Final_Opening_Sequence_"Choices"

Opening scene:
This is the final cut for our opening scene, of a Teen angst:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDxMtuEjBn4&t=13s&ab_channel=JackWarner

Evaluation_Task_No.7: What_Do_You_Feel_You_Have_Learnt_In_The_Progression_From_Your_Preliminary_Task_To_The_Full_Product?

Camerawork:

In our preliminary task, our main focus wasn’t to demonstrate a range of camera shots but to use the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot-reverse-shot. I included a high and low angle shot, with over the shoulder shots and a two shot, along with a close-up on the files. With these shots I created a slight intense atmosphere, making ‘Kyle’ (The older actor, wearing glasses) seem to have more power by giving him a low angle shot from over the shoulder of ‘Rhys’.

But for my AS product I wanted to develop my camera angle skills and the way in which I use different range of camera shots. From my research; I learnt from many ‘teen angst’ films such as “Easy A”, “Kidulthood”, “Juno” their opening sequence had various use of shots and where not limited to a few average shots, such as “Easy A” and “Juno” mainly uses long shots for the characters walking around the school. This was to help clearly connote to the audience the setting and environment, something I want to incorporate into the opening sequence.

Therefore, the majority of the opening sequence was long shots, connoting to the audience the tough environment of my film. However, just like in “Kidulthood” I include several close ups in the opening scene, to help emphasis certain characters emotion and to provoke a reaction from the audience. An example would be, after the close-up on the alarm clock, ‘Ben’, is getting up and ready very early, to help emphasis how tried he is, provoking to the audience the stereotype of teenagers, by having Ben look tried connoting how Ben is a stereotype to how audience typical see teenagers and allowing teenagers to relate and connect with Ben character. Which is something I couldn't create with my Preliminary Task.

Editing:

For my Preliminary Task the main focus was to use the 180 degree rule, a shot-reverse-shot and match-on-action.  I used a match-on-action when ‘Rhys’ knocks on the door and walks through the door. The match-on-action was used from two different areas, with different angle and shot. I also used the 180 degree rule to maintain the character being on their side of the table and to have a clear divide.

So for my Preliminary Task the editing was very basic; therefore I focused on progressing this in our feature film. A match-on-action was used when Ben walks into the living room to see ‘Beau’ and ‘Mason’, and when he leaves the school, after dropping off Beau and Mason. I didn't use shot-reverse-shot in the AS product as it wasn’t necessary for the scene to keep Ben isolate from everyone.  I used very slowly-paced editing to emphasis the depressive tone of the film, allow with slow-paced music that complicates the editing, connoting to the audience how this film isn’t a stereotypical up-beat teen angst film, but a counter-type that challenges certain teen films. By having a very slow-paced and a juxtaposition between Ben with the drugs in his room to the kids playing in the living room, allowing the audience to get a feel of the mood of the film.

Mise-en-scene:

My main prop in the Preliminary Task was an unmarked folder, to interests the audience in what Kyle is giving Rhys and why he had to call him.  I also used a table to helped show a divide between the authorities in the Preliminary Task.

All of the characters will wear shabby/casual clothing. This is because the characters attend sixth form. Additionally, the clothing will be casual and modern, to emphasise a stereotype that characters are young adults.
 Our main prop was a bag of ‘unknown substance’ this was to connote the dark tone of the film, and to get the audience hooked as they want to know what that substance is and weather they ever truly find out, making the audience keep watching to find out.

Titles:

For my opening scene I focused on using titles in the AS product. So for my sequence I named the film calling it 'Choices' and this appears in the colours of white with a black background, to symbolise what little innocents and good left in the world of the film, and to show the struggles our main protagonist has to face within this film. The Title is an informal and messy font with connotations of being a teenager, and to have look of drugs as it scatted along screen in the shape of letters. The main title appears larger and central and, when the camera fades out into a black screen, giving me a plain background for the main title to appear on. The rest of the titles appear in various ways, and the actors’ names appear in the font with different colours. Every actor had an allocated colour throughout the opening sequence, in order to make them clear to the audience. The creative ways of presenting the titles included the name 'Ben Stacey' right next to him as if it was on the pillow with him.

Sound:

In preliminary task I only used diegetic dialogue, this was emphasises the seriousness of the interview and additionally to make it more dramatic and tense for the audience. But for my AS production the non-diegetic music I discovered on a website called 'bensound.com', created by a friend of my called "Ben Tomalin" who allowed us to use certain songs provided in his library of royalty-free music free of charge. This website can be used by anyone, with only one condition that they would be credited as the source. Promising to do so, we selected four different audio tracks: 'Better Days', 'November', 'Sad Day', and 'Tomorrow', which were all considered for use in the finished product. And using 'Adobe Premiere Pro' I combined two different 'Better Days' and 'November' and was able to add them into the final cut.

Evaluation_Task_No.6: What_have_you_learnt_about_new_technologies_from_the_process_of_constructing_this_product?

Evaluation Task No.6:
I have learnt about varies new technologies for my AS production:

Hardware used:
During the production of our opening sequence, we used:

• Camera x2
• Tripod x2
• Umbrella (sound purposes)
• Red/flood light (lighting purposes)
• Microphone (audio purposes)
• Headphones

Software used:

Platforms:
-The online program/website Blogger allowed me to upload our research and  planning. It also allowed us to display our ideas in various ways. By presenting our work on a digital program, on a it meant I could keep track of my project’s progression, in terms of planning/pre-production, filming and evaluating my AS product. and receive constructive feedback from our teachers on the contents of a recently published post.

-YouTube was used to upload and showcase the video sections of our project for my AS products, so I could share my target audience feedback and research conclusions. It could have also been used to get the free music and any sound effect for my opening sequence. This was useful as the music I originally wanted too used for the opening was copyright, meaning I couldn't use it unless I had the artist permission, but lucky  the music from YouTube is non-copyright.

- But instead of YouTube, I used Ben-sounds, which is a independent website that published music that can be free to use by anyone, as long as who ever uses it in a production, credits them for it. Lucky I knew the creator of this website and was allowed to used his music for my opening scene.


Communication:
-To plan for my AS production I used social media website like "Facebook Messenger" was the primary location for our communication with the actors as we negotiated their involvement in the project in conjunction with their availability, which often depended on which days they could take off work or how much free time they had after school.





Post-Production:
-Adobe Premiere Pro was the central hub of our project’s editing, as essentially all of it was carried out in this program.  As the program is easy to use, it allowed me the re-arrange the footage captured and the combined audio tracks together, such as the non-diegetic sound until it was ready to be exported. Using premiere pro enabled me to add titles and still frames for my opening sequence, giving my production a more professional look to it. Making a bigger
improvement to my AS production than my Preliminary Task.
  
-Adobe Photoshop was mainly used as a tool for altering some of the aspects of our film, such as making the logo for our production company look more professional i.e. clearing up some of the inaccuracies, and to help create meaning within the logo, as the start background help connote to the audience the sense of wonder and lost my film could portray.

Evaluation_Task_No.5: How_Did_You_Attract/Address_Your_Audience?

Attracting the audience:
The main way to attract an target audience is by making it relatable to them, and by having stereotypical features.

• The main characters are both females and male, with a stronger male influence, making it appeal to both a female and male audience, more so to a male audiences as it will address situations they are familiar with, making it relatable. 
• British film attracts British teenagers, clear understanding. American teenagers might not understand because their lifestyle might be different.
• Teenagers attract audiences of similar ages as they can relate to the characters and possibly narrative.
• Characters wear up to date clothes like baggy shirts and jeans which makes them trendy and they look like regular teenagers.
• The characters like to do the same things as the audience (getting up early, going to school, bumping to friends), they share similar hobbies and experiences.
• As our audience like to watch angst and films with characters of a similar age to them, our film will attract them because it has elements as well as teenage characters.

Attracting and addressing the audience in the opening sequence:

•          Ben in handcuffs to connote his in troubles, as teenagers stereotypically blame for causing trouble and are usually caught.
•          This 'unnamed substance' will get the audience interested. Teenagers will understand the dangers what I'm trying to connote, making it relatable to them.
•          Having to wake up early is something everyone, especially for teenagers have to experiences.
•          This is our main protagonist 'Ben'. Making Male audiences start to identify with him.
•          This is the same 'unnamed substance' prop from before, getting the audience interested in the narrative.
•          Having younger sibling, will allow the audience to connect more with the narrative, and start to relate to Ben.
•          Also having the kids doing something childish helps give the audience a sense of hope and innocents towards the narrative.
•          Having the walk to school in the dark can relate to many teenagers, especially those living in rough areas.
•          The lack of diegetic sound allows the audience to become lost with the narrative, and provoke a response from the audience.
•          The slow, quiet music connotes to the audience the feeling of lost and depression, something a lot of teenagers suffer with, allowing them to relate to the opening sequence.
•      The titles used throughout the opening are all the same font, but have a different colour scheme, making them more personal to each character. Allowing the teenagers start to relate to one of the character.

Evaluation_Task_No.4: Who_Would_Be_The_Audience_For_Your_Media_Product?

Demographics audience:

• Are you male or female? Male
• How old are you? 19
• Where do you live? In a large town 
• What film genres do you prefer? Comedy, Action/Adventure, Psycho/Horror Thriller and Sci-fi 
• What do you like to wear most? Smart/Casual clothes and Hoodies
• Where do you like to shop mostly for these? Burton's, Tesco and online 
• What do you like to do in your spare time? Home, Parties, seeing friends and go to the cinema.
• What do you spend most of your spare money on? Others, gaming, food and clothes

Our target audience would be aimed at teenagers at the ages of between 15 - 19 years old, but more focused on older teenagers, as they understand the mature themes better, with a better chance to relate. The opening sequence is mainly aimed at males as the main character is a 16 year old male, not to say females couldn't relate to Ben, but could by also including younger sibling and a female character within the films opening . The class of people that our filmed is aimed at are working/middle class people who are part of a medium size working family, seen by Beau and Mason yet is anti-social, as he hangs out with other people of a lower class, not by choice. Our film is aimed at white British people because the actors in our film are of a white race therefore it will be generally more appealing to people of a white race, but doesn't have any stereotypical race values or actions, so others from the same social background could enjoy the film. The protagonists in this film is a teenage boy who is 16 years old, but is catch up with the wrong crowd. We feel that aiming our film at teenagers from 12 -18 but mainly older teenagers is appropriate because this age group will be able to relate well to the characters in our film. We also think that the film will appeal more to males because there are mainly male characters in our film therefore the male audience can relate to them. 

Psychographics  audience:

Often teenagers would like to go out with friends to go to parties and to socialise. However sometimes they have to stay at home and look after their family (especially if they have younger sibling) therefore teenagers are likely to watch my film; as in the opening sequence they are denoted a young man (Ben) waking up early to get his family ready for school. As a result of creating this subject matter I feel that teenagers would be the best audience for the opening sequence, as the characters and environment in the opening sequence can be relatable to an audience of teenagers because they are teenagers themselves. 

Evaluation_Task_No.3: What_Kind_Of_Media_Institution_Might_Distribute_Your_Media_Product_And_Why?

Revolver Entertainment, though not very well known, have distributed the film ‘Kidulthood’ in the past, which was the main inspiration for our project’s narrative and would mean that our film would be quite suited to their established trend of distributing low-budget productions

Funding for our film would be obtained with the involvement of the British Film Institute (BFI), who operate a program which uses National Lottery funds to ‘develop and support original UK filmmakers and films’. The reputation of the BFI Film Fund as a provider of support and funding for the production, development and distribution of many independent British films over the past few years is the main reason why we would choose to have this institution provide funds for the creation of our film, especially as their involvement in several other independent British films has resulted in increased recognition, demand and success for those projects.

Prime release dates for films to receive a large audience usually fall within school breaks and half-terms, as students, our overall target audience, would have enough free time to consider seeing whatever looks good in the cinema. Another aim would be to release it at a time when it wouldn’t have as much competition in terms of what else is showing and whether it could be viewed as the more popular choice of film that weekend. Considering all of these factors, an optimum release date for our film would be some time in early April, likely in the first week of the month, as it would coincide with many schools having just broken up for the Spring half term and lack much competition from other films which may overshadow its release.

·         Actors’ names - Crediting their contributions
·         Distributor - Providing recognition for the company
·         Release Date (early April)
·         Production company (name and logo)
·         Film title ('Choices')
·         Source for royalty-free music (bensound.com) – Credit results in free use of available samples

Planning - Equipment_List

Equipment List:

For our AS product we use 3 types of equipment. What we recorded our product on (Camera),  How we set the scene up (Rigs) and how to view it to have best quality (Accessories):
 
Camera - Digital Camera Portable Mini Handheld Camcorder

Rigs - Tripod, Umbrella (Wind), Lighting rig (Red heads)

Accessories - Microphones, Headphones


So in total for our AS production, Callum and I used:
·         Camera x2
·         Tripod x2
·         Umbrella (sound purposes)
·         Red/flood light (lighting purposes)
·         Microphone (audio purposes)
·         Headphones

For most of this equipment we had to book them out form our schools recourse. We had to go ask them in advance to see if they had the equipment we needed, this was in case anyone else had booked out the equipment before hand. This also meant we had to work around booking our equipment out with when our actors where free, all but the umbrella and flood light as I was able to borrow them off a friend.
All equipment is important, as it helps us create a product with a high quality and semi-professional look to it.

Planning - Opening_Scene_Film_Title

Film Title:

The title of our project is 'Choices', having been changed from the original title of 'Really?' following feedback from Mrs Bobbett that it didn't seem suited to a narrative based around a school student turned drug dealer who is conflicted as to whether he should continue to deal or return to school to finish his education following prompting from his friends biased to each side (Rachel's character wants him to return to school, while Lewis' character thinks he should continue to deal drugs). 

The reason for the title change could be attributed to our planned conclusion for our opening sequence, which would feature Ben's character facing a choice of going with Lewis' character to continue their illegal activities or going with Rachel's character and going back to school to finish his education, get a normal job and live a normal, crime-free life.

Planning - Script_#Final

The changes made from my last script is the original "Scene 3". As it took my opening scene over the 2 minute mark we were restricted to; making it harder for the audience to fully understand the whole story within my opening scene, as the ill mother helped emphasis why our protagonist wasn't going to school and had 'drugs' on him. But it was the only scene that could be taken out with the narrative still making sense.

 

Teen angst Film Project:

‘Choices’ Script

Scene 1:

Setting:

Concealed/Interview Room with a chair and a table

-[Ben sitting in the middle of the room, handcuffed]-

Ben:

:Worried:

[Looking around the room, worried.]

How am I the criminal?

[Looks right at the camera]

Jack:

[Walks in and closes the door behind Ben]

[Walks around the table to face Ben]

Ben:

:Unconformable:

[Looks around when the door is closed, as Jack walks into the room and doesn’t look away from him]

[Starts to fiddle with his hands]

Jack:

[Walks around to the front of the table facing Ben]

[Puts down a white bag onto the table]

Ben:

[Looks at the bag, realising what it is]

[Try’s to look away from it]

Scene 2:

Setting:

Bens Room, half messy/tide and no lights to begin with 

-alarm clock, clothes, books, lunch box and some mess (paper mainly)-

[Ben lying in bed]

Flash white

Fades in/close-up

-Alarm clock goes off as it turns to 6:34am-

Ben:

[Hand reacts out to turn it off]

[Goes to turn the light on]

[Lies back on his bed and sighs]

[Picks up his Glasses and puts them on]

[Sitting up straight in bed, as he puts his feet down and, rises out of bed]

[When putting his feet down, he knocks over a small white bag] 

-Background kids playing around-

[Looking around widely and quickly picks up the bag and takes it with him]

 

Scene 3:

Setting:

Living room, downstairs hallway, outside the house

Mason:

Bet you can’t do a cartwheel

Beau:

(Cartwheels)

 

Ben:

Walks down the stairs into the living

Okay guys get your coats on.

Beau/Mason:

Run into the hallway, trying to find their shoes and putting them on

Ben:

Walks outside the door with his brother and sister.

Scene 4:

Setting:

Outside, Bridge, Cromwell road, Longsands Road

Beau/Mason:

Happily skipping/walking along the pathway.

Ben:

Slowly walking behind them, glancing behind him.

Scene 5:

Mid/Wide shot

Cuts

 [Ben Still walking with his brother and sister to school, passed an alley way.]

 

Scene 6:
Setting:
Longsands Academy (reception entrance and foyer)

Ben:

Okay, I’ll be here to pick you up after school okay.

Beau/Mason:

Bye, Elliot!

[Kids run through the corridor]

Ben:

Walks outside and nearly bumps into Rachel

Rachel:

Elliot? Where have you been?

Ben:

Been busy.

Rachel:

Been busy doing what!?

Ben:

Just been busy with stuff.

Rachel: 

What sort of stuff, your education is important.

Ben:

Sorry I’ve got to go.

Rachel:

Where are you going?

Ben:

Starts to walk off screen.

Rachel:

Elliot?!

Elliot, where are you going?!!

Ben:

Starts to walk away and then walks straight into Lewis

Hey there…

Planning - Music_For_the_Opening_Scene

Music choices:

For the our opening scene, to help emphasis our narration; involving adult themes, from drug-dealing, illness, etc. We chose music that symbolises the emotion of our main character's, which is evokes emotions of sadness, loneliness and depression.

As neither Callum or I had any experiences with creating music. Not to mention we were also relatively restricted in terms of the choice of music we could use, but the only music we could use would be royalty-free music; meaning it wasn't copy written, so following some research into established sources for such a type of music. I discovered a website called 'bensound.com', created by a friend of my called "Ben Tomalin" who allowed us to use certain songs provided in his library of royalty-free music free of charge. This website can be used by anyone, with only one condition that they would be credited as the source. Promising to do so, we selected four different audio tracks: 'Better Days', 'November', 'Sad Day', and 'Tomorrow', which were all considered for use in the finished product. And using 'Adobe Premiere Pro' I combined two different 'Better Days' and 'November' and was able to add them into the final cut.

Planning - Script_#2

Teen angst Film Project:

‘Choices’ Script

 

Scene 1:

Setting:

Concealed/Interview Room with a chair and a table

-[Ben sitting in the middle of the room, handcuffed]-

Ben:

:Worried:

[Looking around the room, worried.]

How am I the criminal?

[Looks right at the camera]

Jack:

[Walks in and closes the door behind Ben]

[Walks around the table to face Ben]

Ben:

:Unconformable:

[Looks around when the door is closed, as Jack walks into the room and doesn’t look away from him]

[Starts to fiddle with his hands]

Jack:

[Walks around to the front of the table facing Ben]

[Puts down a white bag onto the table]

Ben:

[Looks at the bag, realising what it is]

[Try’s to look away from it]

Scene 2:

Setting:

Bens Room, half messy/tide and no lights to begin with 

-alarm clock, clothes, books, lunch box and some mess (paper mainly)-

[Ben lying in bed]

Flash white

Fades in/close-up

-Alarm clock goes off as it turns to 6:34am-

Ben:

[Hand reacts out to turn it off]

[Goes to turn the light on]

[Lies back on his bed and sighs]

[Picks up his Glasses and puts them on]

[Sitting up straight in bed, as he puts his feet down and, rises out of bed]

[When putting his feet down, he knocks over a small white bag] 

-Background kids playing around-

[Looking around widely and quickly picks up the bag and takes it with him]

 

Scene 3:

Setting:

Hallway & Mums room

Ben:

[Running across the hallway]

Long shot

Ben:

Hey Mum … How you holding up? 

Hayley:

Elliott … is … that … is that you?

Ben:

It’s me mum, here’s your water and meds.

Walks over to Hayley putting her medication on the side,

Goes to walk out picking up her plates and drinks cup

 

Hayley:

Are you … ready for… school today? 

Ben:

Err… Yes? I’ll just go and grab Mason and Beau.

Then we’ll he heading off.

Scene 4:

Setting:

Living room, downstairs hallway, outside the house

Mason:

Bet you can’t do a cartwheel

Beau:

(Cartwheels)

 

Ben:

Walks down the stairs into the living

Okay guys get your coats on.

Beau/Mason:

Run into the hallway, trying to find their shoes and putting them on

Ben:

Walks outside the door with his brother and sister.

Scene 5:

Setting:

Outside, Bridge, Cromwell road, Longsands Road

Beau/Mason:

Happily skipping/walking along the pathway.

Ben:

Slowly walking behind them, glancing behind him.

Scene 6:

Mid/Wide shot

Cuts

 [Ben Still walking with his brother and sister to school, passed an alley way.]

 

Scene 7:
Setting:
Longsands Academy (reception entrance and foyer)

Ben:

Okay, I’ll be here to pick you up after school okay.

Beau/Mason:

Bye, Elliot!

[Kids run through the corridor]

Ben:

Walks outside and nearly bumps into Rachel

Rachel:

Elliot? Where have you been?

Ben:

Been busy.

Rachel:

Been busy doing what!?

Ben:

Just been busy with stuff.

Rachel: 

What sort of stuff, your education is important.

Ben:

Sorry I’ve got to go.

Rachel:

Where are you going?

Ben:

Starts to walk off screen.

Rachel:

Elliot?!

Elliot, where are you going?!!

Ben:

Starts to walk away and then walks straight into Lewis

Hey there…