Review of Research and Planning

Evaluation of Research and Planning

In order to review my research and planning, I have monitored my progress from AS to A2.

My creation of storyboards has been in area of improvement during the step up of AS to A2. In our 2-minute AS possession horror film opening about a boy who is possessed by a supernatural female figure, our storyboard had detail and most scenes had a full breakdown. Although we had some parts missing when we started filming. This meant that we had to keep rescheduling filming days in order to complete all of the shots needed, due to adding them throughout the production of the film opening.

 

Due to not storyboarding effectively, some of the shots were unachievable, including having the possessed antagonist making an immediate bruise on the protagonist, we realised that we did not have the equipment or skills for this.

In the storyboarding of ‘Eighteen’, we ensured that we did not encounter the same problems as we did at AS. We did this by writing a list of desired shots and a basic idea of the scenes we wanted to include. We then filtered these to choose the best clips. This allowed us to experiment with a range of shots and editing styles due to having an exact number of clips to film and a finalised storyboard.

Another area of improvement has been shooting scripts. At AS we made a shooting script for each filming day so that we knew the list of scenes and equipment needed. Although, we organised our filming days last minute, which meant that the planning was rushed. This meant that some group members couldn’t attend various filming days, reducing the amount of team participation.

This progressed in A2 as we organised the filming days ahead of time, we grouped clips that we filmed in similar locations i.e. a day in Paddock Wood to film the parts at my house, Five Oak Green park and Costa.

 

To conclude, my skills from AS to A2 have improved. This has helped me share better ideas with the group, and increase the quality of the planning and creation of our media product.

Shots we used for inspiration

•  Shot on left - We Are Your Friends (2015) - drama/music/romance film set in LA which follows the career of a DJ. The trailer features a extreme close up of a dilating pupil with a sharp focus on the iris and pupil. The shot is only half a second long and mart of a montage of footage of the DJ recording different sounds.
• Shot on right - our teaser trailer - we used a close up shot of an eye to show and emphasise the effects of drug use. Our shot lasts one second which gives the audience time to see the pupil dilate. The eye isn't as close as the shot we used for inspiration but we wanted to show that the eye was Roses.

• Shot on left - Trainspotting (1996) - this is a popular drama film set in Glasgow which tells the story of a group of young men caught up in a cycle of drug abuse. As our film was about drug use in response to mental illness, we were strongly inspired by the shots in trainspotting.  The shot above on the left shows the main character, Renton, injecting heroin into a vein in his arm using a needle.
• Shot on right - our teaser trailer - We attempted to replicate this shot using a needle used for printer ink refills. We obviously could not make the shot look as convincing as the shot from trainspotting as the actor obviously could not actually push the needle into her arm and we therefore made the shot as short as we could, ensuring the belt above the elbow is visible and the needle pushing against the skin.

• Shot on left - Trainspotting (1996) - this is a shot from the same scene as above in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting. This shot shows an extreme close up of heroin being made on a metal spoon.
• Shot on right - our teaser trailer - we were inspired by the shot from trainspotting and recreated it using golden syrup and a lighter. We held the lighter under the spoon and let bubbles form. Using a +10 close up lens attachment we were able to capture this process in very good detail.

• Shot on left - Fish Tank (2009) - this is a shot of the titles on the trailer for social realism drama, Fish Tank. The titles are in a bold, sans serif, capitalised font on a black background. However the text is transparent which reveals a layer underneath on moving water. This therefore creates a visual effect o the water through the text which reflects the films name.
• Shot on right - our teaser trailer - we wanted to achieve similar titles to those in the Fish Tank trailer and therefore researched online how to achieve the same effect and applied it to all of our titles with a shot of Rose running through an orange lit subway in the background.

Music

Above - The XX - Intro - featured in Project X (2012), various crime/thriller shows Cold Case, Person of Interest, Law & Order

Above - Jacoo - Crossing Winds - we 7used this in our trailer due to its resemblance to the XXX's song. The tense heartbeat like percussion and building tempo make it perfect for our trailer.

• We researched music we liked and found artists such as The Black Keys and The Vaccines and other indie-rock artists whose music was used in teen drama trailers. We were oringially inspired by this music styles and looked for remixes and remakes online we could use in our trailer however we thought that as our trailer had a darker mood to it we would look for something more sombre.
• We liked music by The XX but their work was copyrighted so we found an artist called Jacoo on online music sharing site SoundCloud and came across his song Crossing Winds. I contacted the artist to ask for his permission and he replied almost immediately granting us permission.
• The song he produced sounds almost identical to The XX's Intro but has a beat and build more suited to our trailer.

Evaluation

• In conclusion, the majority of our shots inspired by existing work turned out successfully and we combined a range of angles and shots to give a restricted narrative outline of our films plot.
• As for the music, we were determined to find the perfect piece inspired by an existing artist and we added different songs to the clips to test the sounds and found Jacoo's song to be a perfect fit

Film Website Deconstruction

Website Deconstruction

The Spectacular Now

[website]

• The website is not overcrowded and quite simple. The colour scheme is very neutral the only two colours being cream and green.
• The majority of the website is taken up with the trailer, which plays when the user clicks it, not automatically. We are going to have our trailer play automatically, so that when the user is the on the website, they are drawn into watching the trailer.
• At the top of the website, there are a few tabs that the user can click to find out more about the film i.e. synopsis and cast and crew.
• Below this are links to the film’s social media accounts and websites to purchase the film from.
• The green band at the top of the website is a review, that changes around every 10 seconds, so that the user can see the reviews of the film, so that they can choose whether it is suitable for them or not.
• Below the trailer is an active link to the accounts tumblr tag. This means that when people post pictures/videos of things about the film with the tag #thespectacularnow it appears on the website. This is a way of getting the audience involved with the film and increasing the amount of online publicity as more people are likely to post about the film if they have the chance of getting onto the film website.

Paper Towns

[website]

• The trailer automatically plays full screen when the website is clicked on. The user has an option to close this, above is an image of the website that comes up as a result of that.
• The colours of this website are the same as those on the poster and titles in the trailer. This creates brands reputation for the film, attracting the target audience and allowing all three media products to be linked.
• The yellow and blue work well together as the yellow stands out against the electric blue colour, drawing attention to the tagline and similar films specifically. This targets a specific audience.
• The main image taking up the website is the same as that on the poster. This, again, creates brand loyalty.
• In the centre of the website, there is a banner with the options for the user to find out more about the story, trailer and music, amongst others. This makes the audience more active which benefits the publicity of the film through opinion leaders, who lead the people around them (the passive audience) to believe their opinion, which hopefully is that the film is good.
• Below the banner, is a live link to the film’s tumblr page. Employees of the main production company will look on the film’s tumblr tag to find posts worth reblogging. Once reblogged, the posts would appear on the website. As fans have the chance to get their work reblogged onto the website, more people are likely to upload posts about the film, increasing online publicity.

Sound Research

The sound in our teaser trailer is to be quite fast paced and urban to reflect the negativity and adrenaline of the drug use and alcohol introduced to Rose's life.

Music commonly used in teen drama films include modern indie/alternative songs with synths and a consistent beat. 

As our film idea is for Rose to turn eighteen and her life becomes a lot more based around drugs and alcohol, I thought our opening scene could show a home video of Rose turning 18 with family and/or friends singing Happy Birthday and end the trailer with our shot of Rose in the public toilet whilst playing an instrumental version of Happy birthday which changes off pitch and fades out.
After evaluating this idea the group decided this wouldn't be possible due to a shortage of timing in

My uncle is a songwriter in California. He tours the United States with his band and writes music for commercial use in his free time. His music has been featured in 'The Middle' (ABC) 'The Game' (BET), 16 and Pregnant (MTV), 'Tosh.O' (Comedy Central), '10 On Top' (MTV) as well as corporate projects, iPhone apps, websites and other new media. 

I messaged my uncle to ask if he would be able to write some music for our trailer and he said he would be more than happy to help. I sent him a link to a draft of our film so he could match the atmosphere and timings of the video roughly.

Below is a lin to his page where he publishes his music and events

https://www.reverbnation.com/stuartmoore

Deconstruction of Location in 'My Mad Fat Diary'

Location in My Mad Fat Diary 

My Mad Fat Diary is a English TV series about a girl, Rae Earl, who struggles with anxiety, depression and an easting disorder and her journey through college. It is set in 1996, so some of the muse-en-scene is out dated in comparison to the miss-en-scene we will be using in our trailer, due to it being set in modern day.

My Mad Fat Diary is a teen drama, which is the same genre as our trailer. This means that we can use inspiration from a number of different thing within the series.

I deconstructed the mise-en-scene, specifically the location from a few scenes of two episodes. 

Season 2 Episode 3

• This scene is set in Rae's college. She is walking down the corridor while everyone else passes her by. 
• The other students are blurred, which also blurs the background of the shot, making the mise-en-scene of the location unidentifiable.
• Rae is wearing a leather jacket and band t-shirt, these are normal clothes for teenagers and therefore shows that Rae is just like any normal teenager.

• Part of this episode is set in the common room of Rae's college.
• The common room has bright walls with tables and chairs scattered around the room, this is just like a normal common room at other schools, allowing the target audience to relate to the programme and Rae.
• To get the best results if we were to want to film in a common room, would be to film while the room is being used, due to actually being able to film teenagers acting normally. The only issue with this would be the sound. Although we are most likely to put non-diegetic music over the clips and not use diegetic sound.  

• Another scene in this episode is set in a restaurant, similar to the coffee shop we are planning to film in.
• The girls in the scene are wearing clothes from 1996, which are quite dated nowadays. We won't use outfit inspiration from this TV programme.
• I like the framing of this shot as all characters can be seen and conversation is easy to track. Although this clip may be difficult to film in a coffee shop due to the size difference, and we might not be able to film with a tri-pod.

Season 2 Episode 5

• The beginning of the episode starts with a summary of what has happened during the season so far. There is a montage of 'The Gang'. The location of the montage is the characters walk back from college.
• The location is in a council estate. This again, targets the correct audience as it shows that the characters are 'normal' and from a typical working class background, rather than having inaccessible stories i.e. extreme wealth or extreme poverty.
• Again, their clothes are outdated, so we will not use the clothing as inspiration.

• This clip is set in one of the characters cars.
• As we are planning on using a car in our trailer, we can use this as inspiration. The car is one from 1996, so is older than one we would use in our trailer.
• As we will be using my car, a 2008 VW Polo, it is a realistic first car (as it is my first car). Therefore it will be relatable for our target audience.

• This scene is set in Rae's bedroom.
• The walls are covered with bands that she listens to, due to the time it is set in her favourite band is Oasis. There is also The Beatles poster on her wall.
• This décor may be a bit outdated for our trailer, but we could use the inspiration of including current bands, as this is a relatable topic for our target audience.
• Music can also be a big influence in attitude, especially in teenagers i.e. grunge.
  

Teenage Issues

In our narrative we included several teenage issues to represent the difficulties teens face as they reach adulthood. 

Depression

• Nearly 80,000 children and young people suffer from severe depression an estimated 20% of teenagers will experience depression before they reach adulthood. This sounds like a low statistic but depression is a serious mental health disorder that can lead to serious problems if it is not dealt with. 
• In our trailer, our character is not represented as clearly experiencing depression however it is a long term side effect of alcohol and drug abuse, especially after withdrawal from drugs and alcohol.

Bullying

• Bullying is a very common problem with teens. There are no official statistics on this problem as the bullying cases aren't always reported however the NSPCC published a report stating that there were almost 26,000 counselling sessions for teens that were bulling in the last year.
• Social exclusion is a from of bullying so our film has aspects of this issue involved however not in large quantities as her addictions cause a lot of exclusion for her.

Teenage Pregnancy

• Teenage pregnancy is a decreasing problem in Britain however still exists. An article on The Guardian online states that 'teenage pregnancy in England and Wales is at its lowest rate in 46 years'. The pregnancy rate for women aged 15 – 17 was at 24.5 conceptions per thousand (Office for National Statistics). This is a 13% drop since 2013 The ONS report suggested the reasons for the drop could be increased education on contraception, perception of stigma associated with being a teenage mother, shifts in aspirations of girls towards education.
• We are not referencing teenage pregnancy in our narrative as we would like to focus more on drug and alcohol abuse and having a pregnancy also would be unrealistic and over the top.

Homelessness

• In 2014 an estimated 2,744 people slept rough on any one night across England. Young adults are at particular risk of homelessness. Since 2010 the number of young people sleeping rough in London alone has more than doubled and 8% of 16-24 year olds report being homeless. 
• Due to Rose's alcohol and drug abuse in our narrative, she gets kicked out of her family home and is forced to live alone on the streets.

Alcoholism

• It is well known that underage drinking exists however starting to drink at a young age can cause complications I later life and possibly lead to addiction. By age 18, more than 70 percent of teens have had at least one drink
• 193 males and 121 females between 15 and 34 years of age died from alcohol-related causes in 2011 in the UK
• As our character turns 18,s she is legally allowed to purchase alcohol and the influence from the new group she meets turns her towards alcohol and she therefore becomes reliant.

Drug Abuse

• 42% of boys and 35% of girls admitted they had tried illegal drugs at least once 
• 2 in 5 15 year olds admitted to cannabis use at least once
• Like alcohol abuse, our character turns to drugs as a diversion from her problems. Her new friendship group sell her the drugs and she therefore has constant access to illegal substances which causes a problem with addiction.

Suicide

• Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24
• Severe depression can often lead to suicide, and depression is often a long term side effect of drug and alcohol abuse.
• Our character does not have any links to suicide as this is an extreme topic and would be hard to focus on due to the sensitivity and extremity of the subject. Our character is however very vulnerable and at risk to an overdose.

Smoking

• 90% of smokers begin before the age 19
• Teenage smokers are at more at risk of depression, especially after withdrawal
• The law states that to buy cigarettes you must be over 18 years old - our character is therefore old enough to purchase and smoke cigarettes

Research: Use and Effects of Heroin

Our original idea was to use cocaine in our narrative however we decided heroin would be a better alternative due to it being less expensive and more addictive. It is also more commonly used by those from the working class. As a group, we knew little about the use and effects of heroin and I have therefore researched the basic facts around how the drug is used and the effects it has on those using it. 

Below is a list of the things I have learnt:

• Heroin is a drug made from morphine extracted from the opium poppy
• Forms of heroin are often used for medical reasons as an extremely strong painkiller. It is often used to relax the user as a small dose gives them a feeling of warmth and well-being and if taken in bigger doses, it can make you sleepy and very relaxed.
• If a person has never taken heroin before, their first dose cause dizziness and vomiting.
• Heroin is very addictive and it only takes a few uses to become dependent on the drug.
• The effects usually last a few hours.

Short-term side effects:

• Shortness of breath
• Dry mouth
• Constricted (small) pupils
• Sudden changes in behavior or actions
• Disorientation
• Cycles of hyper alertness followed by suddenly nodding off
• Droopy appearance, as if extremities are heavy

Behavior changes in heroin users:

• deceptive behavior (eg. lying)
• avoiding eye contact
• increased amount of sleep
• slurred speech
• performance at work/school declines
• decrease in attention to hygiene and physical appearance
• lack of motivation
• withdrawal from friends and family
• lack of interest in hobbies
• wearing long clothes to hide needle marks

The effects and behavioral changes will be fairly easy to film for our trailer and they work with our narrative.

In our filming, we used sugar to mimic the appearance of powder heroin and syrup to show it when melted. We then used oil in a needle originally used for printer ink refills. These shots looked convincing and we shot them extremely close up to capture the detail and ensure the audience can recognise the drug. 

Social Media Trends

Social Media Trends

An idea we had for our teaser trailer was to incorporate social media into the storyline. This is due to social media heavily influencing our lives as well as our generation. This will ensure that we attract our desired target audience.

A recent study shows that one quarter of the world’s population uses social media - 1,730,000,000 people.

I have researched into the trends of four of the most popular social networking sites in 2015.

Facebook

Facebook have 757 million daily users and 1.23 billion monthly users.
24 million of the 31 million British users use the social media daily.
49% of Facebook users are male, 51% are female

87% of users use the social media app on their tablet or smartphone.

Half of the users of the social network are between 18 and 34.

24.5% are 18-24, 25.5% are 25-34.

The most popular pages in the United Kingdom are:

- Manchester United

- David Beckham

- Chelsea FC

- The Beatles

- One Direction

Instagram

Instagram have 300 million monthly users
30 billion photos have already been shared  to the social media
10 million photos being posted daily
2.5 billion likes being received a day

Averagely, a Instagram user will be on the app for 21 minutes daily
20% of internet users have an Instagram account (2014)
Increased from 15% in 2013
51% of Instagram users are male, 49% female
41% of users are aged 16-24, 35% are aged 25-34

The most followed people on the social media are:
- Taylor Swift
- Kim Kardashian
- Beyoncé
- Justin Bieber

Twitter

Twitter has 316 million monthly users - 15 million of them being British.

500 million tweets are sent everyday.

80% of users access the social network on their tablet or smartphone.

Over two thirds of the people on the site are under 34.

12.1% are aged 12-17, 23.9% are aged 18-24.

43% of users have an account but have not posted.

Only 26% of teenagers say that it is their favourite social media.

The most followed accounts by British people are:

- Harry Styles

- One Direction (group account)

- Adele

- BBC Breaking News

Snapchat

Snapchat accounts for 75% of all data traffic in the UK
Snapchat has 30 million monthly users
55% of those using it daily equalling 16.5 million people

294 million snaps are sent every day

70% of users are female, 30% being male

26% of users are aged 12-17, 45% are aged 18-25

Moral Panics: Spiking and Legal Highs

Spiking

where drugs or alcohol are added to someone's drink without them knowing

Spiking is a illegal and can lead to a 10 year prison sentence. This sentence would be extended if the person who spiked the drink assaulted or robbed the victim also.

There are no reliable statistics to show how many victims of spiking are in the UK however reports show that it is rising.

Although most people know spiking to be adding strong drugs to drinks, the most common form of spiking is adding alcohol. It is added to a non-alcoholic drink. Common types of drugs used to spike drinks are: 

• gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL)
• tranquillisers, most often benzodiazepines, including valium and rohypnol 
• ketamine

Spiking is particularly dangerous when mixed with alcohol because when combined they have an extremely powerful anaesthetic effect. This can lead to death. Other side effects of spiking include: 

• lowered inhibitions 
• difficulty concentrating or speaking 
• loss of balance and finding it hard to move 
• visual problems, particularly blurred vision 
• memory loss (amnesia) or "blackouts" 
• feeling confused or disorientated, particularly after waking up (if you've been asleep) 
• paranoia (a feeling of fear or distrust of others) 
• hallucinations (seeing, hearing or touching things that aren't there) or having an "out of body" experience 
• nausea and vomiting 
• unconsciousness

Legal Highs

a substance with stimulant or mood-altering properties whose sale or use is not banned by current legislation regarding the misuse of drugs.

Many ‘legal highs’ are sold with names like ‘Clockwork Orange’, ‘Bliss’, ‘Mary Jane’  and have been know to cause poisoning, emergency hospital admissions including mental health services and i extreme cases - deaths. 

All legal highs can be put into one of the three categories:

• stimulants
• ‘downers’ or sedatives
• psychedelics or hallucinogens.

Legal highs come in a wide variety or forms including powders, pills and liquids. The drugs can be different sizes and colours and the 'ingredients' which must legally be stated on the packaging may not be correct, meaning the consumer does not know what they are taking.

Users can become addicted to legal highs as they contain substances found in other addictive dugs.

Possessing or supplying a ‘legal high’ that contains a banned drug is an offence.

All legal highs must state that they are 'not for human consumption' the the packaging even though this is why people buy them. It would be illegal not to include this on the packaging.

They are supposedly meant for chemical experiments such as heating and mixing and are therefore called 'research chemicals' when purchased.

You must be 18 to purchase legal highs.

They are available from a range of highstreet legal high shops including 'UK Skunkworks'..etc

Narrative Theory

Narrative Theory

Narrative is “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time” according to Bordwell and Thompson.

Syd Field, an American screenwriter, said that a successful film must have the audience ‘grabbed’ in the first ten-minutes. Due to ‘Eighteen’ being in trailer form we had to subvert this.

We managed to conform to this theory by revealing the plot through small clues; for example our titles that mention ‘isolation’ and ‘depression’, which are the basis of our character’s journey.

Our narrative is restricted which promotes enigmas; this is a tool we used to attract the target audience. The title of our film also helps; “eighteen” with an 18 age rating makes the target audience obvious.

Propp’s theory suggests that characters take on the role of narrative ‘spheres of action’. He claims there are seven different characters types in most media products, including the hero, the villain and the victim amongst others. ‘Eighteen’ subverts this theory as there is only one character. Due to the genre, there isn’t always a hero as it’s based on social commentary. The protagonist takes on two character types: the victim and the villain. This is shown by the character seeming dangerous, implied by the drug taking in the opening of the trailer, contrasting with the shots of the protagonist’s eyes in the mirror, they are bloodshot and show that she has been crying.

Todorov’s theory states that narrative is structured in five stages: a state of equilibrium at the outset, a disruption of the equilibrium and a reinstatement of the equilibrium to finish, amongst others. ‘Eighteen’ starts at the highest point of disequilibrium as drug taking is an uncomfortable subject. As well as this, our music, which is of the electro pop genre, sounds like a heartbeat. This adds to the discomfort of the scene as heavy percussion is introduced at the point of injection, representing the drug entering her bloodstream.

Aristotle’s Unities claim that narrative should be created within a ‘unity’ of time, place and action, meaning that it should all take place in the same location, time and have move towards a logical conclusion. ‘Eighteen’ jumps locations, an example of this is the flashbacks.

Levi Strauss’ Binary Opposition states that tension is based on conflict and opposition. Our trailer conforms to this theory, but instead of opposition arising between two characters, the protagonist struggles with an internal conflict. The heroin taken at the beginning of the trailer can be seen slowly destroying the character’s life, eventually leading to complete isolation and homelessness. The character is dealing with her addiction outweighing self-inflicted pain, which leads to her self-destruction.