PLANNING: LOCATIONS

Our location for our film include parts of the inside of a home. Rooms such as a Childs bedroom and a sitting room.

 We will also need the inside of a car as our character drives away. Our location of the home is perfect as it is homely 

and modern, perfect for our character who is living in the spotlight and undoubtedly has lots of money.

PLANNING: PROP LIST

The props I am using will include:

-Handbags

-Sunglasses

-Basic clothes

-Sophisticated clothes

-Cameras

-Studio lights

-Bodyguard earpiece

-Kids clothes/  pyjamas 

-Teddy bear
-Car

-Magazine cover

-TV remote

-Book

-TV

Props for child:


Probs for celebrity: 

PLANNING: TREATMENT

INFAMOUS

A story based on a prominent figure in the public eye who has found herself caught in a scandal. One that she can't get away from. What will she do to get away from it? How will she protect her family? 

What our production is about - 

As a group we have decided to create an opening of a film based on the life of a celebrity. This film opening will help show the real world and reality of how celebrities are really affected by the spotlight. It is going against all the films that glamorize the career of being in the spotlight. Our film will open with the character of Blake Taylor spending some bonding time with her daughter In the safe and secure place of her home, in this scene we don’t see a famous idol we see an everyday working mother who loves and cares about her daughter, this shows a softer side of her and instantly makes the audience connect with her and see her as a caring individual who has a home to provide for. The scene will be set in a child’s bedroom to make it feel as authentic as possible. As the scene moves on we see her discover that a long time secret that she had put behind her has been placed in the spotlight and her secret is out, it is everywhere she goes, causing her to struggle to cope as the panic starts to kick in. 

One scene that is very important for our opening is the paparazzi scene. This scene will be extremely difficult to film as we will need lots of different technology and lots of people to help achieve the perfect scene. This scene is to set the scene and show how drastic being famous is, it is a stereotypical expectation of what celebrities see as soon as they leave the house or when they are working on the red carpet. In this scene we will include lots of different camera angles and editing techniques to heighten the anxiety she is feeling and to increase the speed as her thoughts going through her head are going just as fast. 

The opening will end with the final question – where is she going? As we see the young mother in panic mode after facing her first day outside the house since the news hit. This scene will include clips of her throwing clothes around and rapidly packing bags and grabbing passports leaving the audience unaware of what she is panicking for. The audience will see her change her identity, changing what she usually wears, changing her car, trying to hide and protect herself. It will end with her getting into a car that she would never usually drive and taking her daughter with her with no explanation.

CHARACTERS

MAIN CHARACTER - our main character will be played by Leila Saville, this is the famous person, the whole of the film is focused around her and her life, showing the audience aspects of her work life and her personal life.

BODY GUARD - Her bodyguard is not a major role but is someone who will be seen throughout as he shows the importance of her, that she has to be protected especially at a time like this. 

HER DAUGHTER - her daughter is a prominent figure throughout as she brings out the kind personal side of her mother which shows the reality of having this career. She will be in it throughout and will create emotion for the audience. 

PLANNING: INITIAL DEVELOPMENT

Mind map of ideas:

FILM INDUSTRY: A Star Wars Story

Who produced the film?

Kathleen Kennedy

Allison Shearmur

• Who directed the film? 

Gareth Edwards 

• What other films have they directed? 

Star Wars: the last Jedi

End day 

Factory Farmed

Monsters 

Godzilla  

• What was the budget? 

$265 million (gross). $219.5 million (net)

• Who stars in it? 

Felicity Jones

Diego Luna 

Riz Ahmed 

Ben Mandelsohn 

• What other films have they been in?

Felicity jones: The theory of everything, on the basis of sex. Inferno 

Diego Luna: Narcos: Mexico 

Riz Ahmen: Venom, The night of, The sister’s brother 

Ben Mandelsohn: Robin Hood, Captain Marvel

• How was the film marketed? Which different marketing tools were used?

- Released teaser trailer for Vogue on April 7th 2016- movie was released December 13th 2016, starting to bring the excitement and hype early on

- Trailer viewed almost 300 million times in just 29 hours in June of 2016 showing how successful and loved it was

- Promoted at an event in London where new posters were revealed and more teaser trailers were shown too, only being displayed to an exclusive audience and could not be streamed online. This made it extremely popular and people wanted to find out what was on it, raising the hype once again

- Another trailer was publicly shown in 2016 summer and received many. successful reviews

 • What examples of synergy with other products/merchandise can you find? 

- Collaborated with Disney

- Made. merchandise (shirts, toys, poster and other this associates with the merchandise produced through Disney, they made toys, t-shirts posters and many other pieces of merchandise sold worldwide

• What examples of cross media convergence can you find? 

Disney selling merchandise in there stores. 

• Where and when was this film released (nationwide, worldwide) and in what cinemas?

Premiered in LA (December 10th, 2016)

Released in USA on December 10th too and. UK on December 13th

• What formats was it available in (digital / 3D etc…)? 

- DVD format

- Online platforms (Apple TV, Disney Plus)

- Blu-ray and 3D. 

• Who is the target audience?

- Very broad

- Mainly males aged 30-50 as they grew up watching these films so identified most with them when they got released

RESEARCH: AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

By using Google Forms, it enabled me to collect data that I can present in both graphical forms and in words. I asked questions that supplied both quantitative and qualitative data to make my research as detailed as possible.

Using Google Forms is an extremely useful medium to find out what people are interested in watching. The aim of my questionnaire is to find out what people would like to watch including the genre and finding out who my particular target age group is. It helps me find out who wants to watch movies, where they watch them and how they found out about particular films, this will give me a good indication on how to promote my movie and on what kind of platforms.



The questions I intend to ask:

(opening) I would be grateful if you complete this short survey on your particular film preferences


What gender are you?
- Female
- Male
- Prefer not to say

What age are you?
- Under 35
- Over 35
- Prefer not to say

Where to you watch films?
- Cinema
- DVD
- Amazon/ netlfix
- Other streaming platforms

What genre of film is your favourite? (pick as many as you want)
- Comedy
- Romance
- Thriller
- Horror
- Mystery
- Action
- Science fiction
- Drama
- Chick flick
- Other

Identify 3 recent films you have enjoyed watching:
-
-
-

Would you watch a trailer before watching the film?
- Yes
- No

Have you seen any of the following trailers or films?

1. A Simple Favour
2. Get out
3. Joker

What is the most likely reason you would go to see a film?
- Director
- Actor
- Sequel

What platforms do you use to find out about films?
- Cinema
- Social media
- Website
- Television

Are you influenced by the following (pick as many as you want):
- Reviews
- Recommendations
- Social media
- Talk shows

(end) Thank you for completing the survey!

UNDERSTANDING HEGEMONY

Hegemony is the concept that media continually reproduces images of a dominant group as superior and powerful. In Western Society, the dominant group is middle class, white males, because the media is predominantly produced by this group type, they therefore tend to represent this middle class, white males as more superior and show the rest of society (working class, LGBT, disabled, female) as less powerful and therefore inferior. The key to hegemony though, is that it is so subtle, so much so that even the white man making the media don't even realise they are doing it, and nobody challenges it. It establishes hierarchies in in society that get reflected back to us in the media and it becomes normal. This theory can be seen as a chance to think about the current status quo and where we are now in terms of how audiences interact with or are influenced by the media.

The magic bullet effect theory and hypodermic needle theory are two behaviourist models that analyse the effect of the media. The magic bullet theory is the idea that the media fires messages into our brains and we are passive consumers of the media who believe everything we are told. Similarly, the hypodermic needle theory is that media messages are injected into our bloodstream. Both these ideas are 'behaviourist' or 'passive audience' theories which show that the media have a direct impact on our behaviour. However, this can be seen as untrue and almost ridiculous because of examples such as Donald Trump. who blamed violent video games for the reason why high school shootings occurred in Florida, instead of acknowledging the real problem of the American gun laws. This tragedy inspired the March for our Lives movement where. thousands of students in Washington marched to call for gun reform. This evidently shows that teenagers especially are not as passive as thought and can see the real issues and fight for what they believe in. 

The uses and gratifications theory (also known as Maslow's needs and motivation theory) suggests that audiences have control over the media they consume and pick and choose the media they want based on  their needs (uses) and desires (gratifications). This is completely different to the magic bullet theory, as here the consumer can go through and choose exactly what they want and reject what they don't like the look of.

Hegemony is continuously being shown in the media. Statistics show that women make up over half the country, yet only 13% of working film directors are women in the UK. BAME people make up 14% of the population but according to Ofcom, only 12% of the employees in this industry are from this background though! Disabled people are very underrepresented, which is a huge issue which is caused due to the stats not telling us about these people's backgrounds. Over half (54%) of top journalists were educated in private schools when only 7% of children in UK actually go to private schools. A further 33% of journalists were at selective grammar schools and only 14% attended comprehensive schools which is where 90% of children are now educated. This shows it is not easy for the average lower class or working class person to get a job in the media, let alone the underprivileged, transgender, ethnic minority groups. When the lives of these groups are just depicted in the news and written into stories or framed by directors, then these representations are likely to be constructed from a middle class white privileged man. However, we could challenge it, in this day and age we don't challenge the ideas fed to children that all doctors and pilots are rich white men and that barbies are white, blonde with blue eyes. If we don't challenge this, then we are consenting to a corrupt system.

Pluralism is the idea that in order to change the way we all think, we need to see many varied representations of people from different social groups, rather than repeated stereotypes we continuously see. This challenges hegemony as it takes out the stereotypes, for example the Legally Black campaign. This campaign was where they allowed black people to replace big white actors in successful movies like Harry Potter and Doctor Who. Pluralism is definitely desirable to people as people aren't used to see ethnic minorities on posters of some of the most successful films created. Therefore, this widens people's views and challenges the stereotype view of media.

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

When coming up with my opening sequence, I realised I needed to research my target audience and understand what type of people they are. This included their age, gender, ethnicity and social class. It is important for me to understand their media needs so I am able to produce a product that is something they will watch and enjoy. Lastly, in order to market our movie, I needed to find I way to reach the target audience. I will show how my research I found has influenced my planning by answering the questions below and including pictures to support my answers.

1. Who is my primary target audience?

British females and males aged from 15-34 who enjoys watching movies with drama and suspense. 

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer?

After doing some film research we discovered that the film 'A Simple Favour' would seem like a popular movie for our target audience. It is a story about a lady trying to unravel the mystery behind her friends disappearance and along the way they found out secrets about her that no one knows. I think this movie is extremely good to relate to our movie opening as ours will be about a famous lady who tries to escape her scandal so leaves the country to not be discovered in huge detail.

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?

Our audience is most likely to enjoy watching a movie in a niche market cinema such as Everyman or Curzon as they can experience the true richness and quality of it while also having an incredible experience. However, we feel that our audience will also enjoy we experiencing movies online on streaming websites like Netflix, Amazon or Sky and they may start to use other streaming services like Disney+

4. What brands do they prefer?

my audience profile

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition?

We are focusing on how famous people suffer in the spotlight and how being famous isn't as glamorous as we all dream it to be.  


6 . Why should my audience watch my film? For example:  Total Film / Empire / Cinema Scope / Slant / Sight and Sound says: Most powerful psychological thriller since Don't Look Now!

My audience should watch my film because even though there are films that also look at the lives of famous people such as musicians, mine differentiates as it looks at the personal lives of a celebrity and how they are effected and how it effects their family. It gives an in look on the lives we are hidden from and doesn't glamorise being famous. Its a personal, emotional, suspenseful film that is a must see!

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE- 11.22.63

11.22.63



This title sequence has a series of visual codes all of which are taken from the life of a police investigator who has a process to record, analyse and display evidence throughout a detailed and important investigation.

The sequence uses different types of innovative and thoughtful film work, including some live action, newspaper cutting and still photographs. The title sequence first starts with a model recreation of the JFK assassination which is one of the most well-known unsolved murder mysteries in history. Mise-en-scene and multiple different shot types are used to make the title sequence more intriguing and a better watch for viewers.

The editing of the title sequence is extremely intricate and well thought out, so through this fast pace and continuous editing the audiences are very gripped and the continuity of the editing makes it easy for viewers to travel through the sequence rapidly and understand what is going on. The audience is hooked immediately through the piece of red string that comes the car model, this string links together all the pieces of evidence to the police board. The start of the title sequence begins by the audience looking through a magnifying glass to then unravel all of the mystery. The use of this stereotypical visual code, immediately makes the audience aware what kind of series it will be.

The editing is fast paced and connotes urgency, hard cuts are used as the camera travels around showing all the evidence from the murder. This could connote the restless mind that is trying to deconstruct the murder and try and solve the case. This is extremely effective in showing how curious the mind is and how the hard cuts connote all the constant thoughts going on in their mind.

Specific shot types are used in the tile sequence such as the low angle shot from the car window shows the point of view of certain people connoting which point of view the audience are looking from. This shot is followed by the red string leading from the car into a building. This is extremely effective to create an immersive quality for the audience and it clearly shows the detective trying to unpick the murder. Following on from this, the opening sequence does a very good job at drawing the audience in and keeping them engaged the whole way through, this is a prime function of an opening sequence.

Not only this, but important dates are also used to create authenticity and make the title sequence of higher quality. By showing a number of different newspapers in the police office pin board in extreme close up shots reflects how important the murder was as multiple newspapers have headlined it, titles included "Kennedy Killed" connoting how tragic and out of the blue the death was.As the title sequence unfolds, the audience seem to almost be in the footsteps of the detective, as it feels as if we are following the assassin around to where he prepared the murder and the build up to it. The open suitcase on the bed is remembered by the viewers due to it being lit up by a spotlight connoting its importance. Within the case lies clothes, letters, pens, notebooks and the gun. The gun is placed in the centre of the suitcase and is on top of everything else, connoting its importance and showing the audience this must be the gun that killed Kennedy. The use of the visual codes of a gun, presents to the audience that the genre must be a thriller/ mystery/ action movie.

This specific title sequence follows all genre conventions including names of actors, producers, directors, writers and many more. In addition, the soundtrack is intriguing and the orchestral, dramatic music drives the action forward. The xylophones rhythm adds a sense of eerie and mystery into the atmosphere, which makes it extremely effective and makes the viewers want to watch on and even watch the movie itself. The further on the title sequence goes, the faster and more dramatic the music becomes once again adding suspense for the viewer. The final clips of the clock ticking transitioning to an extreme close up of the riffle shooting a bullet. At this point the name of the movie is suddenly revealed, in old typewriter font. It ends by the final dot in 11.22.63 turning red, connoting the murder and the blood from where he was shot.

PRELIMINARY EXCERCISES

Shot types:

I researched different types of camera angles and shot types by exploring Daniel Chandler's website 'The Grammar of Television and Film'. I used my iPhone when practising these skills, here are some examples:

Close up (CU):   A picture which shows a fairly small part of the scene, such as a character's face, in great detail so that it fills the screen

Extreme close up (XCU): shows a small part of the scene like a characters face. Often forehead to nose 

Medium long shot (MLS): in the case of a standing actor, the lower frame line cuts off his feet and ankles

Medium shot (MS): the setting and actor roughly occupy the same amount of screen

High level shot: the camera looks down at a character, making the viewer feel more powerful than him or her 

Canted angle shot: Tilted/Canted angle shots are used in films that want to create suspense, it is used to create the sense of unease in the viewer.

Low level shot: the camera is below the character, exaggerating his or her importance

Birds eye shot: 

Continuity editing:

PRODUCTION PRACTICE: TITLE SEQUENCE "A WHOLE WORLD IN A TABLE TOP"

Using the Emily Barkers song Nostalgia, we were set a brief of having to create a title sequence using only a table top and a few props to create part of a story which we felt related to the song.

After watching the title sequence Delicatessen, from 1991 created by JohnPierre Jeunet, I understood how important camerawork is to tell a story that sets the scene of a movie. My group used this title sequence as inspiration when creating our tabletop title sequence along with the song Nostalgia. My group covered a long table with a black table cloth and positioned all of our props in a unique and intricate order for people to understand our storyline. Our props included, alcohol bottles, old newspapers, old photographs of a couple, war photos of a man, old letters and even drugs. We felt these props went well with the title Nostalgia as our story was about a lady who lost her husband in war and therefore turned to a life of drugs and alcohol. The old photos of her husband and herself reflect her nostalgic thoughts. We did not just want our title sequence to finish here, so we also added live action into it which showed the young woman walking away and secretly meeting another person where she exchanges money for drugs and cigarettes, showing her husbands death has clearly affected her lifestyle hugely.

Personally, I think filming went extremely well for us. By filming the table multiple times to insure it was the best quality we could possibly make it, we were able to achieve a sequence at our full capability which I am proud of! However, I did face a few challenges when filming! As I was the person in charge of the camera, I found it a challenge to make the transition from each item flow easily and for the camera to flow very easily, after a few attempts I feel I was successful. Similarly, when filming the live action, we had to insure no modern features were shown in the shot (like a fire extinguisher), in order to achieve this, while I was filming, another member of my group followed behind making sure I did not capture the items while filming.




Once all the filming was completed, we used iMovie to piece it all together and edit it. Firstly, we imported the song onto iMovie and started it eight seconds in so the words matched what we were shooting. Obviously we had to incorporate our names into the title sequence so we carefully placed them in relevant parts of the sequence, for example when there was enough space on the screen so it was not all squashed together. We made sure the font related to our storyline, so we used an old, cursive font to make it seemed old fashioned and nostalgic. Our title sequence lasts just over one minute, which is long enough to tell a small story but short enough to keep it captivating and engaging! Equally, we kept it at this length for good practise as in our final piece, we will aim for our title sequence to be about a minute long.

When filming the live action scene, tracking shots, following shots, over the shoulder shots and shot reverse shots were used to achieve a realistic and suspenseful scene. When filming, a priority of ours was to make sure the background did not take up most of the shot but rather the main object or person did, this way it is less distracting and engages the audience in more.

Finally, we decided to name our show Saudade, translating to 'missing' from Portuguese to English, we thought was was very relevant to the theme of nostalgia and is unique and engaging to people to see. Our production company is called Moontale Studios, which we incorporated into our title sequence at the beginning, making it seem professional and of high standard.

SAUDADE

RESEARCH: SCOOPIT! FILM OPENINGS

I created my own ScoopIt! account so that I could find different film openings, I did this in order to help myself think of ideas to create my own film opening and so I have more ideas and suggestions to incorporate. By using ScoopIt! I can gather many film openings in a folder and therefore view them all instantly!