Production Log 11

Production Log 11

This week we were working on two different things, the shooting script as well as the Location Recci. The shooting script plan was just to finish off what we were working on from last week and for the location Recci, we had to find three locations on where to record for each type of scene that would be in the opening of the film, then describe the features that supported why we should use that location and then the reasons against it. However this was a relatively easy week as we didn't have all that much to do. We also had to include the details of each location as well as an image.

The only problems that we had this week was coming up with locations where we were going to record, for example the prison as we needed to find a very negative and dismal looking prison that was accessible and easy to get to and not too far away, we finally managed to narrow it down to better locations but was much harder than finding the location of our park scene which we decided on as Christie Gardens Park.

Shooting Script

Shooting Script

For our film we decided to create a shooting script, which is very similar to a storyboard except that in this case instead of it including images, it is described through text. Instead of showing a high angle in the picture it will just be written, this does allow for more room to describe what actions take place and to show a more developed story in the plan as well. 

This is our script for our opening of our film. There will be minimal dialogue.

Location Recci

Location Recci

Location 1: Park

Our first option for recording in a park is going to be Seven Kings Park. The reason that we chose this park is because it has a large field with a lot of space which is one of the criteria for our scene and would be very effective in long shots or wide shots for the scene where they are playing football together. However the downside to this location is that it isn't surrounded by very urban housing or flats which look rundown, which doesn't quite fit the idea that the film is trying to show. 

Our second option for the location is to record in Goodmayes park because it is relatively close to both of the other two locations and our houses and it, the good things about this park is that it also has a lot of space to record in and is able to show a variety of different shots and cutaways as well as the football scene. On the other hand this park are that this park would not fit the genre of British Social Realism as it would have a lot of children happy and playing in the park whereas we are trying to portray the opposite.

The final location is the park that is next to our school, Christie Gardens Park, the reason we chose this is because it is enclosed and surrounded but a housing estate and flats which definitely suits the genre that we are showing. As well as this it has areas where it gives the impression of a lesser quality of living and has a caged are where people can play football. On the other hand the park is much smaller than the other two so if there are other people in the park it will be harder to get a recording without other people in it. 

Location 2: Alley Way

The first location we found for our scenes in the alley way was the one on Barley Lane. This would be a good place to film as it is wide and also you can see the estate houses and other things that look like they are owned by middle class people. The mise en scene in this location would be suitable for the genre. The drawbacks of this alley way is that as it is on the main road, there would be alot of cars driving past, therefore noise would be an issue.

The second location we chose for the alley way was on Percival Gardens. We chose this location as you can see estate houses in the back and also it is in a quite area so it would make sense that gangs meet up there. However the drawbacks of using this alley way is that it is very narrow so it would be hard to show an attack as well as film there.

The last alley way we found for the attack scene is the alley way on Chadwell Heath Lane. We chose this alley way as it is close to our other locations therefore it would be easy to film there, however the drawbacks of filming on this location is that the alley way is also very narrow and it is next to an area that looks like where middle to normal class people live.




Location 3: The Police Station


We needed the outside of a police station to film a scene of the older brother leaving the station after being released.The first location we used for a police station is Ilford Police Station and we chose this location to film at as it is easy to access. However the drawbacks of using this location to film at is that it is located in a busy area so we have to keep in mind the noise around us.
 
The second location choice we had was Ilford Town Center. We chose this as it looks old and like a traditional prison and that is good as we only need the outside of the location. The drawbacks of using this location is also about it being a public place so we have to make sure it is not loud or busy.

The last location we found to film the police station scene is Goodmayes Church. We chose this location as the side of this building looks very similar to the location we had in mind. Also the location is in a quite area where it would be easy to film. The drawbacks of using this building to film is that cars would be driving behind us therefore it may be busy.

Production Log 10

Production Log 9

This week we were working on data collection through the use of surveys. We started by going over all the different types of survey that we could carry out, for example a Vox-pop (video of questions being asked and answered in real time) or through the use of a questionnaire (a sheet with questions being asked). We had to decide what would be a better choice for our film and we decided on using the vox-pop because it is much more appealing to look at rather than a lot of sheets of paper but also people have more incentive to give a legitimate and a longer response when on video as they can be exposed unlike with an anonymous questionnaire. 

We will then use the data to help alter the narrative of our film and make some changes in order to make it more appealing for the audience to watch. The examples of our change can be viewed at full here, but a short explanation would be about the two brothers and how the eldest brother had been reformed we got 2/3 responses saying that they thought it was a good idea that the two brothers were close but the idea of the older brother being changed while in prison and then trying to help his brother out after seemed to prove to be very popular. They thought that it would be a very dramatic story and that it would be intense. Further more when asking about the second question about what each person thought of a British Social Realism film that was based upon religion as it is obviously linked to the idea of terrorism in our film we got very similar responses. Many people thought that the idea of exploring the differences with people from different ethnic backgrounds was a good idea as it got to show the process and the routine of someone from a different culture. It also would raise some issues to society about equality between people of different colour and or gender and they thought hat it would be good to help try and erase those thoughts and ideas from the people and replace it with something less threatening. 

Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative Data Analysis

From all of the research conducted we managed to find out some key points about what we should and shouldn't include in our film, this will be very useful to keep in mind especially when considering the target audience in order to get more people to watch he film. 

From doing this research I have found out that I should include many different interests as part of the story as it will help to draw in people from a wide range of different backgrounds, if we didn't then there would only be a very small sample of people who would see it. For example this could be that we include football in order to bring the attention of a lot of the male figures and to draw in more female viewers we could include romance in the story. This would mean that there is more depth to the story as well rather than it being an empty shell.

Another thing that I have decided on is to include other social issues in society such as abuse, drugs and inequality as they can often fit in with terrorism but also helps create a negative image of society in these urban areas of the UK. It sets up a negative location and tone as well as a negative image based on the people so when the older brother is released he is seen as a more ideal person in society.

Thirdly I am going to include only relevant terrorism plots, things that are realistic in the UK and do actually happen, this creates a strong sense of realism in the film and can actually highlight how serious these issues are in real life, getting the audience to view society in a different life. The goal would be to open peoples eyes to how vulnerable the Muslim community is in the UK and that other precautions should be taken into effect in order to prevent things that happen in the film from happening in real life.

Another thing that we have to make sure that we do is not to deviate too much from the actual plot of the story, the narrative is about the older brother trying to save the younger brother. This means that the audience want to see a close bond or relationship between the two brothers and so would mean that we have to show that both of them used to get along very well but only recently drifted apart since the older brother has been in prison, this gives the feeling that there is still a connection and that the younger brother is worth saving and doesn't portray a negative light on either of the two characters, instead only criticises the idea of religious extremists. 

Finally the last point that we got, which I also agree with is that the terrorism shouldn't be shown as extremely over the top and extreme, it should start off as just negative opinions and escalate over a period of time. This gives the impression that the younger brother is being transformed and still portrays that positive light on him but also allows the story to follow a more convention storyline structure, it shows how the issues of religious extremists  evolve.

Meet my Audience

Meet my Audience

Analysis of Data Collection

After collecting all of the dat from the questions above we managed to get a wide variety of different responses. We got different responses based on different people for each question. Although from looking over them quite a few of the people responded with the same thing suggesting that there was one major thing that should be considered or a few important things when making the film.

For example the first question when we asked about the story about the two brothers and how the eldest brother had been reformed we got 2/3 responses saying that they thought it was a good idea that the two brothers were close but the idea of the older brother being changed while in prison and then trying to help his brother out after seemed to prove to be very popular. They thought that it would be a very dramatic story and that it would be intense. 

Further more when asking about the second question about what each person thought of a British Social Realism film that was based upon religion as it is obviously linked to the idea of terrorism in our film we got very similar responses. Many people thought that the idea of exploring the differences with people from different ethnic backgrounds was a good idea as it got to show the process and the routine of someone from a different culture. It also would raise some issues to society about equality between people of different colour and or gender and they thought hat it would be good to help try and erase those thoughts and ideas from the people and replace it with something less threatening. 

On the other and we also got different responses about how family life will differ depending on the social background that they come from and that it should also raise the issue of a more common threat than terrorism as well such as sexual abuse or drug abuse. People think that it should definitely iron out the stereotypes that people have on groups in society. From asking these questions we should also make sure to make it appeal to a specific group of people based on their interests for example the two people responded that they liked one of the films that we mentioned because it was linked very much to football which happened to be an interest of theirs.

Base upon the question about what people thought on using terrorism as part of a plot in a film we got a mixed response, a few people thought that it might have been to strong for most audiences to watch as it is quite a undiscussed topic in film, however we know that British Social Realism is meant to explore such areas in film so we decided that we would sill continue with it. We also got responses like it would be a good as it will show the negative affect that religious extremists have on the younger audience and could actually be used to prevent the radicalisation of the youth. 

Finally we asked the question on what themes or ideas should be explored as an extra part of the film. We got the typical responses such as the negative affects and the use of drugs and inequality, which are seen everywhere in British Social Realism films but also we got an answer about including romance as a theme in order to bring in a slightly larger viewing audience and would add a more emotional plot on top of the terrorism themes in the film.

Audience Research

Audience Research

Before creating our film we had to go ahead and work on gathering some evidence to support of improve our initial idea, we conducted 5 questions and asked a total of 10 people some of these questions to see their opinion on the genre of film, the ideas the film explores and what other minor elements should be included in the film.

We decided on doing a vox-pop as our method of survey as it allowed us to ask multiple questions quickly while being able to get a good response that wasn't just a simple yes or no answer. 

Here is the vox-pop that we created.

Production Log - Week 9

This week we were learning about narrative in a film. We went over the narrative structure, however for our film we used a different theory, we used McKee's classic narrative structure, which instead of only containing 3/4 sections had 5/6 depending on whether the CODA was included as part of the film to set up a sequel. There is an extra section at the start to differentiate the protagonists and the antagonists unlike in Todorov's Narrative structure.

We used this to plan out our film for the treatment, we used to plan out the events of our film so that people would know what will happen in the events of the film. For example in the Conflict complication we used the idea of radicalisation being spread to the younger brother as the catalyst for the later events of the film, as it is the cause of the main events of the film (Elaboration). Climax and the resolution is when the younger brother is arrested for events, however all the detail is on the treatment. However there was one compromise that had to be made about our film to fit it into the structure, that was the antagonist, we had to decide that an idea would be the Agent of Change, in this case it was radicalisation as no other person would have fit into the story without making it unrealistic and stupid.

British Social Realism Shooting Script

British Social Realism Shooting Script

A shooting script is similar to a storyboard, it tells you all the events in the order of which they happen and what happens in each shot. It also gives you information on the sounds, actions that will happen, actors and dialogue as well as setting/props that are used. The only difference is that there the emphasis of a shooting script is done through text and not through a illustrated image. The reason it includes all of these things is so that the director can follow a general idea of what the writer and director wanted to show, it is much quicker as well as there are no images. A shooting script will also include shot types, stating whether it is a close up or long shit and whether it is a high or low angle and will tell you in text exactly what each of the camera movements are.

From using a shooting script I have learned that it is much more informative in terms of what happens in each shot as it is all written down, however it is much harder to visualise because a lack of images, every persons view on it will be slightly different. It also is more likely to lead to confusion and missing things out as it is all written in paragraphs. When you have a storyboard though the story is never as clear as it is meant to just get each shot right along with basic actions in the shot, a shooting script on the other hand is meant for everyone to be able to read to understand the story as it is written down with all the details, very much unlike a storyboard.

Our attempt at reading and recording from a Shooting Script



From our attempt we had a variety of strengths and weaknesses, firstly the strengths, we were able to easily recreate all the different actions and the spoken dialogue as it was all scripted in chronological order whereas on a storyboard there would have to have been a separate script to show speech and would require a director to be watching at all times. We also managed to find that they are quite easy to read as they are very much like a script, we managed to get a draft recorded within the lesson and complete it. 

On the other hand we did have some issues with it, for example it is much more likely for a mistake to go unnoticed in a shooting script and led to confusion about the characters in the draft exercise, we also found that we weren't able to stay focused at all times when creating this as we kept laughing. 

Production Log 8 - Developing our Ideas

Production Log 8 - Developing our Ideas

This week we started to develop the idea for our film, we went through thinking about the narrative of our film and we then worked on a temporary title. This week we produced a treatment in order to put across our ideas for what our film will be about, this isn't the final version but was the foundation of it. We based our idea on the current modern issues facing the UK and decided that our film should reflect that, so we started off with ours being set upon drug abuse but was later transformed into religious tension and tension between ethnicity, based upon the modern threat of ISIS.

For this project we are working in teams of two and as a result we end up doing half the work for this project, however to make sure that I would end up getting all the work done by the deadline I made sure to partner up with someone who will also put a lot of time and effort into the work. However there are some problems, mainly that we aren't going to get along as well as people who are in the other groups when it comes to being able to put teamwork in together when not in lesson. However I think that the benefit from putting the effort in will outweigh the potential issues.

British Social Realist Film Treatment

Draft of British Social Realist Film Treatment Part 1

Title:

The title of the film will be "Intifada" (انتفاضة), and this means change in Arabic. We chose to use this word as the title as the fact that it is in Arabic connotes that the themes of the film is religion and also the word reveals that there will be some sort of change shown in the film. This will be that the older brother comes out of prison as a changed man and is trying to change the younger brother. 

The title is conventional to the British Social Realism genre as it is less than 5 syllables and it is one word which is to the point.  An example of a film title that uses the British Social Realism title conventions is Fish Tank.

It will appeal to the target audience as it is different to the other film titles and has a powerful sound to it. The title is in Arabic which would appeal to the audience as it creates enigma as the target audience would want to know what relation the title has to the film.

Target Audience:

The film that we are making will be aimed towards a very specific audience in terms of the age and other factors, for example the target age group for our film is for 16 - 24 year old, because of the themes that are portrayed such as violence, crime and religious extremism. These themes are connote a very dangerous reality that is present around this generation of people and since the main characters in the film are going to be aged around the same age group, therefore it would appeal to the same age group as they take part in the same activities and have similar thoughts. Gender is also a very important criteria for the target audience, the film that we produce will be targeted towards both genders however it would appeal slightly more towards the male gender because of the genders of the main characters as well as inequality between gender. 

Interests are important for the production of our film, we know that people that are going to be targeted are going to be people who have a brotherly relationship and religious extremism/crime as these are shown continuously throughout the film and people who have an interest in these areas or have come into contact with them in some point whether it be direct or indirectly, fulfilling the uses and gratifications - Personal Identity. Whether they have used them or not everyone who will have watched this film will be able to relate to the issues portrayed in the film. 

The film will be produced for the people in Britain, as the genre, which is British Social Realism is mainly targeted towards the people of Britain. Our film will appeal to this particular location because it will be filmed inside a familiar setting to most people, however it will not be targeted towards all the people of Britain, more in particular people living in suburban and urban areas throughout the country, for example the location could be Essex, which is stereotyped with being a negative area.

British Social Realist films often take into account ethnicity as a controversial topic in their films, ours will do the same thing as the story is based about the extreme actions taken by religious extremists. Ours will show the negative affects of these people and how they are a negative influence on the rest of the world.

Our film will appeal to people who watch fast paced films as our own film will include a lot of action, which would engage the attention of the viewers. The unique selling point of our film is to show the negative affects of crime and religious extremists associated with the younger people in the country.

Technology:
During the production of our film we will use a wide variety of different technology and equipment as well as different techniques when filming and editing. Firstly the main piece of technology/equipment that we will use will of course be the video camera, due to obvious reasons, however we will use a lot of freehand recording when making our film as it will connote a very rough and gritty story line because of the seemingly low budget and quality recording. 

In addition we will use a tripod when filming, not all the time but for establishing shots, used to represent the setting of the film, in addition this connotes that without all of the people who are present in the film that this area has a stable atmosphere and is disrupted by the drug abuse and crime that will be shown in the film.

When we have moved onto post production we will need a variety of other equipment, for example a computer and editing software. We will be using Mac OS X because of it's huge role in the entertainment industry as a brand for producing and editing music, film and creating graphics, so by using a Mac we will have access to all the same software. The editing software will play a huge role in the film as without this step the film would never be a film. We will use multiple techniques, mostly continuous editing in order to keep the flow of the film constant and to minimize confusion within the audience.

Narrative:

Our film revolves around two brothers, one aged 14 and one that is 22 years old, following the events of the older brother who is arrested after he joins a terrorist organisation or a group of religious extremists. The story will follow the younger brother who follows in his elder brothers footsteps after he is arrested, however when his elder  brother is released from prison, he leaves as a changed man, rehabilitated. The film will then follow the plot of the older brother who is desperately trying to stop the younger brother from taking the same path that he took. 

For our opening sequence we have decided on a smash mouth opening that will follow a non-linear narrative. The opening will start off showing the close relationship between the two brothers. The older brother is being arrested by the police, in slow motion and distorted as well as drowned out audio. After this the opening will shift it's focus onto the younger brother and his reaction to the event, with no audio and hint that his brother has decided to follow in what his brother was doing at the time, finally ending with a black screen. We will aim to follow the conventions of an opening sequence by using graphics super imposed onto the footage, to show the different actors and the different institutions involved in the production of the film, in addition to this we will use an action montage during the opening that will involve a lot of fast paced shots in order to get across as many of the themes as possible. We will also establish the setting of the film by using an establishing shot to show the urban area of the film, we will also use very minimal dialogue and engaging music in order to get the attention of the audience and divert their attention into the narrative of the film.

Our Narrative Structure, based on McKee's Classic Narrative Structure

Representation:

The key characters in the film will be the two brothers, one who is 14 and the other 22 at the time of the first event in the film. The older brother is seen as the character who is closer to the protagonist, as he will be the person who is seen to be the better person in the film when trying to stop the other from following in the same footsteps as him. The film will follow the typical stereotypes that people will have on certain ethnic groups and he will be subject to discrimination by people who aren't part of the same ethnicity or religion inside the UK.

The younger brother will be closer to the archetype of the lost boy in the film and not the antagonist even though he is seen as an extremist, he will be the person who needs to be saved from the situation that he is in and will also be subject to the same discrimination as the older brother although more extreme during the main events of the film. 

The antagonist of the film is not a person in this case but more an identity or and idea, in this case it is the idea of religious extremism and radicalization, who will have twisted the thoughts and the mindsets of the two brothers.

Conventions:

Our film we use many different conventions that apply to British Social Realism. For example it will involve a very negative story and narrative during the film, giving the impression that there is no escape from the problems that they face. We will also follow the archetypes of a British Social Realist film as well, or as much as we can based on our story, we will have the lost boy, who would be the younger brother or the older brother depending on what point of the story it is, for example at the start the older brother would be the lost boy. The weak but aggressive man is more an idea in this case, the idea of religious extremity. The location and the setting is also going to be considered, for this convention we are going to shoot on location in a urban like area in the UK and the era will be set in the present day, as this reflects the current issues in the world with terrorism. In terms of acting in the film we will use non-professional actors, people without experience in acting, in order to make the film more believable as it is more natural.

Style and Iconography

During the film we will use very rough filming techniques through the use of freehand and limited tripod usage. By doing so we will have a jagged and shaky video instead of a very smooth and professional looking film, this is important as it will give the impression that the film is in a rough setting and makes the intense and negative story a more believable look. We will also use a lot of camera movement in the film, this will connote that there is a lot of action in the film and that there is always something going on in the film. However there isn't anything else to do for camerawork.

The editing will play a major role in this film, we will use a lot of cuts in rapid succession in order to give the audience the feeling that the film is very fast paced and over the top in terms of how negative or serious the scene is. We will also use color correction to get across the tone of the film, we will use a blue correction or hue on top of the film as the color blue connotes sadness and will put a darker color scheme on the film.


We will use props and costumes in the film to get across a specific theme or tone to the film for example we will use casual clothing that is typical of gangs that would involve hoodies and tracksuits, this will give the impression that the film is set in an urban area and that it isn't very nice due to the negative connotations associated with them.

Finally through the use of sound effects we will create a strong believable sound to the film as well. We will be using police sirens and muffled audio to create the sense of loss of sense or feeling and that there is a lot of crime in the film, however we will limit this because in this genre of film less sound editing can actually make it more believable rather than using them. This will be only dietetic sound only apart from perhaps the song that is played on the opening as it doesn't make the film very believable. We might use a sound bridge in order to connote that time has passed and that we are moving into a new setting.

Institution:

The production company in the brief will impact on the type of film we will produce as general British Social Realism films don't have a lot of budget, therefore we will limit the technology we will use. Also channel 4 films  always show their logo at the beginning of the film therefore we will ensure to do so. 


The institution will affect the distribution as we will show the film on independent cinemas such as The Stratford Picture House. Also the film will be shown on Film 4 and in Britain. We have decided to exhibit our film through the normal ways channel 4 films are usually shown to make if closer to the brief as possible.

Production Log 7 - Creative Thinking

This week we were studying different news stories and stories of films in a British Social Realist film, first of all we have already more or less covered this as it links very much to all the different conventions and topics of this genre of film, for example the theme of drugs and alcohol obviously means that the story will include them. So instead of going over all the themes and all the different conventions we looked at newspapers to see if we can find inspiration for a plot or narrative for the film we will create the opening sequence for. We looked at a wide variety of different newspapers that were all British and from local areas, varying from the type of paper they were, we had newspapers that were and weren't tabloid papers. We looked for stories with a negative tone as that would be the only thing that would fit the genre and for stories that were in local standard areas and not stories that would be completely impractical to record. 

From studying these newspapers we then picked out stories that we thought were fitting to the genre of British Social Realism and then altered the story so that it fit the genre and the setting of where we are much better. We had to make decisions on ow we would change the story as well as finding stories that were potentially controversial as this way they would have a moral to the story, something for the audience to take out from it.

British Social Realism - Creativity

British Social Realism - Creativity

This screenshot from a newspaper is about a policewoman who is injured in a car crash and left with serious head injuries, this is very relevant to the genre of British Social Realism as it includes themes that are explored a lot in British Social Realist films, this one being disability, where the story follows the life of someone who is discriminated against or extremely weak because of their problems as it follows their struggle against everyday life. I can use this news story to develop my own story. I might use the theme of disability to make my own opening. For example in my own story I will use the narrative of a person who is injured in a car accident and is left with head injuries or body injuries and as a result is forced to go through her life at a disadvantage and having to put up with people taking advantage of her.

This newspaper is about a boy who is having nightmares when a criminal had held an axe over his head, this too links to the genre of British Social Realism because it is a very sinister narrative and very dark. I can use this real life story to base my story on a traumatised child. It wouldn't be based upon what actually happened with the axe but it would have the same after effect where the child's life is ruined because of continuous nightmares that impact his mood to the point where he suffers from depression. This would be based upon some sort of stalker or person who is constantly controlling the life of the child by threats and this would create a very powerful story that would fit the genre of British Social Realism very well.

This is the story of how a terrorist is killed in another country, this can be used in my story but maybe not to as extreme lengths as this story played out to, for example it could be how a family or person is damaged from the loss of someone close to them as the result of terrorism in England. The terrorist attack would be based upon a real event that happened and would involve the themes of death, depression as well as tension between the governement.  

A prostitute gets pregnant by accident, and he friend is jealous because she can’t get pregnant so when the baby is a toddler, the friend smothers him, and the prostitute stops prostituting, drinking out of the baby’s cups and then commits suicide.

A young adult lives in London, who is bullied for the country he comes from, so he fights against racism and discrimination, and to make it worse, he’s cheating the benefit system