Friday, 11 February 2011
Music
We chose this song from the website http://www.jamendo.com/en/, which is the worlds number one platform for free and legal music downloads. The song it called 'I Try' by the band 'Radio Road.'
After listening to a range of other tracks, we chose this one because we think it fits well with the style of our film and matches what is happening on screen without being so close a match that the sequence would appear like a music video.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Storyboards
These are the original rough drafts of the storyboards, which weren't in much detail.
These ones however, are in much more detail and also show the flashback sequence that was added in, as well as more information about the shot and what is happening in that shot.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Feedback 9.2.11
Well done girls. YOua re making good progress here. Why does it say Gryffindor etc after the character's names? Am I missing something?!
Keep up the good work.
Mrs A
Keep up the good work.
Mrs A
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Production for filming
Prop list
- Cigarettes
- Backpack
- Alcohol bottles
- Mobile phone
- Clothes (to scatter on floor)
Location
- House
- Bedroom
- Outside - garden, , street
Location shots
Outside...
Inside...
Casting/Character shots
Outside...
Casting/Character shots
Costume plans
- Pale pink silk and lace slip dress with zip detailing - pale colour shows youth and innocence, however the dress is quite promiscuous and doesn't leave much to the imagination! The black zip detailing gives the dress edge and reflects the fact that she's innocent and pure but has another side to her which is darker and considered inappropriate for her age.
- Fishnet stockings - she looks quite slutty, and definitely not an usual outfit for someone of her age.
- Black boots - quite masculine, make a statement that her personality is quite intimidating and shouldn't be messed with while also attracting attention. Also practical.
- Leather jacket - reflective of her interests in vintage clothing, music etc. Insight into personality. This and the boots, are almost protective, as if to hide herself despite being so extraverted and exposed.
- Hair and makeup - as if she's just gotten out of bed, without having taken off her makeup from the night before, or making an attempt to tame her hair.
Filming schedule
10.45am - 11am: location/character shots
12am-1.30pm(approx) - Indoor filming
2pm - 2.30pm: Outdoor filming with Chris (Keiran)
3pm - 3.30pm: Other outdoor filming
11am - 12am: Creating correct Mise-en-scene in the room, lighting and characterization of actress (hair,
makeup etc)12am-1.30pm(approx) - Indoor filming
2pm - 2.30pm: Outdoor filming with Chris (Keiran)
3pm - 3.30pm: Other outdoor filming
Our roles
Poppy
- Cinematographer
- Mise-en-scene
- Lighting
Jayne
- Director
- Editor
Both
- Production
- Screenplay
- Music
- Casting
Equipment/Technology
To film the sequence we will use a camera, with tape and a tripod to keep the camera steady.
We will then edit the film together using iMovie.
We will then edit the film together using iMovie.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Synopsis of film and sequence
Synopsis of whole film
Lex (short for Alexis), our main protagonist, lives in a small town outside of Manchester. Her mother, Jane works away alot, leaving the girl with a lot of time to herself. Her father was never a present force in her life. At 15, Lex looks old for her years, and certainly tries to act it.
Her on-off boyfriend Keiran, is 18 and leads her into an unfriendly world of drugs and partying.
After a particularly heavy night out, Lex and Keiran are together in a park, floating around aimlessly and generally doing things one might consider appropriate when in an intoxicated state. Here, Kerian enters into an argument with another, unknown man, which ends in the other man being stabbed.
Lex runs home. (None of this is actually seen/found out until later on in the film)
The following morning, she wakes up with her memory of what happened vague, though a definite sense of fear at what has happened. She looks out the window and sees Keiran standing outside her window, waiting for her. Slamming the curtains closed again, she quickly grabs a few things and runs out of the house.
From here, Lex goes to Manchester to live with other 'friends,' which only fuels her growing addiction to drugs and alcohol. She is a mess, regularly going to clubs and parties and socializing with the wrong kind of people. The place where she is staying is run down and generally unkept. It is rarely cleaned and dark, dank, etc - not a very welcoming atmosphere.
The girls mother pleases herself with the idea that Lex is staying with friends because of a school-exchange trip within the district. She calls her regularly (at first) and is always reassured that things are fine.
A few months after moving, Lex literally runs into a boy called Chris.
Over time, they fall in love. Chris provides the idea of a new life for the young girl. He is clean cut and a good influence on Lex - basically a typical 'nice guy - prince charming' figure.
One night, Keiran, who has constantly been trying to track down Lex since she left, comes to the student accommodation when Lex is staying with Chris. Alone at the time, Lex opens the door to him and is shocked! Kieran barges in and starts threatening her/ telling her how much he loves her and reprimanding her for leaving in the first place. Hysterically, Lex tries to get the boy to leave, to no avail. There is a struggle.
Chris arrives home and throws the obviously 'high' Kieran out of the flat.
He then calls Lex on her mobile, which she, intending to give him a piece of her mind, answers. Kieran tells her that he is on the roof of their building and will jump unless she talks to him.
Hesitantly, Lex and Chris climb to the top of the building to see if these threats hold any truth.
Ultimately, Kieran jumps but lands, injured on a balcony two floors below. He is taken to hospital, and then to a rehabilitation type place to deal with his problems. Lex moves back home to her mother, who upon finding out about the past few months was distraught. However, after finishing college, Chris follows her down there. The ending scene would be one of him meeting Lex from her school, for all the world looking like an ordinary couple.
Synopsis of our sequence.
We open with the sound of a male voice, walking. This is on a blank screen, he is angry/insulting, not a nice person. (It's Kieran). No we cut to an extreme close up of Lex's eyes, open and staring upwards with a glazed look. Slowly, we zoom out from here and see her in full, lying on her bed, partially dressed. The room around her is a mess. Clothes and the like are strewn haphazardly across the floor, along with discarded alcohol bottles and cigarette packets etc. (We cut to close ups of a few of these things). We here a diagetic un-naturally loud beeping sound which turns out to be the girls mobile phone. A message is visible on the screen 'Kieran - What happened last night? I need to see you now.' Music kicks in at this point, starting off quietly and growing louder. Sighing, the girl stands up and casts the phone aside. Her appearance is messy - makeup smudged and hair all over the place. She walks, expressionless to the window and pulls open the curtains. At this point, we see a high angle, point of view shot of her looking out of the window. Kieran is in the garden, leaning on the fence and casually smoking. Hoping the boy didn't notice her, she quickly closes the curtain and turns around. She looks panicked.
Without another thought she roughly begins stuffing a few items into an old, worn rucksack - obviously at this point scared as her phone starts to ring. She snatches up the offending item, rejects the call and throws this too, into the bag. She throws on a jacket, lights a cigarette, pocketing the others and leaves the room. Cautiously, she descends the staircase (shown in a high angle to suggest her vulnerability). We track her through the hallway and out of the front door, which she shuts almost silently behind her, then down the street. Throughout this sequence the titles appear and disappear from the screen almost unnoticeably, until finally the title flickers up at the very end. 'Break'
Flashbacks
We have three flashbacks, throughout the part of the scene where Lex is packing up her things. All are reasonably short.
Character Synopsis.
Lex
Lex (short for Alexis), our main protagonist, lives in a small town outside of Manchester. Her mother, Jane works away alot, leaving the girl with a lot of time to herself. Her father was never a present force in her life. At 15, Lex looks old for her years, and certainly tries to act it.
Her on-off boyfriend Keiran, is 18 and leads her into an unfriendly world of drugs and partying.
After a particularly heavy night out, Lex and Keiran are together in a park, floating around aimlessly and generally doing things one might consider appropriate when in an intoxicated state. Here, Kerian enters into an argument with another, unknown man, which ends in the other man being stabbed.
Lex runs home. (None of this is actually seen/found out until later on in the film)
The following morning, she wakes up with her memory of what happened vague, though a definite sense of fear at what has happened. She looks out the window and sees Keiran standing outside her window, waiting for her. Slamming the curtains closed again, she quickly grabs a few things and runs out of the house.
From here, Lex goes to Manchester to live with other 'friends,' which only fuels her growing addiction to drugs and alcohol. She is a mess, regularly going to clubs and parties and socializing with the wrong kind of people. The place where she is staying is run down and generally unkept. It is rarely cleaned and dark, dank, etc - not a very welcoming atmosphere.
The girls mother pleases herself with the idea that Lex is staying with friends because of a school-exchange trip within the district. She calls her regularly (at first) and is always reassured that things are fine.
A few months after moving, Lex literally runs into a boy called Chris.
Over time, they fall in love. Chris provides the idea of a new life for the young girl. He is clean cut and a good influence on Lex - basically a typical 'nice guy - prince charming' figure.
One night, Keiran, who has constantly been trying to track down Lex since she left, comes to the student accommodation when Lex is staying with Chris. Alone at the time, Lex opens the door to him and is shocked! Kieran barges in and starts threatening her/ telling her how much he loves her and reprimanding her for leaving in the first place. Hysterically, Lex tries to get the boy to leave, to no avail. There is a struggle.
Chris arrives home and throws the obviously 'high' Kieran out of the flat.
He then calls Lex on her mobile, which she, intending to give him a piece of her mind, answers. Kieran tells her that he is on the roof of their building and will jump unless she talks to him.
Hesitantly, Lex and Chris climb to the top of the building to see if these threats hold any truth.
Ultimately, Kieran jumps but lands, injured on a balcony two floors below. He is taken to hospital, and then to a rehabilitation type place to deal with his problems. Lex moves back home to her mother, who upon finding out about the past few months was distraught. However, after finishing college, Chris follows her down there. The ending scene would be one of him meeting Lex from her school, for all the world looking like an ordinary couple.
Synopsis of our sequence.
We open with the sound of a male voice, walking. This is on a blank screen, he is angry/insulting, not a nice person. (It's Kieran). No we cut to an extreme close up of Lex's eyes, open and staring upwards with a glazed look. Slowly, we zoom out from here and see her in full, lying on her bed, partially dressed. The room around her is a mess. Clothes and the like are strewn haphazardly across the floor, along with discarded alcohol bottles and cigarette packets etc. (We cut to close ups of a few of these things). We here a diagetic un-naturally loud beeping sound which turns out to be the girls mobile phone. A message is visible on the screen 'Kieran - What happened last night? I need to see you now.' Music kicks in at this point, starting off quietly and growing louder. Sighing, the girl stands up and casts the phone aside. Her appearance is messy - makeup smudged and hair all over the place. She walks, expressionless to the window and pulls open the curtains. At this point, we see a high angle, point of view shot of her looking out of the window. Kieran is in the garden, leaning on the fence and casually smoking. Hoping the boy didn't notice her, she quickly closes the curtain and turns around. She looks panicked.
Without another thought she roughly begins stuffing a few items into an old, worn rucksack - obviously at this point scared as her phone starts to ring. She snatches up the offending item, rejects the call and throws this too, into the bag. She throws on a jacket, lights a cigarette, pocketing the others and leaves the room. Cautiously, she descends the staircase (shown in a high angle to suggest her vulnerability). We track her through the hallway and out of the front door, which she shuts almost silently behind her, then down the street. Throughout this sequence the titles appear and disappear from the screen almost unnoticeably, until finally the title flickers up at the very end. 'Break'
Flashbacks
We have three flashbacks, throughout the part of the scene where Lex is packing up her things. All are reasonably short.
- Lex is talking to another guy. This is an innocent conversation - clearly a friend. Filmed from a long shot.
- There is a shot of Kieran, medium shot. He looks angry. Tracking shot of him walking towards Lex and James. Lex motions for James to go away.
- Finally, Kieran imposing in her personal space. He pushed her against the wall. Long shot to medium shot.
Character Synopsis.
Lex
- 15 years old.
- Attractive. Looks older than she is, though fundamentally still acts her age.
- Lives just outside of manchester.
- Only child, never knew her dad.
- Naive
- Experiments with drugs/alcohol etc
- Trusting of people
- Impressionable
- Likes to have a male presence in her life for protection etc.
- Likes 60-80s type music
- Wants a normal life, but doesn't know how to attain this.
Kieran
- 18 years old
- We don't know anything about his family - he grew up in foster care.
- He lives alone.
- He has a tendency to cling on to powerful influences in his life. (eg Lex & drugs.)
- Strong dependency on drugs. Doesn't think he can live without them.
- Good person at heart, just gets caught up in his environment
- Doesn't think he's worthy.
Chris
- 17 years old
- Lives in Manchester.
- Has a loving family of mum, dad and twin sisters!
- Goes to college
- Very intellectual and academically focused.
- Is attracted to Lex because he can see that she is a good person. Sees her for who she is
- A bit of a geek.
- Very loyal
- General level of awesome.
Friday, 4 February 2011
How to use opening titles.
After watching a range of opening titles including: Juno, Legally Blonde and Catch me if you can, we picked out the features which appear in all of them and we would therefore need to use in our own. These are:
- The institution which made the film (Universal, MGM etc)
- The Production company
- The Director
- Stars (Usually the best known actors first)
- Title of the film
- Casting director
- Costume designer
- Music supervisors/directors
- Producer
- Executive/co-producers
- Director of photography
- Editor
- Screenplay by/written by... \
EVERY 13.2 SECONDS.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Our Questionnaire...
Audience Questionnaire.
What is your gender?
Male Female
What is your age?
10-15 16-20 21-30 30-45 46+
What is your ethnicity?
Once a week or more often Once a fortnight
Once a month Less often
What is your preferred genre of film?
Action Romance Comedy
Romantic Comedy Horror Social Realism
Other (please specify)
Name your favorite film(s)
What was the last film you watched?
Who is your favorite actor/actress and why?
ANALYSIS!
The questionnaires we handed out were all to people aged 16-20 because we could only hand them out within the college environment. They were also mostly of the same ethnicity, other than one. So, according to the previous post on audience, they would be around the right target group for us.
Overall, the genre the males preferred were comedy and action, with two of them voting for the genre which our opening sequence will be based on - social realism. From the girls, only one person chose social realism, and the most popular genres were Romantic comedy, comedy and horror.
Their favourite films also reflected this because the genres they picked were that of these films, for example: The Dark Knight, Titanic and Pulp Fiction. One film also marked as a favourite was 'This is England' which we have already discussed as being a Film4 production, and of the Social Realism genre.
How often people go to the cinema has proven to be either once a month of less often. Which proves that all films, but particularly those of our genre, which do not have a budget extensive enough to create high profile marketing campaigns, need to work hard to get people into the theaters and seeing the films!
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Top 20 Films of all time!
Via - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films
Top Grossing British Films. (More similar to our genre)
Via http://sy09.ukfilmcouncil.ry.com/?id=41127
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