Thursday, 16 December 2010

Risk Assessment

Potential
Hazard
Who is at risk?
Risk
Rating
Preventative
Measures
Responsibilities
Weather
Either raining/snowing
Or too dangerous to record
The Whole group
Medium
Check weather reports before hand to ensure weather will be suitable. Before recording any shots we will assess the weather to ensure we are not endangering ourselves or the public.
The whole group
Cameras are all booked out/Out of charge
The Whole group
Medium
Ensure we book camera equipment in advance so that are we able to get the equipment we need. If we already have a camera we should check that it has enough charge for what we want to record.
A member of group
An incident on the way to a location
The Whole group/other motorists
High
All members in the group are quiet, not messing around while the individual is driving. Refrain from distracting the driver. Ensure all members are wearing seatbelts to minimise the chances of anyone getting hurt. Also that the driver is driving appropriately.
The Whole Group/The Driver
Team Member is ill/not able to attend a meeting or recording
The Whole Group
Medium
Let the whole group know when we are planning to record and ensure all members inform each other a.s.a.p if they are not able to attend.
The person who can’t attend/The Whole group
Member of public unhappy with us recording in a particular location
The Whole Group/public
High
Explain to the member of public what we are doing, and what it is for, if still confrontation the whole group move on to another shot in another location
The Whole Group

Developing an Opening Scene

Not much happens in dramatic terms in the opening minutes of a film
Therefore the job is to establish the character/setting and narrative context for the audience and to set up some degree of enigma (a question that the narrative will answer in time)
This will help the audience understand easily where we are, who is involved but fundamentally, why we should be interested.
The idea needs to be developed in broader terms before a plausible opening sequence can be constructed.
Show the character in a changing situation which will become dramatic, show them in an everyday reputation must be achieved through micro elements: 
·        Appearance
·        Costume
·        Performance
·        Location
·        Dialogue
·        Lighting
·        Props
·        Music
·        Possibly Voiceover

Codes and Conventions of a Teen Drama Film

Codes and conventions of the teen film genre vary depending on the cultural context of the film, but they can include proms, alcohol, illegal substances, high school, parties and all-night raves, losing one's virginity, relationships, social groups and cliques, and American pop-culture.
The classic codes and conventions of teen film come from American films where one of the most widely used conventions are the stereotypes and social groups. The wide range stereotypes most commonly used include:
  • The Jock/Cheerleader
  • The Princess
  • The Geek/Nerd
  • The Rebel
  • The Misfit, or The Outcast
  • The Average Girl/Boy (the boy/girl next door)
  • The New Girl/Boy
  • The Loner
  • The Band Geek
Apart from the characters there are many other codes and conventions of teen film. These films are often set in or around high schools as this allows for many different social cliques to be shown. This is different in hybrid teen films, but for the classic romantic comedy teen film this is almost always the case.

Characters, Locations and Props

Actors:

Person
Role
On Screen Name
Tom Speechley
Acting as the main character, as he progresses to a rap star.


Tom Benson (Real name)
Rap  name/nick name:
Mr B.
Sam Guy
The main characters role model
Professional rap star, already famous
Sam Carter
Rap name/nick name:
Sam Sparkz
Sol Ilett
Acting as the record producer for Sam Sparkz

Calvin Banks
Extras:
Adam Pickup
Liam Tilley
Kiel Omesher
Find others if needed


The characters will be used throughout the opening scene often walking by the main characters, also acting as the audience when main characters are performing on stage.
Names will not be relevant as they may have little or no speaking parts in the opening scene


Locations:

Location
Purpose
Recording Studio (Ken Stimpson)
We will use this location for the professional rap star, recording a new song. We will ensure the shots make the location not look like its within a school.
Tom Speechley’s house
Use as the first shot, as the character wakes up. We will use the bedroom, toilet and front door, as part of the opening scene.
Streets/Alley way
We will use Tom’s street and an alley way close by to record shots of the character walking, while listening to music and rapping out loud.



We are using Tom’s normal house as his on screen house as he is just a regular person in the film when we start so if we use his normal house, his regular status will come across. Were using the streets and alley ways to portray the tough struggle it is to get where he wants to be by walking through rough areas. We are using the studio to as it is very professional looking and when Sam will be in it, it will show Sam’s high status compared to Tom’s non-existent status on the outside of it.
Costumes:

Character
Costume
Tom Benson
Trousers: Nike Tracksuit bottoms, Grey
Top: Zoo York, Black T-Shirt
Shoes: Nike High tops
Accs: New Era Cap, Skull Candy Head Phones

Sam Carter
Trousers: Topman Carrot Bottom Skinny Chinos (Dark Green)
Top: Topman character top/plain black hoody jacket
Shoes: Adidas High Tops
Accs: Wooly Hat, Blue, Studio headphones
Calvin Banks
Trousers: Topman Carrot Bottom Skinny Chinos (Dark Grey)
Top: White T-shirt, Topman chequered shirt
Shoes: Vans Authentic (Grey)
Accs: Studio Headphones




We used this costume for Tom as the clothes he will be wearing with his accessories are the most stereotypical rap star clothes around what people can wear. He wears all the expected clothes as he is trying to make it so he does everything by the book. Sam however, he wears these clothes and accessories as he has already made it so he can wear more of what he likes and get away with it. It is still that style but more laid back. Calvin is wearing really casual clothes as he is a record producer and usually they wear what they like on a day to day basis so it’s not too smart, just casual.

Props:

Props
Studio Equipment
Alarm Clock
Mirror/Tooth brush/ sink
Front Door


We are using the alarm clock as when it goes off to wake Tom up at the start is will be a good way to start out soundtrack up while Tom is getting ready and going out. As I have already explained the studio is used to show how professional and high status in the music industry Sam is. The rest of the props will not normally be noticed in the film as much as they are pretty standard things like getting ready in the morning and leaving your house to go out. However as they are normal things to do with our editing and recording we will highlight that to show what a normal guy Tom is.

Working Outline


Title/working title

Out of Sight

Plot/outline summary

Out of Sight is a film about an older teenager, Tom (Mr. B) around 16 or 17 who is trying to make it big in the rap/music industry but not succeeding. This is not down to his rapping ability, just purely down to his self confidence, skinny and geeky look. He just doesn’t get recognised. From the same city as him, Peterborough, there is already an established rap star named Sam (Sam Sparkz) who is Tom’s favourite artist who he aspires to be like. Sam is already big in the UK rap scene and the biggest thing to come out of Peterborough in years, when Sam sees Tom rising through the ranks throughout the film Sam grows to hate him and does everything he can do to make sure he doesn’t make it big. But as Tom grows in confidence his spirit and his rapping ability shine through as he releases his first song which happens to be very successful. At the end of the film when Tom finally makes it to the level Sam is at instead of fighting with him and taking him down from the spotlight he decides to collaborate with his idol and Sam can only accept after Toms determination to get to the top.

Opening sequence outline/summary





The opening sequence starts with Tom putting on his Street rapping clothes but hiding his geeky identity so people don’t know about his image and think he is a normal stylish guy. However when he is walking the shot shows his pale face with glasses so the viewers know he is a nerd. While he is walking there is rap/hip-hop music playing in the background. At the end of the opening scene while he is walking in an industrialised building area he looks through a window and sees Sam singing in a recording studio and sees himself in the future.  While he is looking through the window watching Sam sing he shuts his eyes and imagines himself collaborating  with Sam but when he opens his eyes again his daydreaming goes and Sam walks out the studio to leave Tom standing there by himself outside alone and struggling to find when his chance will come.

Genre

Teen Drama

Final Ideas and Meetings

After months of repeatedly changing our movie idea trying to think of the perfect one we feel we have finally got it. A teenage drama called Out of Sight about a teenage lad trying to make it in the rap world against all odds.

We presented our idea to other media groups and some peers in our school compared to all our other ideas we have made. They all stressed that they believe this is our best idea and we should go for this. From their encouragement and a small meeting our group had to talk about our movie options we decided to go for Out of Sight.

On Friday afternoon we had a meeting with Mr DeVita our teacher to see our progress so far and to see us progress further. He was happy with our organiastion and what we have done so far but to improve he told us to explain what we wrote and why we wrote it. Taking on board what he has said we have done all of that today.

Austin Powers Opening Scene Analysis



Final Video Storyboard



Saturday, 20 November 2010

Target Audience Research

This is the questionairre we handed out before we started creating our main exercise
Sharrison Productions are beginning to plan their new movie and are hoping to gain some guidance from you, the audience. From the following questions we hope to gain a good idea of what you like to watch and what you want us to produce.

1.     How old are you?

0-15                o                   16-24             o          24+          o 


2.     What genre of film do you prefer to watch?

Drama                       o        Comedy        o          Horror         o 

Thriller                       o        Rom Com      o          Sci-Fi           o 


3.     What are your main interests?

Sport                          o        Music             o          Fashion    o 

Computers               o       Cars                o          Films             o 


4.     What is your favourite film?

_______________________________________________
5.     What is your favourite TV show?

___________________________________________________

Question One
This showed that we asked mainly 16-24 year olds, and this was the target audience we were aiming for with the production.
Question Two
After asking all of our respondents we knew that drama was the genre we were going to use. This allowed us to create and imagine ideas around drama. We could, from this, analyse other drama films, as well as looking through the code and conventions of other drama films. 

Question Three
These results showed that the target audience are mainly interested in music. After discovering this, we decided we would try collaborating music within our film. We wanted to try use music as the main feature in the film, rather than just using non-diagetic music over the top of something else.
Question Four
The results from this question, showed that most of the respondents enjoyed teen drama films with a large majority British based; 16/50 respondents said that their favourite film was adulthood.
After reading through all the responses we were able to narrow down our ideas of what the film could be to suit the audience best.
Question Five
Most respondents said that they mainly enjoyed British drama; Misfits, Skins and Shameless were the main results throughout the questionnaire.
After this we knew that some aspects of the film may contain the lives of teenagers, and include the social aspect of teenagers.