Character's looks and personality mind maps

When thinking about our characters we created mind maps for our main two characters. They focused more on how they looked rather than their personality but we thought that in the audition process it would be very useful to have these ideas already so we could focus on people that had characteristics we knew we wanted. It also helped when it came to costume design as we talked about their build and their social standing which indicated how well they follow fashion. We also used this as an oppotunity to brain storm some names for characters and talk about ones we liked, ones we didn't and why.
Below are the mind maps for Harry and Penny

Mind map created by Olivia Saltmarsh

Mind map created by Olivia Saltmarsh

Olivia Saltmarsh

Character profiles

Harry
Harry is a man in his early to late 30's. On the surface he seems like a perfectly normal member of society, if not a bit quirky and unsociable. As the film progresses we see he has a dependence on medication but it isn't clear what they are for. We see that he is looking for someone unknown but due to his surroundings its likely they are going to be a member of his family. He pleas become more erratic and his personality visibly changes when he runs out of the pills. Harry seems to be physically harmless, he is of mid height but slight build so looks like he is physically weak, he doesn't look like he has been looking after himself very well and is unshaven. His lack of physical strength means his psychological danger is emphasised.

Penny
Penny is only seen briefly in our opening. She is in her mid teens as she is meant to represent the missing daughter of Harry. she has blonde hair which connotes innocence and makes her character seem even more feminine. She is petite and seems physically weak but her petite build also connotes that she will also be psychologically weak.

Olivia Saltmarsh

Further research into Psychological Thrillers and different types of Psychological thrillers

Psychological Thrillers
Olivia Saltmarsh

Group Research Into The Genre Of Psychological Thriller

Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock was know for being the master of suspense thrillers, and created these films by manipulating the audience's fears. He also allowed the audience to associate with the reality the character faced. His films included the main protagonist being mistakes of falsely accused and therefore finding themselves in a life threatening situation.

In a psychological thriller, characters are brought into a situation in which they are not prepared to resolve and are going to have to rely on a mental resource to get them out of the situation. Most violence seen within these films are psychological as opposed to physical.

Becky Rose

Film Brief

Psychological Thriller aimed at a young male audience, funded by the BFI.

"Harry is transfixed with a highschool girl and holds a dark secerate. Ivy has been obsessed with Harry for months, and soon grows jealous of his new target.

Becky Rose

Initial ideas mind map and genre ideas

When we were first presented with briefs we made a couple of mood boards on different genres to see what initial ideas people had for different genres and what conventions we associated with them. It also gave us a chance to look at other films from that genre and see if we thought we could make something similar that fitted with the conventions of the genre. We chose to look at a rural comedy and a psychological thriller. Luckily both of these briefs indicated that they were to be made by low budget institutions which is good for us as we knew we wouldn't have a high budget.

Below are our mood boards




Mood board for rural comedy created by Becky Rose

 










Mood Board for psychological thriller
created by Olivia Saltmarsh

After thinking about these mood boards we decided to go with the psychological thriller, as a group we then mind mapped ideas for our opening and our whole film. We knew that these probably wouldn't be the ideas we went with in the end and our film would look alot different but we thought at least if we had initial ideas and knew how as a group we wanted the film to look like we could build it up using components from these mind maps. 

Below are our mind maps for our opening and whole film





Olivia Saltmarsh

Opening Sequence Remake

Opening Sequence Remake: Superbad




We decided to recreate an opening to The 2007 film Superbad, this was because we are considering doing a teen comedy for our final film opening and the conventions used within this opening are perfect, from completeing this task we will have a further knowledge of thwe conventions we can ise if we decide to ceate this genre of film opening.
This task was primarily completed to concrete our knowledge of film opening conventions such as titles and apply them in a way that was creative, quick and would help us for future tasks including our final film.

Robert Thurgood Phillips

We did another preliminary task of re making a film opening. At this point we still weren't sure what what genre we were going to do but it didn't really matter as this task was all about gaining a better insight as to what we have to do to make a film opening and how much work would go into it.

We decided to remake the opening to the comedy film Super bad. Everyone in our group knew the film and the opening well so we had some idea of what we would have to do. The film opening is basically just two people dancing which would be quite easy for us to film, the hardest bit of it would be the editing as each shot has a different coloured back ground. We would have to add this in post production. We were confident that it wouldn't take us long to film as we would only need a static camera and all Robert and I would have to do is learn the dance. Even though we thought it wouldn't take us long we still created a shot list as we would have to do an extensive on for our actual film opening so this was good practise. We also made a storyboard which had our titles and transitions on, I thought that this would be more helpful when it came to editing as we could see what transitions we would have to use and what times the titles would have to come in.

I think this task was really helpful. It gave me an insight of how much work we will have to put into making our opening and also what compromises we will have to make. For example when it came to editing we didn't have the same star transition that they used in the original so we had to find a similar one we could use.

Above is the original opening for Super bad. We tried to make it as similar as possible but there were some things we had to compromise on. First of all we couldn't access a star transition for the end of our opening so we used the closest thing we had which was a circle one, this wasn't really a problem it just gave us an idea of how we should time transitions. We couldn't use the same music as they did in the original opening because it is copy writed When we make our opening we wont be ale to use copy writed music so this was a good insight into the type of music available to us.

Olivia Saltmarsh

Film Remake Storyboard

This is our storyboard from when we remade the opening of Superbad

Becky Rose

Superbad Shot list

Superbad Shot List

Film Certification: Romance

Romance films generally have a certification of a 12 or 15. This is because love is a mature theme which is also suitable for young teenagers. Furthermore, language used in romance films is normally appropriate for a younger audience, and any violence seen is rarely focused on. Also, a sinister atmosphere and disturbing scenes would not follow the conventions of a romance genre and therefore are not used. In addition, the use of drugs and discrimination are kept minimal or avoided when producing a romance film. However, the certificates 12 and 15 are given to these films due to the sexual references or nature the films may contain. How strong these elements are determines the certificate given. For example, The Holiday (2006) has a certificate of 12 because there is no nudity or sexual activity seen although it is referenced to. In contrast, Love Actually (2003) has a certificate of 15 due to the nudity seen and the sex scenes and references. Also, there is a use of strong language in the film.

Romance films are viewed by mass audience because they are normally produced by large industries who produce high concept films that are shown in cinemas and are highly commercialised. They often target all of the demographic groups but are mainly females. They often apply to all demographic groups because they are a film that is predicable and a film that most people can relate to to a certain extent. In terms of cross cultural consumer characteristic, (grouping by aspiration) they are aimed at main-streamers as they are a mainstream film which are normally popular. To an extent, romance films follow the hyperdomic theory because the plot is predictable so the audience accept the events that occur. However, for some audience members, the events are too coincidental and therefore question the events in the film. Romance films also follow the uses and gratifications theory (proposed by Denis Mc Quaial in 1987) as it is easy for the audience to relate to this genre of film. An audience member may go for entertainment purposes as it can be easy to get lost and involved in somebody else problems and life as opposed to your own. The audience may also see personal relationships by relating themselves with one of the characters. For example they may have made a mistake in a relationship like one of the characters in the film does. Finally, may be able to gain a sense of personal identity  with the character or events because love is part of everyday life.
Becky Rose

Thriller Certification

In general thriller films have a higher certification than, for example, comedy films. This is because of the conventions with in them that they need to reach to be classified into the thriller genre. Even with the higher certification (usually 15 although sometimes 18) they pull in the mass audience. This is because they are usually made by high budget institutions. These films need to be made by high budget institutions once again because of the thriller genre conventions such as big chases and fight scenes, small budget film companies do not have the resources to make films like this. Also the fact that thriller films are made by these companies means they can spend a lot of money on getting big name actors that people will want to see and can spend a lot on advertising and distribution.

Thriller films usually fall into the 15 section of the BBFC guidlines, this is because violence is a pivitol feature of thriller films and there is often bad language and sexual scenes. These scenes are rarely bad enough to make it into the 18 bracket as thee violence isn't glamorised and any sex or nudity is only implied or not dwelled on.

For example the thriller film Taken (2003) is certified as a 15 on the BBFC website, I looked at heir analysis to see why they gave it this certification and it said, there is strong violence and scene of torture. I was interested to see how a scene of torture was only given a rating of 15. The BBFC said that this scene consisted of,

The torture scene involves the kidnapper being electrocuted several times by the ex-spy as he tries to force the man to reveal his daughter's whereabouts. The man is briefly seen to judder and is left screaming off-screen at the end of the scene when the ex-spy leaves him being electrocuted.

This gives the impression that the pain is not specicifically shown or dwelled on, only implied and the scene was in context so I tink it was right to be put into the 15 bracket.

I was interested in what made a thriller film go from a 15 to an 18 certification so I looked at the certification details of the 18 film Drive (2011) This film has been classified as an 18 because of 'Strong gory violence and one use of direct racist language' The violence is said to exceed what is seen to be acceptable. The violence is very explicit and is seen to be glamorised, a lot of emphasis is put on inflicting pain which is why it was increased to an 18 film. Throughout the whole of the BBFC's guidlines it says that discrimitory language and actions must not be used, implied or endorsed. The BBFC thought that the use of self directional racist language was endorsing racism and discrimination, this was another factor in it being moved to an 18 film.

On the whole the large majority of thriller films are certified as 15's this means they still reach a mass audience but have more freedom in the content of the film to make it a successful thriller film.

Olivia Saltmarsh

Audience Expectations: Comedy

We as a group decided to look at different genres and their expected conventions within them, we asked people of different backgrounds and different ages to answer a few questions on our proposed genre about what they expect to see and what age certification they expect a typical comedy to be. I came up with a few relevant questions for the participants to answer about their opinions for the expectations of a comedic film.

5 People where asked to answer these questions.

1. Would you consider watching a comedy film?
2.What 3 things would you typically associate with a comedy film you would consider watching?
3. Which certification would you expect your typical comedy to be?
4.When would you expect to watch a film of this genre?

I believed that from these questions I would be able to collect enough information about the conventions expected from this particular genre.

Stuart Thurgood Phillips - 17

1. Yes
2. Sexual Themes, teen humour and spoofs/parodies
3.15 - 18
4. With friends or at home when bored

Mark Phillips -50

1.Yes
2. Gags, far'fetched events, slapstick
3. 15
4. At home with family.

Georgia Phillips - 8

1. Yes
2. Funny people, love and a happy ending
3. U - PG
4. With parents after school.

Maud Hesketh - 25

1. Yes
2. Stereotypes, parodies and a vague storyline
3. 15 - 18
4.With the boyfriend or flatmates

Charlotte Hampel - 14

1. Yes
2. Love, rude guys and happy endings
3. 12A/ 15
4. with my friends at a sleepover.

Scott Burgess - 13

1.No
2.N/A
3.15
4.N/A

Peter Sterne - 16

1.Yes
2. Drugs, sexual themes and "cringey" moments
3. 15 - 18
4. with friends or alone in bedroom if bored.

From the answers collected I have deducted that comedy films are very popular among audiences of any age, this is probably due to the fact that comedies are rapidly developing into different hybrids and each target audience will be persuaded to watch "their type of comedy film" it is obvious that the participants between the age of 15-17 are commonly fans of comedies dubbed 'Teen Comedy' which feature exagerrated high Schools often set in America and involve adolescent sexual adventure and conflicts with authority, for example the American Pie  series of films, i believed each were certified a 15 for scenes of a sexual nature and for use of profanity.
It has also been discovered that the location of which comedies are watched is, majority of the time, at home via dvd or television rather than on the big screen, this is down to the lack of comfort audiences may feel in some scenes and watching them in there own home makes the 'Cringey' parts of the film become more bareable.
the certification for most comedies is 15-18 although this is mainly due to the modern hybrids and their content, comedies can still be enjoyed by children whilst being different subgenres, which is what helps to make it probably the most popular genres in the history of film, because it caters to such a mass audience and can be split into so many different hybrids.

Robert Thurgood Phillips 

Thriller audience expectations and analysis

As a group we all decided to look at a different genre and then ask people of different ages and backgrounds what they expect from said genre, I am looking at the thriller genre. I came up with a few questions to ask people to get a general over veiw of what people expect from the genre and a film from that genre. Once we had the idea of what people expect from the genre we can decide if this genre is one we would be able to achieve.

1. What genre of film areyou most likely to go and see?
2. Would you go and see a thriller film?
3. Name 5 things you expect to see in a thriller film
4. What certification would you expect to see from a thriller film?

These are the questions I asked 6 people to get an idea of what people expect from their films.

Maxine Saltmarsh- 49

1. Drama
2. Yes
3. violence, relationships, tension, chase, fear
4. 18

Kevin Saltmarsh- 49

1. Thriller
2. Yes
3. Car chase, guns, suspense, female interest, darkness
4. 15

Grace Gillard- 6

1. fairy/children
2. No
3. running, scary men, scared, dark, acreaming
4. N/A

Amber Polley- 17

1. Horror
2. Yes
3. Creepy themes, death, isolation, suspense, darkness
4. 15

Natalie Saltmarsh- 21

1. Rom-Com
2. Maybe
3. Fear, Running, Isolation, Darkness, Death
4. 15

Del Toogood- 56

1. Action
2. Yes
3. Chase, Male Villian, Suspense, Relationships, Fights
4. 15

From all of the answers given I can see that thriller isn't commonly the film that people would automatically go to see but most would be willing to see one. It is obvious that thriller films are aimed at older audiences as everyone said that a thriller film would be at least a 15 and when I asked the young person she didn't really have an idea what a thriller film was. From this I can see that usual conventions people think of when it comes to thriller films are, low key lighting (signified as darkness) a sense of suspense and some form of chase, be it a car chase or having a chase as an ongoing thematic convention. I think the opening of a thriller would be a good thing for us to do as it will be quite easy to build up suspense through editing and location and low key lighting is something we can easilly achieve. I don't think we would be able to create a successful chase but as we are only creating the first two minutes its unlikely that there would be a chase in there so we wouldn't have to worry about that.

Olivia Saltmarsh

Audience Expectations Analysis

Romance
The results from the questionnaire show that the audience expect to see a stereotypical romance film where a boy and girl meet who fall in love, go through a difficult time but end up together in the end. This shows that the audience want to see a traditional love story with a happy ending. The 6/8 people who said that they wanted a happy ending shows that the audience want to see that even when things go wrong in a relationship, that everything can work out. By 6/8 participants saying that they expected to see 2-3 of the main protagonists shows that they want to see the future couple introduced in the opening. This will allow them to immediately judge the characters and allow them to possibly relate to them. All participants wanting the main protagonist to be a young adult, shows that they want the events in the film to be mature. With only one person saying that they preferred a romance film to be set in a different period shows that the audience like a modern day film that they can possibly relate to. Also, by all but one of the participants saying that they expected the film to be certified a 12/12A shows that the audience would also like the film to have mature sequences and for some adult humor to be included.
Becky Rose

Audience Expectations: Romance

We carried out questionnaires in order to discover what potential audience members want to see in a certain film genre. We questioned both males and females and a variety of ages. This helped us gain a greater understanding of what the audience enjoy watching.

When asked how likely they would be to watch a romance film at the cinema, participants answers varied. This shows that participants preferred different genres of films.
6/8 participants expected to see 2-3 main protagonists introduced within the opening. The remaining 2 participants expected to see 0-1.
All participants said that expected the main protagonist to be a young adult.
All participants also said that they expected the story line to be the stereotypical boy meets girl story where something between then goes wrong but they end up together in the end.
6/8 participants want a romance film to have a happy ending.
6/8 participants also said that a flashback was not an effective opening for a romance film. The other two participants said that it could occasionally be effective.
6/8 participants said that they preferred a romance film to be set in the modern day. 1 participant did not mind and the other preferred the film to be set in another period.
When asked if a romance film has to be set in a romantic setting, 4 participants said yes and 4 said no.
7/8 participants said that they expected a romance film to hold the certification 12/12A while 1 participant said they expected it to be certified a 15.
Becky Rose

Jelly baby activity

As a group we were given the task of creating a story board of a film opening using jelly babies as the actors. We did this so we could work on our creativity within the film opening and find out what is realistically possible for us to do. we were given a list of film briefs that ranged from a social realism film to a Hollywood action film. We decided to go with the social realism film. This is because it was the one we were most likely to be doing as we have a small budget and limited resources.

We thought about social realism films we had seen ourselves and what they all had in common. They usually have a singal protagonist which the film follows. It follows their life and the problems they have. They usually have some sort of confilct, often including family, and are set in a lower class area. They are usually made by low budget independent institutions. As they are so low budget there is very little special effects used and camera angles are simple so as not to distract from the story and because companies can't afford things like cranes or expensive dollys.

Below is our whole story board, I will then show the individual frames and explain our reasons behind each one.

This is our whole story board, it's quite short but a convention of social realism films is that they are simple and that simplicity is a convention of film openings as a whole.

Our first shot was going to be a tracking shot of the main protagonist walking towards the camera. IT was going to be a shot that would introduce him as the main character and it would establish the mood straight away through his emotions. It would also establish the social realism genre as in the background you would be able to hear shouting after the protagonist.

This next shot introduced another character. this one is only half seen suggesting they aren't very important. The purpose of this character is to make the audience see that the protagonist has a hard life and to set the context up a bit more to make the audience empathise with the protagonist.

In this frame a two shot is used on the two characters. A new character is introduced and they simply look at each other. this gives the idea that this is where the conflict will start and the length of this frame builds up the tension as the frame will be completely silent. It's just a build up of emotions.

The next two shots are simply close ups on the two characters. Once again in silence. This one again to build up the tension and making the audience want to know even more whats going to happen next. All these shots are quite simple and this is because we want to focus on the emotions and the gritty realism.

This shot will shock the audience because there has been so much tension built up then what seems like such a random act of violence will shock everyone.

This is the last shot of the opening. A close up on the man who has been hurt. He has blood coming out of his head. There is silence around and he seems to be on his own, this is such a drastic thing to happen in an opening it will hook the audience in. As it seems so real due to the fact its shot on location it will make people feel involved with the characters lives.

Olivia  Saltmarsh

Preliminary Task Film

Explanation For Our Preliminary Task

Doing a preliminary task has benefited  us in a number of ways. We now have experience using the equipment and now have a better understanding of how to use the Macs for editing. It as helped show us the stages of producing a short film or opening, and that it is a long process that is time consuming and requires a lot of organisation, resulting in us considering our option early on and being productive with our time so we can create a successful film opening. Another thing it has shown us is that good communication is required. With out this, we will not be successful in our planning process and will also not hear everyone's ideas which we could potentially combine. It is also important to divide the work between us equally so that we all have an opportunity to get a good grade and to ensure that all of the work does not fall on one person. For us to have the motivation to do all the work required, we are going to need to like the idea that we have for our film. As a group we like the story behind our preliminary task, and saw the potential for it to be good. This resulted in us looking forward to the lessons and we were willing to do work towards it in our own time. This has shown us that we will need to have the same attitude towards our opening as more work will be required. The preliminary task has also helped show us how vital the planning stage is. The story board proved useful as it helped give us as vision of what our film would run liked and showed us what we needed to film where and when. The props list allowed us to ensure that we had everything in time for filming, so we did not have to 'make do and mend'. Before this preliminary task, we did not think that editing would be so time consuming. However, this has showed us that during the editing process we will want to change elements of our film and will be very precise with every detail. This has showed us that we will need to leave plenty of time for the editing process.

Becky Rose

Group Members

Jordan Kenneally - 6287
Rebecca Rose - 6407
Olivia Saltmarsh - 6348
Robert Thurgood-Phillips - 6365