the first 4 on the above list. Our main intent is to show the overdose in an way that makes the audience feel uncomfortable, and for this to be juxtaposed with Mandy's smile at the end. 

How are we going to achieve these effects?

Shaking - Rakhi will tremor rapidly to give the impression of temperature dysfunction.

Overheating - Pale skin using a lighter foundation for Rakhi's skin tone

- We will run her make-up down her eyes, which will also look as if she is sweating. This also conforms to the setting of a party and her characterization of a partying teenager.

- Shallow breathing will help to establish panicked atmosphere as well as showing that she is overheating. 

Foaming at the mouth - To achieve this effect, we will use toothpaste to give the connotation of foaming at the mouth.

Eyes - We have found some contacts that will look as if the pupils are a lot bigger than they really are. This will hopefully be shocking to watch and look effective. They are linked here. At the same time as wearing the contacts, the eyes will be rapidly moving.

- Another option as the contact lenses are unreliable is to use lighting to manipulate Rakhi's eyes. We hope to shine a light into her eye to rapidly change the size of the pupil, which would give the audience a sign that the drugs are messing with her pupils. This could also be rather uncomfortable to watch, the effect we are trying to achieve in this overdose.

Inspirations for our portrayal of the overdose:

These are from the trailer of 'Requiem for a Dream': http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lgo3Hb5vWLE

At this point in the trailer the eyes are rapidly moving in a short shot that goes with the music and goes with the drug use in the trailer. One of the eyes is in the light yet the other is in the dark which gives it more mysterious grade.

We would like the atmosphere of the party to be much like this, with smoke to reflect the haziness of their vision and to connote drugs being taken. The overdose will fit in in this environment, as it reflects a typical teenager party. The clip from which this screenshot is taken from also shows disjointed dancing, which is something else we could potentially have in our opening. 

In this shot, her skin appears to be gleaming with sweat in the light. Although our character will not be sweating we want to achieve a pale skin tone such as this. We will experiment with light in our test shoot to reach this desired effect. Although it is difficult to see in this particular shot, her make-up is also running down her face, something we can achieve with water.  

Eyes are again shown here, with the pupils moving simultaneously in the real trailer. This is what we hope to achieve if the contact lenses fail, and this will equally give the effect of unusual eye behavior. 

Audience Appeal

This post was made in part for the purpose of aiding us in presenting a proposal to teachers and classmates to get feedback on our work so far. Audience appeal has been central to our decisions in all aspects, this post just summarises the key points. 

Our film would attract our main target audience; young adults aged 16-24 because the representation of characters and events within our whole film is realistic, an original idea and the audience is able to relate to the situations within our film, such as young adults trying drugs, parties and hurting their friends when they are upset or want revenge. These are universal themes and this age group can especially relate to events such as this and understand any connotations related to the representation within our film.

Within our opening scene, we are planning to use a variety of camera shots and angles, to get the storyline across effectively and keep the audience entertained at the same time. The opening scene is going to be fast paced, to keep the audience watching, and wondering what is going to happen as well as because the scene is at a party, and one main shot is from the perspective of the protagonist as she is on drugs which means the choppy, fast and laggy shots all mixed together involve the audience in the scene, as if they are at the party and also make it seem as realistic as possible. Using hazy camera effects as well, and contrasting it with the bright sharp shots, when the one of the characters overdosing uses binary opposites which keeps the audience on edge and wanting to continue watching.

The main character and other characters within the two minute opening sequence are a similar age to the target audience and therefore they will share similar issues and problems with the audience. If the audience are able to relate to characters within the film they are more likely to engage with the characters, and feel as if they know what is happening.

Our film and film opening could also appeal to an older audience on top of the 16-24 year olds, as themes such as immersion in drugs and alcohol and revenge are also found in films for older audiences and therefore our film could also appeal to older demographics. Our film will also deal with the issues in the lives of young people including alcohol and drug use, and problems within friendships and relationships. The element of drama that will be present within our film and our film opening will add tension and enigma to our idea, but also add to the realism of the drama there often is between young adults finding their way, and fights and arguments between friends are something that happens everyday and common among their life so they are able to relate to it. 

 

Final Location Decisions

These photos were taken in the basement of Alice's house. Previously we were going to shoot in Ella's basement but realised it was too thin and there was much too much work to do to make it possible to shoot there. We did this reccie to make sure that this location was appropriate for our needs. 

The basement has 2 rooms, but we only need one of them. The doorway from one room into the other, can act as the opening to our party, as the character enters the party. Although there are some things in the basement these would all be moved out. We were also considering what we would want in the room to add to the mise en scene of our opening scene. We decided on a cheap old sofa that teenagers can hang out on, beer cans and wine bottles scattered around.

This basement also has a few alcoves, and corners, which have the potential to be interesting in a number of shots, with different activities happening within the alcoves.

There is a set of stairs leading from this basement too, where there is the potential to film our protagonist to walk up when leaving the basement close to the ending of our 2 minute sequence.

This is a good basement to use, compared to Ella's because there is much for space both for our actors and for all the camera and lighting equipment. It was much easier to move everything out of this basement and empty the room ready for filming. It is also much easier to set up the scene and the mise en scene here as the room has much for free space.

British Distributors

The following are findings into three leading British film distributors. Included is some information about the companies and examples of films in their catalogue which are particularly relevant to us.



StudioCanal UK (formerly Optimum Releasing)
Now a French owned company, however it has the third largest film catalogue in the world.
Relevant films:

• Four Lions - British black comedy
• Attack the Block - features teenagers with aspects of comedy and coming of age
• Submarine - coming of age comedy-drama

Momentum Pictures
At the forefront of UK film distribution with hit British films on its catalogue like Lost in Translation and the King's Speech.

Relevant films:

• Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - strong, enigmatic female lead
• Seven Psychopaths - British black comedy
• Chalet Girl - strong female lead with an interesting character arc

Entertainment Film Distributors
Leading UK distribution company with ties to blockbusters such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Brokeback Mountain.
   
Relevant films:

• Domino - strong female lead with similar dark themes of plotting and violence
• St. Trinians - features teenagers and several strong female characters
• My Week with Marilyn - focuses on the strong female lead and her effect on people around her

Coming-Of-Age Films Research

After refining the plot for our film, we realised that it definitely had aspects of the "coming of age" genre - by the end our protagonist has changed for the better. We therefore decided that we should do some research before continuing. 

Overall Synopsis

The plot represents the moral change of an individual from a teenager to a young adult. 

In Mean Girls, Cady realises that she doesn't have to be so superficial or change herself to have friends; this will only result in problems: she can be liked for who she really is. 

We conform to this convention: Mandy develops from a very cold and calculating character to  a much warmer and friendlier person. 

Narrative Structure

The disruption is most often caused by the teenage protagonist themselves, usually on purpose. They often are unaware of the consequences of their actions, which spiral out of control. 

In Thirteen Tracy tries desperately to become popular, and it is her theft of an unsuspecting woman that attracts "popular-girl" Evie's attention. 

In our film opening, Mandy creates the disruption by committing the first revenge. She is unaware that this action will result in the rest of the school following her lead, which she then has to put an end. 

Themes

Coming-Of-Age films deal with themes and issues most relevant to their core audience (usually 16-24 year olds). Common themes are sexuality, popularity, moral values and self-worth. Other themes include makeovers, loss of virginity, relationships between characters of different backgrounds and unlikely friendships. 

10 things I hate about you has strong themes of self-worth, moral values and relationships between characters of different backgrounds. It also touches on loss of virginity, unlikely friendships and popularity. 

In our film, we will  predominantly explore themes of sexuality and moral values. A big difference in our film plot from the convention of the genre is representation. We will avoid some of these themes to ensure our representation of teenagers in modern Britain. For example, we feel relationships between characters of different backgrounds is an outdated theme because it is so common in real life that it sparks no interest. 

We have taken this research into account when refining the story-line, representation, institutions and characters. 

Certification

This post was made in part for the purpose of aiding us in presenting a proposal to teachers and classmates to get feedback on our work so far. 


We chose a 15 certificate because it allowed us to to include some more adult content necessary to represent the situation of our film without alienating any of our target audience. We also thought our target audience would be more likely to go and see a 15 film rather than one with a lower rating as 12A or PG ratings could suggest it was a 'kid' film.

BBFC guidelines 

15 works could include any of the following: 

• strong violence 
• frequent strong language (eg 'f***'). 
• portrayals of sexual activity 
• strong verbal references to sex 
• sexual nudity 
• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence 
• discriminatory language or behaviour 
• non-promoted drug taking

Of these factors, we may include: 

• violence, which could be involved in some of the cruel revenge plans later in the film
• strong language - to realistically represent young adults/teenagers
• portrayals of sexual activity and verbal references, again for realism
• nudity, also as part of humiliating vengences later in the film
• drug taking is shown from the start but negatively represented

Heathers: Includes endorsement of suicide and murder

Thirteen: Includes drug and alcohol abuse at a very young age

Submarine: Includes sexual content

Skins: Includes explicit, promoted drug-taking and sexual content, sometimes a 15, mostly an 18

The certification of our film will help us to attract the maximum potential audience for whom the film is aimed at. 

Developing Characters

This post was made in part for the purpose of aiding us in presenting a proposal to teachers and classmates to get feedback on our work so far. 

When creating our protagonist we had to take into account the modern representation we wished to portray as well as genre conventions. We researched protagonists from teen dramas and black comedies to heighten our awareness.

Heathers: Veronica (Played by Winona Ryder)

Like Mandy, Veronica originally plans to get her own back. This results in a situation which she has to fix.  She is an independent character that whilst being in with the "cool crowd" is not afraid to speak her mind. She is also very attractive as well as fashionable and so is an inspirational character for the core audience. 

The Virgin Suicides: Lux (Played by Kirsten Dunst )

Lux is completely enigmatic, and the audience yearn to learn more about her. We aim to create enigma with our characterisation of Mandy; we will with-hold information about her but give out enough information for the audience to remain interested. 

Mean Girls: Cady (Played by Lindsay Lohan)

Cady's character is similar to that of Mandy in that they both realise they have done wrong, and must then correct it. Mandy must take matters into her own hands to prevent a crime of murder. She, in a way, indirectly caused the boy plan this to happen (by committing the first revenge) and must face the consequences. 

Whilst she is not a character from a film, "Effy" is definitely a character that we have been influenced by, so I have included her in this research to show what influence she had. 

Skins: Effy (Played by Kaya Scodelario)

Effy is very mysterious and enigmatic, and she intrigues the audience. She is very attractive and dresses well, and this all creates an aspirational figure for the core female audience. She is also flawed in various ways, making her relatable for the audience . 

Following this research, we further defined Amanda (our working name for the protagonist) by working out her characteristics at the beginning and end of the film. Although not all of these characteristics will be obvious in our opening, we will keep them all in mind planning the script and shots and while shooting to maintain a consistent representation. 

• She is confident and secure, perhaps slightly arrogant.
• Attractive and well dressed but without too much effort
• Lots of friends, but no one too close. Sells drugs within her friend ship circle, she is the “go to girl”. Very reliable and seemingly unemotional
• Intelligent and observant, but quite uptight and full of herself. This leads to a naivety of sorts: she thinks that she can get away with everything.
• Fairly quiet, but sarcastic
• Holds grudges rather than talking to people and sorting things out.
• Quite cold and calculating, as she must be to carry out revenge.
• Very capable, also a perfectionist with a strong imagination
• She has a good family life, notably well with her older brother.

By the end however, her personality traits have changed, in true coming-of-age style.  

She:

• Becomes friendlier and warmer
• Allows herself to let people in and make true friends
• Stops dealing
• Learns to forgive

We have made decisions for our protagonist through our research and influences. In all of our decisions we have taken audience appeal and genre into account. 

Institutions

Here are the initial institution ideas that we have so far. 

Production Company

X PRODUCTIONS

Our production company, X PRODUCTIONS, would be an independent production company connected to mostly to British indie films with a catalogue featuring films similar to Submarine, Tyrannosaur, and Four Lions.

Distributor

Our film would be distributed by Momentum Pictures who have distributed films like the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Seven Pyschopaths and Chalet Girl. These are relevant because they have successfully distributed films with elements of drama, comedy and darker comedy as well as strong female protagonists which also appeal to males.

Television Rights

We imagine that television rights would probably go to Channel 4 as the film would fit in very well with their programmes, especially on E4.

Style of our Opening Sequence

This post was made in part for the purpose of aiding us in presenting a proposal to teachers and classmates to get feedback on our work so far. 

Our film opening is going to open with an action scene at a party. Action will take place at the beginning of the film, with a teenager overdosing at a party. This uses the enigma code to set up the rest of the film and the audience will want to find out what happened, and why it happened.The enigma code is a good code to use in a film opening sequence because it entices the audience to continue watching the film, and creates questions in their heads that they want answered and can only get answered if they continue to watch the film.

By starting the film opening from the perspective of the main character and moving forwards as the main character does, seeing everything that is happening around her and at the party from her perspective allows the audience to try and understand the main character, and feel like they know her without having actually being introduced to her.  We see her perspective and see her leave the room at the party, but do not know much about her; again adding to the enigma code. Moving as she does, through the party and eventually leaving the party also makes the opening sequence seem like the start of a journey. The audience have begun the journey too, moving with the main character and as action and events happen along the way, they want to see where the journey ends, which would also help the opening sequence to begin to form a structure, that would go on through the whole film. This does follow the convention of introducing character and setting the scene in the opening sequence, but is quite an unconventional way of doing it.

Other conventions of opening sequences we plan to follow in ours are:

- Music that helps to signify genre, introduces the dark, black comedy elements of the film, at the same time as setting the scene of the party within the first scene. The music can also help to set the atmosphere of the whole film.

- The film studio/production company logo

-The opening credits including the producer, director, main actors and so on, all of which are able to attract certain audiences because of previous work

- Set up the genre through character, mise en scene, iconography, themes, editing, and sound

I watched the opening of Heathers, a film my group and I watched for inspiration for our film idea and opening sequence.  It begins with the logo for the production company and then shows the names of the main characters on screen.  Following this, there is a shot of the back of a girls head and she is tying up her hair, and the title of the film ‘Heathers’ appears on screen. 

We have taken some inspiration from this film opening sequence, as they show one of the main characters in the film but without us seeing them, or understanding them or knowing their role in the film yet. We then get a LS of the girl and 2 friends sitting in the garden, but we still do not know them and have not been introduced to them. You see their actions, but do not feel like you yet know the characters as you have not been introduced. You want to know their role in the film, and the type of characters they are playing, as credits are also appearing on screen.