Saskia's A2 Media Production

Final Podcast

2010-01-06T19:50:00.000Z

This is a round-up podcast of all the work we've put into the project since the beginning and highlighting the last crucial aspects of the film ie: the DVD itself, soundtrack and ancillary texts (all mentioned with audience feedback and our own views also.)

Final Proposal (Draft)

2010-01-04T12:05:00.001Z

The final short film media idea concept is based on the first idea but some elements have been changed. There is still a love triangle occurring but this time it's a mistaken one and it's between two boys with one girl. Instead of beginning in a school scene, it starts with the end product being shown first (which is a girl who has been knocked over by car) and the boys looking down at what one of them has done. (Providing ancourage someone has killed her.) Then cuts straight to the start - with walking into a typical house party.

A girl walks into the living room where most of the extras are and it's obvious she must be someone important or popular. After about an 1 hour or so of the party taking place. Summer (lead girl) looks upset, her brother Jake (one of the lead boys) goes to she is she's ok, while attempting to comfort her, another boy is brought into the situation, Tyler (Summer's on/off boyfriend). Seeing this (using a panning shot of what is occuring), in a rage he goes up to her and starts accusing her of being promiscious he then turns on Jake, oblivious Tyler doesn't know that it's her brother instead.

Jake being probably the oldest at the party takes matters into his own hands and throws Tyler out of the party, after scuffling, pushing and shoving the boys end up on the street, an arguement leads them to decide the only way to settle this matter is by taking to their cars and having a race-offs (seen in many Hollywood films eg: Fast and Furious.) And twists and turns throughout the competition, Summer wanders into the road wondering where the boys have actually gone. One car speeds around the corner and knocks Summer to the floor leaving her dead. The killer ends up being her brother. As her drags her into a better light to see what they have done and he realises exactly what has just happened. The look on his face of remorse gives ancourage to the fact he's shocked and incredibly upset.

Evaluation

2009-12-24T16:06:00.117Z

http://adams-saskia.blogspot.com/2009/12/final-cut.html

I believe that, Driven Away has been a success when watching it back. From the beginning i had a faint idea in mind of what i wanted Driven Away to appear like on screen, from the storyline to the music and lighting etc, I am very happy with with result. We looked at films in particular like Thirteen and Adulthood.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The beginning of this project we had to come up with initial ideas and anamatics, I called mine 'Fight for Affection'. This was a teen drama and set at a school and a house party. The audience feedback seemed really positive for this intital animatic. They liked the storyline but as a whole bringing in a fourth character to mix up the traditional love triangle sounded far too confusing for only a short film that should last a few minutes. When thinking of more ideas, it re-developed The final short film media idea concept is based on the first idea but some elements have been changed. there would be a complicated love triangle between two girls and one boy. The setting would be in a school so clear comparisons could be clearly made between the girls for binary opposition eg: the shy one would wear a traditional, smart uniform whearas the other would be the opposite and defy the school rules by untucking the skirt and making her skirt shorter etc. This would already make the audience prefer the less confident girl. When a girl decides to tell her mate the secret she likes him, the more confident one says it first therefore the shyer one decides to hide her true feelings for the sake of not upsetting her friend. The next scene is at a party (a bit like a scene from Skins) where it's teenagers showing to be out of control eg: drinking and smoking. The quieter girl chooses to tell the boy her feelings and her other friend overhears and an argument breaks out between the two oppositions and there ends up being a competition in between for his affections. There ends being a tragic event occuring. Even films alkie Rebel Without A cause is similar to this idea.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048545/

Audience Feedback From the start of this project included,

Have a clearer storyline,
Make the dialogue easier to hear
Put on current music to pull in more teen viewers that usual
Good way of portraying popularity for the girl and both boys intentions
Good use of effects especially with the title sequences and sped up scenes of the car chase.
Make at least someone in the audience to a character
We needed more before/after footage
Better test footage in general.

In what ways does your media product use, develope or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Alot of research was done into short films and trailers when we were still unsure of how the concept should be presented (either or). There were very common conventions i noticed, especially when looking at film trailers. For example, the music gradually builds in tempo, with loud bangs when it gets to a suprising moment (key to scaring or shocking the audience.) I looked at certain films such as Death Race, Fame, The Women and Disturbia. Even TV shows now shown on DVD that need to be advertised like Gossip Girl (both seasons.) Next I looked into details of short films, the majority of these came from, The Northern Film School Compilation 2003-2006 and British Cinema 16 Shorts.

They could range from about 2mins - 20mins and were all different types of genres, many were actually very interesting. My favourite was one called 'About A Girl' also showed on BBC short films. The main protagonist is the girl, she has problems with her family and talks about her life as a teenage girl, there is a good use of flashbacks whilst she talks eg: past conversations. It also importantly signifies the north of England because of the accents, slang and surroundings. When she walks along the canal there is a narrative enigma of what she's holding in a bag because the camera keeps showing it onscreen, finally at the end when she throws it in a canal, a dead baby is revealed and sinks under waterbecause the ending was so shocking and unexpected and very social realist, by the end of the film you felt like you knew the lead protagonist.

Cinematography- This is how the film was made and the artwork of the film, the mise-en-scene consisted of inside and outside settings, therefore we needed wo think of how the weather would be and the lighting. A key convention to social realist films is shots being taken from many peoples viewpoints, this was paramount when the character of Tyler was watching what was happening between Summer and Jake, this was too, used often throughout the entire car chase of their viewpoints looking at one another from behind the wheel.

http://www.cinematography.com/

Lighting- The lighting inside the house was easy to achieve by just using lamps nearby where scenes were being shot. Whearas outside the difficulty was that as it goes so dark being in winter now, it needed to be filmed a bit quicker therefore may look rushed on screen unfortuanatly plus, as I was one of the main actresses when filming during snow and only wearing a dress, the cold was hard to deal with while lying on the floor.

Mode of language for Print Products- For the ancillary poster to go with the film, reviews were added on to entice people to go and see the film, this a very common in teaser and film posters and when doing the movie review a lot of media termonolgy was thrown in with statement similar to, 'this cutting edge, new teen drama' and 'Tom Copland and Tom Shaw show an obvious tension of hatred between one another'. At the bottom showed the information on it eg: the certaifacte rating, the running and and the the directors. Many movie magazines show an 'exclusive interview' with one of the cast members also asking them on the final thing and the filming process, which i included aswell to give some 1st person language.

Character Representations- The acting was very good especially in terms of the boys performances, most of the audience feedback myself and Joe had already recieved was that these boys seemed to really hate each other and was obvious that both of the boys intentions were to the the girl save. The fact both of their accents are Yorkshire makes the audience realise this is most likely to be set in a town somewhere in Yorkshire. Both boys are dressed like the majority of teen boys in Britain and many other western countries, down to their trainers and jackets and both have short hair and act quite maculine. There isn't a specific style being shown like emo, we just wanted to represent the majority of teen boys nowadays. The way the girl is dressed (a bit over the top for a simple house party) shows that she may either be popular or attention seeking and superior to the others. The audience realise from the first few seconds of the party scene that she is a main protagonist and the way the camera is tracking her alone to begin with. Similar to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Titles- Final Cut was great in creating the titles, as the main storyline surrounds there being a car chase (this last the majority of the film) therefore when we made the titles saying Driven Away, we used an effect like the titles are being Driven Away, the speed was also useful in presenting this. A typical convention of any film is having the titles appear at the end, this stated information about the names of the actors/screenplay/directors etc. We put it on the background of the car up in smoke, this was actually a test footage scene when a kettle was boiled and placed underneath the car to give the effect of a crash or accident just occuring.

Soundtrack- Hip hop is normally portrayed as 'dangerous' in todays media and a bad influence on teenagers, I wanted this to be part of the film but after hearing different music samples I decided that dance/trance songs were just as good. When the car scene starts it broke into a rock track, then when the lead girl dies, a slow and mournful song.

Propp concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analyzed:

The villain — struggles against the hero.

The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.

The princess and her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.

The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
[False hero] — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp

This idea of Vladimir Propp was used often in our film, there was the princess (Summer), the hero (Jake) and the main villain who was Tyler. We also looked at the works of Levi-Strauss and Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory - with there being an equilibrium, disequilibrium and the newequilibrium.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The difference between AS coursework and A2 is that as opposed to working on iMovie HD to edit the film, we now have to do it on Final Cut Express. Overall, this was good to use because the film has turned out brilliantly however it definately took everyone out of our comfort zones by trying to learn how to use it correctly. I had some trouble to begin with but many advantages came with using this particular type of software. Working on the camcorder, everything is simple on this and self explanatory because every setting is labelled, from recording to zoom and shutter up/down. The only thing you need to supply is the mini DV tape which places on all your footage as you record. To go with the camera was a tripod, this was a TD 1932 Photo and Video tripod. Good for enabling panning shots and for the camera not to be shaky. Many camera footage i have done in the past, i haven't used a tripod but you really do notice the difference of quality when it's there.

Media technologies were incredibily important throughout the research, planning and evaluation stages because without Blogger itself we wouldn't have been able to show all this work we had done online for others to view. And during filming and editing etc, cameras and documents such as iMovie and Final Cut were vital to being able to carry this out. iDVD was needed to put our films in high quality on to another source apart from our blog to be viewed and marked. Facebook was really good for trying to get extras in place and giving the film advertsing, many other groups put on rough cuts and soundtracks to get loads of audience feedback. http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iDVD_6_Getting_Started.pdf

How effective is the combination of your main product and the ancillary texts?

The Driven Away final poster links in a great deal to the final cut because it shows the 3 main protagonists in a triangle, we can connote from this that there is a possible love triangle or a fight over 1 girl. Showing the car lights represents the use of a car being promenant in the film, and having the background colours really dark shows a possible night time scene being included.Choice of review sources are from magazines/newspapers (the Sun in particular, we claimed they put 'Saskia Adams burns up the screen' this could be an obvious thing to put because many newspapers that style can sometimes be quite sexist and not really refer to actresses performances but more to the way they are presented on the screen.) The tagline is 'Get In Your Car and Prepare to be...DRIVEN AWAY' was my idea for a tagline that we ended up using, people liked this because it's sounds more personal like they are involved in the film and was a perfect way to lead on to the main title, this is another common form on film posters for marketing/advertising.

Many BBFC ratings for teens dramas tend to be around 12/15. This may be down to use of sex, strong language and violence. It prevents too young of an audience to view these types of genre. An opposition of this is the film, Thirteen, the scenes were classed as far too inappropriate for under 18s even though this is weird because their target audience would be 18. But these children wouldn't be able to see it legally at least for another 5 years. Looking at Driven Away's plot, I would probably class this at a 15.

Some shots taken from the set while filming,

Many advantages of Driven Away are

The storyline in my view becuase it's interesting and I think many teenagers would really enjoy watching this. The feedback already recieved has been promising.
The titles because final cut really added a good effect to them.
Our film challenges many typical forms and conventions of real media products are big tragedy occuring at the end, some films designed for a younger audience purposely don't put this in because of the possibility it may be too distressing.
Use of digital technology allowed us to speed up car scenes and make actions more rapid to build tension and signify this is an action drama.
By having our production company logo the very last thing you see, this makes it recognisable and shows it is a 'Jaskia Production'.

Disadvantages contain

The time, honestly i would of had it to be longer but this can easily be resolved if done again by putting in extra scenes we chose to leave and outtakes to provide some comical entertainment for the audience.
Some of the shots lack fluidity, mainly in terms of lighting however things had to be adapted otherwise as the outside setting was so dark, images wouldn't have been as visable if we didn't lighten things.
The party scene could have been sharper by the use of even more intercutting.
A fade between the title and shot would have been useful but Finalcut didn't allow us to do this.
And use of a loud car slam would have been successful in signifying anger and violence common in famous car chases on film. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6091432/

Ancillary Texts and Research

2009-12-18T13:12:00.001Z

Ancillary poster tryout 1

Ancillary tryout poster 2

The first poster looks quite amateur because the way the images are placed show no meaning to why they are put where they are. To improve on this we needed to make it promenant there is a triangle between the three main protagonists. In the second poster it's slightly more worked on but still doesn't look as good as I would like it to. Making the car headlights the boys eyes didn't really work, this should definately be adapted in the final poster and there are still missing common conventions on some anciallary texts such as reviews and other information about the film. The actors names are also missing therefore people won't know who is in it unless researched.

These are websites to find out information about the 2nd anciallary task we are planning to do - which is a movie magazine article,

http://www.empireonline.com/

http://www.totalfilm.com/

http://www.premiere.com/

Costumes, Props and Mise en Scene

2009-12-18T13:08:00.001Z

Costumes

Every person in the film was allowed to choose their own clothes and style, many of the actors are simply in jeans and a t-shirt for comfort. At many house parties people don't dress up. However to signify popularity of Summer, she is the only one who decides to wear a sparkly dress to attract attention. Her intention is to stand out and this also signifies that it's her own party because she wants to impress. Her brother is also quite smart with wearing a shirt, this could show the family in general on maybe being wealthier or in a higher socio economic group.

Props

The main prop used in the film was the cars, we used Joe's and one of his friends, Liam's to do the racing scenes (which were later sped up on final cut). Another main one was the fake blood. (After trying out what other substitutes for it would be eg: ketchup and food colouring, none were successful, apart from this type of fake blood.)

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene contained the the living room in the house for the party. The cars, streets and alleyways of the surrounding area when the driving and death scenes were conducted.

Casting and Locations

2009-12-18T13:04:00.051Z

Characters

•NAME- Saskia Adams - CHARACTER- Summer Davis

•AGE- 17

•This character has long brown hair and is girly, this is important because it fits in with the narrative as she is the one who stands out from the rest of the crowd. She is also suitable for this character because she is a normal girl with no associated groups such as goths and emo's etc. She will be wearing make up which will emphasize her looks towards the audience as this a general stereotype of teenage girls as the adults say teenage girls wear far too much make up.

MALE CHARACTER (FEMALES BROTHER)-

•NAME- Tom Shaw

•NAME OF CHARACTER- Jake Davis

•AGE- 18

•This character is a calm person with an inocennt face, howvever not a shy person as he is a bit like the character in Skins called Freddie, as he is a kind and caring person who likes to keep everyone happy and is a sensible human being. He has dark blonde/light brown short hair and has a normal casual dress code which fits in with his part as he is meant to blend in with the other people in the set. The age is also suitable as we need to make the narrative fit in the way in which he drives the car (it makes sense).

SECOND MALE CHARACTER-

•NAME- Tom Copland

•NAME OF CHARACTER- Tyler Jones

•AGE- 17

•This characeter puts on a moody evil image who doesnt care about anyone but himself and he thinks he is the top man in the room (he likes to be the centre of attention). This character has intertextual reference with the character in Skins called Cook as he doesnt care and all he thinks about is getting with girls and drinking (he likes to think he is ten men). Also this character has to be a person who loves himself so his hair is fancy and perfect. This character has dark hair and of a normal height however he will come across as being aggresive and angry.

Extras - Sam White, Holly Davy, Sam Thomas, Helena Beeson, Ben Gibson, Bethan Herbert and Sarah Gough.

Location Shots

The House where the party scene was...

The surrounding alleyways around the house ideal for the car scene...

2009-12-18T11:39:00.001Z

Production Schedule A2

Final Cut

2009-12-18T11:30:00.001Z

The Software and Hardware

2009-12-18T09:38:00.001Z

The Software is called, Final Cut Expess 4. http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/

The difference between AS couresework and A2 is that as opposed to working on iMovie HD to edit the film, we now have to do it on Final Cut Express. Overall, this was good to use because the film has turned out brilliantly however it definately took everyone out of our comfort zones by trying to learn how to use it correctly. I had aome trouble to begin with but many advantages came with using this particular type of software.

The first advantage is that the amount of tools and special features of this is far more to add audio and visual effects this provides more choice and for peoples films to look more unique and different compared to others.
Next, is that you can have more that just one screen to work on instead of the likes of iMovie which only just allows you to view and edit one scene at a time. This can really improve editing ability.

The negatives are that as there is more choice of how you want to edit a film it means there are more features and tools that you need to learn and remember more things. But the tutorials are made so easy to understand on the final cut 4 website and tell you everything from importing clips to editing and publishing.
It's definately problematic starting to work on a bigger, better movie maker because things are so much more simple on iMovie.

The Hardware we used is a camcorder to record footage called Cannon Wide Screen MV920.

It's features are a standard RCA cable, an AC cable, LCD display, 1 + Li-ion rechargable battery, optical zoom 25, digital zoom 800, lens focal length 2.6 to 65mm, filter diametre 35mm and a 12/6 Bit PCM digital stereo audio.

Everything is simple on this and self explanatory because every setting is labelled, from recording to zoom and shutter up/down. The only thing you need to supply is the mini DV tape which places on all your footage as you record. To go with the camera was a tripod, this was a TD 1932 Photo and Video tripod. Good for enabling panning shots and for the camera not to be shaky. Many camera footage i have done in the past, i haven't used a tripod but you really do notice the difference of quality when it's there.

To take still images we used a Fujifilm Finepix A900 camera and many i took on my own is a Kodak Easyshare C513 3X optical zoom, this was to take pictures of the cast, locations and props etc. All were uploaded onto the blog. http://fujifilm.co.uk/

Target Audience and BBFC Classification

2009-12-18T09:29:00.002Z

The socio-economic groups that would be attracted to viewing this film is a wide range, most likely of working and middle class teens. They would relate to how the protagonists dress, act and even the types of houses they live in. Our main location was set up a normal terraced house somewhere in West Yorkshire. The protagonists accents definately represent this because especially the two boys talk with a Yorkshire dialect. Sometimes this particular accent can symbolize the working class in many stereotypically British films.

This age group this film is targeted at, is definately young to late teens. All the cast are aged around 17-18 and the film even directed and edited by myself and Joe and we are both 17 too. I think teenagers would feel the exact same emotions of the characters at some point throughout adolesense. You see anger, happiness, sadness, misunderstanding and sorrow. Teens may also relate to the house parties with exposure to deviant behaviour happening such as drinking. The music is perfect to also attract this particular audience because of the use of drum and bass, dance and rock which should appeal to all in some way.

All the cast happens to be caucasian however i don't believe that it will put off other ethnicities because most young people goes through the same experiences. It doesn't matter about the colour of skin or culture.

I think that boys and girls would both want to see this film. Girls would enjoy a love story unfolding in front of their eyes but boys may be attracted to the car chase scene and the music.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
Many BBFC ratings for teens dramas tend to be around 12/15. This may be down to use of sex, strong language and violence. It prevents too young of an audience to view these types of genre. An opposition of this is the film, Thirteen, the scenes were classed as far too inappropriate for under 18s even though this is weird because their target audience would be 18. But these children wouldn't be able to see it legally at least for another 5 years. Looking at Driven Away's plot, I would probably class this at a 15. Similar to programs such as Skins that are out on sales on shops, due to the violence and the car scenes that i don't really think should be shown to younger children unless they look at this aspirationally because it might be hard for them to see this isn't reality and is actually criminal behaviour that could end up being sent to prison. The death bit may also seem disturbing to younger children. A BBFC rating of a 15 insures this.

Genre Research From The Internet

2009-12-18T09:25:00.002Z

Types of teen dramas from Wapedia

The most popular teen dramas are set in affluent locales (e.g. Beverly Hills 90210, The O.C., Gossip Girl), or in fictional town settings (e.g. Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill). Most teen dramas have a cast of attractive actors, living a privileged and wealthy life. Shows that depict teen life in a more realistic manner tend not to do nearly as well, although there are exceptions, notable ones being the critically acclaimed My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks, as well as the British teen drama The Inbetweeners. Some teen dramas can be sub-categorized into genres such as Science Fiction or Comedy. Sci-Fi series like "Smallville", "Roswell", and "Kyle XY" show teenagers who are aliens trying to fit into normal high school life.

TV Forum.Com's greatest teen dramas of all time:

1. Beverly Hills, 90210
2. The O.C.
3. Gossip Girl
4. Dawson's Creek
5. My So-Called Life
6. Degrassi Junior High/Degrassi High
7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
8. Party of Five
9. One Tree Hill
10. 90210
11. Felicity
12. Veronica Mars
13. Degrassi: The Next Generation
14. The Secret Life of the American Teenager
15. 7th Heaven
16. Smallville
17. Gilmore Girls
18. The Wonder Years
19. Freaks and Geeks
20. 21 Jump Street

Soundtrack

2009-12-18T09:20:00.000Z

The music used for the house party will be the sort of music young people are currently really into such as hip hop and dance, this connotes what the type of people at the party will be like. Hip hop is normally portrayed as 'dangerous' in todays media and a bad influence on teenagers. When the car scene starts it would be a wise idea to break into a rock track, then when the lead girl dies, a slow and mournful song. Here is each song possible for the party scene.

The person who did all this music for us is called Livz Trouille, he is lead singer of a band at our school and makes all sorts of music. We turned to him because music had to be copy-right free and the problem with getting music off the internet is shear cost for example a dance track copy and loyalty right free song may cost you up to £10 and garageband is used so often, things unfortunatly might not seem so different and unique as I may like because it has all been used before, it's too postmodern.

Driven Away Powerpoint

2009-12-18T09:19:00.000Z

Driven Away

Ancillary Texts Final Production

2009-12-18T09:11:00.003Z

This is the official poster for our film Driven Away. This has progressed far from the first idea and i think there are many positives about this, I really like the effect of the car headlights being on as this is a key feature placed throughout the film. The way all three characters are shown connotes these are the main protagonists and there could be a potential love triangle in place. At the bottom we have written all of the people that helped during the production of 'Driven Away'. I came up with the slogan at the top of the poster, i noticed that many films have a sentence after the title but many also have it at the front - i liked this particular style and thought that we should encorporate this in our production poster. I chose, 'Get in your car and prepared to be... Driven Away.' The way it states to be 'shown in selected cinemas' lets potential viewers know that this is a specific type of film (in this case, a short). Only longer films would be shown in the majority of mainstream cinemas around the world. To let the viewer know more about the where to find out more information the short films web address is at the bottom. Potential viewers may log ob to this and find out more about the production, the cast, the distributing company and many more things. Reviews are also added to put the film in good light eg: by stating that, 'Saskia Adams burns up the screen' and 'Shrimpton has directed a dazzling debut.' These are good media terms because in the second quotation alliteration is used.

I spent quite a long time on this piece of media, I needed to make the magazine article really grab peoples attention this was done by using lots of images, I used some location shots of the settings and each main cast members photo on. Like, many magazine articles, the use of one of the cast members is essential, therefore I just did one myself and answered what I think about the film Drievn Away. The magazine was done on a pages layout on an AppleMac with the format quite structured. Writing and pictures were taken off and had to be replaced with my own. The research into this was by looking at movie magazine articles such as Empire and magazines fromm cinemas that write the review. I believe that this looks really good in the end. With the fonts, styles and images great for the article. The reason behind the name 'Movie Magic' is because it's catchy, uses a lot of alliteration and goes well with the image behind. Using pictures of the cast in black and white is a common convention of actors in the industry, these are normally given at auditions and once given the part, they are sometimes leaked to the press. It also has the most important directors name, running time, certificate and production companies name at the bottom.

Production Logos

2009-12-17T01:34:00.002Z

This is the final logo for Cannonball films - it's recognisable and think will catch peoples eye. It may also signify horror or action types of films rather that romcoms where it would be more feminine or better for a female audience. The spark coming off it, we can denote means maybe the film will 'blow up' the screen.

These were some of the logos originally come up with. Joe knows somebody in the logo making industry and helped give us some samples to choose from. It must be interesting and eye-catching yet simple. My favourites have to be, Twist Productions, Fly Films and Cannonball productions. My least favourite have to Ring Films because it isn't colourful enough and I don't believe people will necessarily remember it.

Teaser Posters

2009-12-16T21:56:00.001Z

This was myself and Joe's first draft of a teaser poster of a girl that had died after two cars collided. The negatives with this poster were that the two light beams aren't obvious enough to represent being cars and in others opinions because the image of the girl isn't large enough it doesn't seem obvious if she is dead because there is no use of blood and/or a red colour is signify death. On the other hand, the positives are that it's quite good artwork and the idea is very subtle so doesn't give much a way to the storyline to create a large narrative enigma.

This is the final teaser poster and alot has been modified to the starting idea. The use of dark colours have been kept because it signifies that it could be a dark film and shows it could be set at night. To just show the girls legs show it's a girl and seeing car lights may show she's been hit by car and could be dead. To let people know where to follow our project, the bottom shows a link onto one of our blogs - which is Joe's, it also states when we want the film to come out and the tagline helps the audince understand this may be a very dramatic film.

Initial Proposal

2009-12-16T21:52:00.001Z

The initial proposal of my short film idea was that there would be a complicated love triangle between two girls and one boy. The setting would be in a school so clear comparisons could be clearly made between the girls for binary opposition eg: the shy one would wear a traditional, smart uniform whearas the other would be the opposite and defy the school rules by untucking the skirt and making her skirt shorter etc. This would already make the audience prefer the less confident girl. When a girl decides to tell her mate the secret she likes him, the more confident one says it first therefore the shyer one decides to hide her true feelings for the sake of not upsetting her friend.
The next scene is at a party (a bit like a scene from Skins) where it's teenagers showing to be out of control eg: drinking and smoking. The quieter girl chooses to tell the boy her feelings and her other friend overhears and an argument breaks out between the two oppositions and there ends up being a competition in between for his affections. There ends being a tragic event occuring.

Screenplay

2009-12-16T16:03:00.001Z

d r i v e n a w a y Screen Play

Storyboards

2009-12-16T15:54:00.005Z

Story Board 1 A2

Story Board 2 A2

Story Board 3 A2

Story Board 4 A2

Podcast 3 & 4

2009-11-27T11:55:00.003Z

Podcast 2

2009-11-16T11:55:00.005Z

TV Studio Report

2009-11-10T22:30:00.000Z

On Friday, at the co-operative young film makers convention at the IMAX in Bradford, myself and Tom Copland took part in the TV studio workshop. This enabled us to see what a TV show set looked like and the processes infront and behind the camera.

We actually took a role infront of the camera, therefore microphones had to be fitted on to us to check we could be heard when talking. The lighting and the autocues were too set up. The style of the set was alike the one of University Challenge, with two teams sitting on separate tables and when qusetiions were being administered, the split screen appeared to like like one wasabove the other. Altogether the process took around 1hr30mins to 2hrs. However by the end of being cut and edited the show only lasted around 15mins. The people we met were all from another school in Leicster, members on the other team were called Chris, Hannah and Sam and another girl from the same school as them that joined our team was named, Steph. All of them were studied media and most studied it along with film studies etc.

Some of the main positives about this workshop were that it was a highly useful insight about the making of television programes (especially quiz shows). It was also very interesting compared to another workshop I had been on, the Film trailer. Some of the negatives on the other hand of this workshop was that we had around 6 takes before the final one which got tiresome after a while and we were supposed to change roles but ran out of time, so never got to see what it was like behind the camera.

In conclusion, this was enjoyable in general and was a useful activity for media students to do, therefore I recommend others do it this time next year.

Codes and Conventions of Short Films and Trailers

2009-11-09T14:54:00.000Z

Production/Exhibition/Distribution - Most of these films were produced in Hollywood (if the films were American) because of the resources, use of actors and being the best studios to shhot locations in the film.and therefore dstributed in the US first before the rest of the world. Many films are either exhibited at a film festival ( a majoirity in Cannes) during the summer before the release date to get reviews etc.

Music - To nearly all of the films, music seemed to be a key part, whether it be an action or romantic by gradually making music faster and louder. In horrors, the music dips from being very fast to very slow and to create a scary effect toward the audience sudden sounds are very loud.

Camerawork - There tends to be a variety of camerawork in trailers to make things look more interesting, therefore many extreme long and close up shots were used with extreme high and low angle shots also used.

Acting - The main characters are always featured often and mainly are famous.

Costume - Tends to signify the wealth of someone or their style eg: in many trailers that are set in medieval times, the use of armour represents their power and age it was set in etc.

Editing - Scenes tend to start of being quite slow, but gradually as music becomes faster and more of the scene is revealed, attempting to grab the audiences attention, when scenes will either be in a random order or chronological as the story unfolds but leaving the ending out of it.

Brief Points

Short films normally start with there being a situation that needs helping/solving.
Usually only show a few (main characters) because there isn't enough time get to know the secondary ones.
Most short films are very low budget, normally because Hollywood films don't tend to create them and most short film companies aren't part of one of the 6 conglomerates.
The directors/editors usually aren't famous in short films so not alot of focus is on their names or at the start say introducing...
Tend to only last around 3 to 10mins.
Narrative enigmas are often used so the audience doesn't undersatnd fully the starting point, that sometimes is uncovered during the middle or end of the film.
Short films in Britain are often shown or distributed by British companies eg: Working Title. These films aren't very promenant in the US.
There is a lack of CGI (special effects) probably because of lack of money.
Short films aren't really shown in main cinemas, mainly just at specific film festivals. The most famous is Cannes.
Short films can also be documenteries and music videos.

Useful Articles In Terms of Short Films

2009-11-06T11:39:00.000Z

http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/browse.pl?id=artifact710

This is about specialist type of article about film festivals.

http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/901

This is very useful on making a good short.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-135420674.html

This particular article focuses on the British film making industry and searching for budding stars and directors.

Podcast

2009-11-05T15:27:00.001Z

One of many more podcasts to come, talking about how our project 'Driven Away' is going. These will be added to the blog every week so people can see our progress.

Define A Teaser Trailer

2009-10-20T20:41:00.009+01:00

A teaser trailer uses many codes and conventions in the media world to attract viewers. Designed to the specific genre, it needs to be interesting and feature factors such as music, key scenes and the name the production team just to name a few. Different themes apply to certain areas and genre, I researched many varieties ranging from horror to action to romcom. Here I speak about it more in-depth... http://adams-saskia.blogspot.com/2009/10/details-of-film-trailers.html

This website specialises in teaser trailers for many people to look at, first and foremost, the latest film releases.
http://teaser-trailer.com/trailer

Details of Film Trailers

2009-10-18T15:49:00.003+01:00

Accepted - This is a typical US teen film from the 'studio that brought you American Pie' therefore it makes sense most of the settings are in a school/college to signify youth. The music was quite pop/rocky, this also helps symbolize comedy and lighthearted humour. Aswell is an intertextual reference to a 'scream queen' in many horror film by one of the male lead characters screaming 'like a girl' when scared by something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_Vnxa6ijg

Adulthood - This was a sequel to Kidulthood made a few years ago and this is more of the equivalent to a UK teen drama type of film. To show it was in a very urban area the use of sound was key, it was nearly all local London hiphop music and rap. To also show how it had changed from Kidulthood to Adulthood, it flicked back to scenes from the first film and show alot of sex and violence to signify the film itself to of 'grown up' and become more adult. To attract a female audience, they used many clips of Danny Dyer and Noel Clark film is only very brief and not one of the main characters. To show alot of action clips of the film became more rapid leading to the title (a very common convention in film trailers.)

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane - It starts like an average teen film with shots of school and summer parties. The first 30seconds itself explain why all the boys do love Mandy Lane and giving her an invite to go on a summer break with them and light summer music plays in the background that features the word. As soon as that stops, a far more sinister sound comes in and the writing and background turns black and red maybe to signify a dark motive and blood with there being a strong liklihood of a murder. The girl has long blond hair aswell and is pretty, this is a key sign she could be a 'scream queen'.

Death Race - It seems a typical males type of movie, even though alike many types of trailers to attract a female audience, a romance is featured between Jason Statham and a girl. To let the audience know that this is blatently an action film, there are many car races with the threat of people being killed or injured and how the use of CGI shows explosions and dangerous car crashes, this also links to why the film is named, Death Race. The rock music provides the film will be thrilling and very fast tempo.

Employee Of The Month - The use of a singer being the main actress in this film trailer, Jessica Simpson brings in the fans of her music immediately, the other two actors are both vying for her affections are comic actors especially, the use of these 3 particular protagonists signifies this will probably be a very funny film. The clips also shown feature characters either falling over doing something stupid, this too provides ancorage for the genre of this movie.

Fame - This also designed to attract a younger audience because of the ages of the main stars. And many teens enjoy dance films. But as this is also a remake, it makes the 'Fame' brand become even larger appealing to more fans and with a supporting soundtrack. The trailer shows alot of diversity of gender and ethnicity which will bring in even more viewers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRPca0Lvp1w

Women - Is based on the Sex and The City Movie which was such a massive hit, the characters are so different from one another that provides all different types of female audience. The central storyline is that a woman is being cheated on, something some women have to go through so can relate to Meg Ryan (the lead character). It shows each of the 5 lead actresses in their own sections to make it clear they are all famous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlxwcwESDkQ

The Wedding Planner - Very typical Hollywood romance music over the top. It's similar to a short film because it goes in order, not just random clips. It shows the situation, conflict and some of the resolution because there aren't very many narrative enigmas. It's quite a simple story about a love triangle while they all know and like one another. To symbolize it's a girls type of film, the font is very curly and well flowing (pretty) and the use of colour is very good (white and pink).

Vacancy - This is a typical horror because it displays how the main protagonists got themselves into the particular sitaution (being in a car, then there's a crash and they need to stay the night at a local motel that has a vacancy.) It is a normal horror trailer when the main aim is to create suspense by there being loads of loud noises and suprises that come out from nowhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TK2gqYIVuc

Alpha Dog - Starts off with a flashback when the main characters were young children, like a family holiday to show innocence then cuts to the opposite off nowadays life where they are a complete opposite and have turned bad and deviant so they are a binary opposition of themselves. At the start of the beginning it also claimed that it was 'inspired events'. The use of starring Justin Timberlake as one of the main roles brings in many more viewers (especially females) but also males because he plays a more aspiring role that boys would want to be viewing this trailer at first glance. Bruce Willis is in it too and this will bring in viewers of an older generation.

Bend It Like Beckham - Even by the titles name, it allows the audience to think it will be a light hearted comedy because of the music, that summer the music they chose was very popular. This might be helpful in my own project because a conflict that tears things apart happens at a party and people need to deal with the new situation.

Disturbia - This film holds many narrative enigmas, in the trailer the audience will want to try and find out why the main protagonist is in trouble with the law and put on house arrest, they want to find out as well if he gets with his crush and also if murders are taking place on the street because it gives the impression there could be a misunderstanding however and things just in his mind.

Dark Knight - Yet again, this is another boys film centrered around action but to get in more female viewers there is also a romance with Batman showing a more vunerable side whilst trying to get her back. The director and editor have featured Heath Ledger in most of the clips as this was his well anticipated film even though he died before this film was officially released and the people working for the distribution have obviously made a point of this.

Gossip Girl Season 1 Trailer - This is like the US version of the British Skins, so use of a young and stereotypically 'beautiful' cast is essential of bringing in a young audience (especially girls). Girls will aspire to be the girls and want to be with the boys, therefore scenes of the boys not fully dressed will catch these viewers attentions. The image of money, popularity and bitchiness within schools is too influenctial on tween girls.

Rock N Rolla - Is a gangster film and is made significant by quick scenes off others getting interigated and talking about art deals and wealth etc. Even though this is promenantly based in London, they also have got actors from the USA, Scotland and Russia, which makes this worldwide. Many Madonna and Guy Ritchie fans could of wanted see this film beacuse he is back as a director and specialises in this type of genre film. The only woman shown is a binary opposition as she appears to be tough and straight talking unlike the way most females are portrayed in these sorts of movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-D3c25_3l8

Driven - This is an older form of trailer and the concept of the idea where a rivalry is set in a car race and using sped up editing of the cars to make them appear to go faster and to show they are in competion, close ups of their faces are used often whether to present happiness or agression. It also follows the concept that two of the lead protagonists are after one female, however she just looks on and observes. This is useful for gender representation with the males seeming fearless and action packed wheras the girl doesn't appear to do much.

Fast and Furious - The use of music is important in this trailer. They use fast paced rock and hiphop to represent how fast paced the film itself. Many people would be interested in seeing the film. Women because lead character girls are featured in this film unlike many others of the genre, boys in general because of the car chases and explosions etc and even fans of the prior fast and furious films (altoghter there had been around 4 and has built up quite a name for itself in the Hollywood world.) It doesn't mention characters names either because alot of the target audience would already know from watching the past films.

Details Of Short Films

2009-10-14T11:55:00.004+01:00

BBC Short Films http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/

1) About a Girl - Northwest

The main protagonist is the girl, she has problems with her family and talks about her life as a teenage girl, there is a good use of flashbacks whilst she talks eg: past conversations. It also importantly signifies the north of England because of the accents, slang and surroundings. When she walks along the canal there is a narrative enigma of what she's holding in a bag because the camera keeps showing it onscreen, finally at the end when she throws it in a canal, a dead baby is revealed and sinks under water, leaving the audience feeling shocked as it was so unexpected.

2) One To One - London

I believe this film was made for purposes, the first is to show many teenage girls doing stereotypical things like talking about boys and makeup etc and the way they act at school like making the skirts shorter. Another purpose was to show the competition between girls to get boys attention. The fact the two girls being on a bus was a good way to show they were working class because the camera could pan the area surrounding them and that a bus is one of the cheapest forms of transport.

Northern Film School Presents Short Film Compilation 2003-2006

1) Indecision

This is a story of a man ending a relationship with his girlfriend and isn't entirely sure what to do, his voice appears over the top of his actions. There is a very good use of camerawork here once he decides. The camera spins signifing his head spinning out of confusion, then proceeds to shows half of him in one situation and the other in his new, single situation. Howvever he doesn't seem happy with either.

2) One Shot

The film is only a few minutes long but the majority happens to be just a black screen, with past events of army life, it's obvious because of the shouting, the gunshots, people with injuries and someone telling the main protagonist to shoot an Iraqi prisoner, when he face is finally shown, his expression shows sadness, anger and remorse but to make the audience not follow the prefered reading, he ends up picking up the gun and shooting himself showing how war drove him to suicide.

3) Ink Control http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905615/

This is a much longer short film and lasts around 20minutes, it is about a couple that have to break up until they next see one another in a year. Then an old man who is watching this couple through his window decides to make his own story of their fate, therefore begins typing what happens in a years time. When the film is forwarded on the writer chooses that they'll never meet each other again so creates obsticles in their way eg: the taxi the man is getting a lift in crashes and the woman is stuck in a phonebooth but their still dying to see each other again. When he thinks he's completed the story, the typewriter begins typing itself and changes the story, much to the old man's anger. The use of music is also important because as the chase becomes more challenging, the music gradually gets louder and faster.

4) Chichino http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv0ppgUd32g

This is a music video instead, with there own music. It shows wealth and poorness. When the main girl is cleaning and unhappy with her lifestyle, the colour is in black and white, wheras in her imagination, pretending she's living a glamorous life, the mise-en-scene shows limosines, champagne and nice dresses etc. There is also a good use of special effects and split screen effects, giving the film some more diversity.

5) The Seamtress

This begins just in black and white, the use of clothing etc signifies this was set in the past - maybe Victorian Times. This particualar film tackles domestic abuse and the woman being oppresse, which was quite common in older times, the audience wants her to get her own back.
The ending is when she decides to make him unconsious, then sews him to the blanket. This shows a opppositional reading, because the woman is so quiet at the start, then ends up torturing her husband by the end of the film.

Cinema 16, British Short Films http://www.cinema16.org/dvd.php?dvd=1

1) Telling Lies - This only features writing, like text. The words appear in different colours and fonts and as the voice over is talking, his thoughts are displayed on the screen. For example, lies to his girlfriend about cheating on her, but what is displayed on screen states 'last night i cheated on you'. This film is quite adult because of the use of language (swearing etc.)

2) Joyride - Starts off with a crime scene, a bit like the ending shown at the start of a film (an idea I would maybe like to use in my own film. Then reverts back to the beginning. The setting is dark and secluded to give the air of danger and suspence. When the main protagonist sees someone lying on the ground, the audience would wonder what the body was doing there eg: is the extra dead or just playing about. When another character appears from the trees holding a weapon, it shows that it was all just a setup to catch the man. Then the audience begins to follow the preffered redaing from then onwards.

3) Gasman - Is quite a social realist film set in a working class concil estate somewhere in Scotland. For quite alot of the start, peoples faces aren't show, just their actions. When the song 'let it snow' begins to play it allows the audience to assume it's Christmas time. The majority of it is on a derilict train track, this ensures no excess sound of others and has other unepected features eg: the father is a single parent and mainly just women are portrayed as being single parents in the media.

4) Who's My Favourite Girl? - Signifies it is infact a comedy all the way through. From the beginning when a boy jokily sings a Kylie Minogue song (like he's making fun of it) to when the other lead boy is seen resisting a goodbye kiss from his mum when his friend is laughing in the background. One who seems to be more mature on the outside is really the one that dances all the time and generally acts like a child even though the other seems immature, he really seems more aware of his surroundings etc. So there is a binary opposition. Relating back to the title name of the movie both boys chat about the most important girls in their lives and helping one another about how to act in relationship. By the end the shyer boy had gained more confidence to kiss his mum. Even though, thinking back throughout the film it was romantic (unexpected) that repulsed the other boy, this also added the main comic effect.

5) Boy and Bicycle - To represent this was supposed to be set a long time ago, the use of colour shows it's black and white and use effects to make it sometimes skip and give it an old photo look. A voice comes on screen and sounds like a teenage boy is speaking, he explains everything about his life and especially things that highly annoy him therefore resorts to riding his bike to get away from it all. He travels to many locations (some busy, some quiet) still going through all the thoughts in his head and the camera follows him wherever he goes, therefore the screnery is made apparent.

6) Dear Phone - Is quite a confusing movie and not very enjoyable, the only things you see and hear on screen is the writing presented infront of you, however the idea of simpicity is quite creative because it seems so easy but lasts for so long.

7) Eight - Mentions st the start it has already won a prize, this makes the audience probably think it would be a good film so continues to watch it all. The very start is a typical convention of a film with there being a panning shot of the scenery, in this case it's a beach. Then the camera focused on a football which may have something to do with other aspects in the film. It could either signify a boy or a person with a sporting capability. A boy appears and picks it up, he looks the age of eight so this symbolizes the film must be about him, when he begins to shout and talk, his accent lets the audience know he's from the North of England because is very broad Liverpudlian, the next scene even shows him wearing a Liverpool Football Top (he's very proud of where he's from).

8) Doodlebug - It mentions at the start, the director, Christopher Nolan and most people would know he is the now very famous director of the Batman sequels. This deals with a man suffering from insomnia and how he deals with it (or not). Visions in his mind appear and larger versions of himself try to kill the smaller one so special effects was definately useful here. The title appears on a plain black screen and the two o's in the word, Doodlebug show his eyes wide open then dark, sinister music begins to play.

List Of Requirements

2009-10-14T11:55:00.003+01:00

The only requirement needed is one male actor from the drama department, preferably in Yr 13. Props and costume etc are all covered.

Rough Cut

2009-10-14T11:46:00.017+01:00

Currently, this rough cut has no music - it's very basic with just a few shots, starting dialogue very simple effects eg: the titles. The camera work is slightly shaky during some panning shots. At the moment it isn't very dynamic either because scenes aren't sped up where they need to be however that can be done in all due time. Audience feedback given to us already is really good because the positives in particular are the lighing, acting and the narrative plot in general. The camera mainly focusing on the girl signifies her importance and shows she is a key character. The Hills is a reality TV teen show surrounding one girl.

Initial Animatic and Audience Feedback

2009-10-14T11:32:00.003+01:00

Luckily, the audience feedback seemed really positive for this intital animatic. They liked the basic story line but as a whole, they thought bringing in a fourth character to mix up the traditional love triangle sounded far too confusing/complicated for only a short film that should last a few minutes. Advice given to me, was to leave it as just a 3 person love triangle and instead of having scenes in the school before hand, it should really start with the party, otherwise there are too many settings and locations.