Distributors Research

Media Institutions That Produce The Types Of Film I Am Going To Create

Possible Production Companies

• BBC Films

• UK Film Council

• Shine

• Figment Films

• Channel 4 films

• Gunslinger

• Gateway Films (co-production)

• Cabin Fever Films (in association with)

• Creativity Media (in association with)

• Limelight Communication (as Limelight) (in association with) (presents)

• ContentFilm

• Kasander Film Company

Possible Distributors

• Verve Pictures 

• 21st Century Pictures 

• Arkles Entertainment 

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 

• Image Entertainment

• MTV Netherlands 

• Movie Bank 

• Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy 

• Revolver Entertainment

• Artificial eye

Distributors that especially appeal to me are UK Film council and BBC Films as these two british distributors are well known for producing good youth culture films such as Kidulthood and Adulthood, I believe they would be most likely to distribute our film if we ever did make it as our film has a very similar feel to that of Kidulthood and Adulthood. I believe our film would be able to live up to the expectations of the Kidulthood and Adulthood audience if it was made into a normal length film and distributed by either UK Film council or BBC Films

Audience Research Reply

We interviewed some of our peers asking the five questions:

• What are your expectations of the opening 2 minutes of any film?

"I should find out the main themes and a bit about the main characters"

"Know everything about what the film is trying to show me"

"Brief description (visually) of what's happening, the setting, the man characters"

"Set the scene- hooks you to the film"

• What are your expectations of the opening 2 minutes of a youth culture film?

"Find out what's going to happen, and how the film will develop"

"Get to the point"

"Show what area it's set in"

"Teenagers, walking around [...] in groups"

• Why do enjoy youth culture films?

"I can relate to them"

"I feel like I can relate to the problems the characters may feel"

"They are relatable to some of us"

"Teenagers enjoy watching other teenagers"

• How do you typically access films?

"On the internet"

"Download offline or DVD"

"Cinema or DVD"

"CInema is really expensive, so DVD or internet, peer to peer sharing"

• What is your favourite youth culture film?

"Kidulthood"

"Adulthood"

"Adulthood"

"(some mutterings with no real answer)"

What we did learn from our audience research was a lot of information we could use to make our film more appealing to our targeted audience. I realised that our genre of film really appeals to our age group, they enjoy seeing people their age in situations such as our characters Ceaser and Flo

Most people our age have watched the films like Adulthood and Kidulthood which our films is sort of inspired by, this means our audience was excited to hear about the genre of film we'll be making, we now know what are the expectations of our film from our audiences and we can work towards achieving these expectations

Audience Research

We asked a few of our peers the following questions:

1. What are your expectations of the opening 2 minutes of any film? 
2. What are your expectations of the opening 2 minutes of a youth culture film? 
3. Why do enjoy youth culture films? 
4. How do you typically access films? 
5. What is your favourite youth culture film?

Edited Storyboard

Ali (Ceaser)

                                                                        Kirsty (Flo)

Storyboard

These are our groups original storyboard ideas for kirsty's part in the film

Timetable

This is our timetable for filming and editing. I was the only one in our group without the same free periods as the others in my group so we had to take advantage of lunch and our media lessons

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Period 1					Friday
Period 2	Editing
Period 3		Editing
Period 4			Filming
Lunch			Filming	Filming
Period 5				Filming

Final Song Choice

• After song proposals from each of the group, we finally came to the decision of this track because it reinforces our chosen genre, it puts the audience in the right mood. 
• The music reflects off of the lifestyle of the main character in our film
• The song comes in first at the opening titles and again when Kirsty puts on her headphones, giving off an impression that we can hear what she hears.
• The music can also be seen as foreshadowing since it is playing when Ali buys drugs and again when Kirsty is going to meet Ali.

Film music examples

These are some of the songs i have put forward as a backing track to our film,I feel as if these songs would provide the necessary emphasis on our genre, stereotypes and conventions. Everyone in our group is bring forward their few choices well. I believe that Bad-wale and end of day are very good choices as they both provide a unique backing track to further develop our characters to our audiences.
The music is very important as this will give the representations we want to our audiences

Titling Analysis

THIS IS ENGLAND:
Opening Sequence:

The title sequence for This Is England uses archive footage from the 80's, including footage of Margaret Thatcher, ballet dancers and the modern youth. These opening credits show and reflect the events during the 80's, the birth of a social revolution and the uprise of Margaret Thatcher and the Tory party.

It does not only reflect the harsh side of england but also the nicer side by showing clips of things such as rock and roll bands

The font used helps to reflect and create the mood for the audience displaying the general rough feeling and struggle of the era. The use of historic clips creates a feel good feeling for the audience that may have been alive in those times. The rough font of 'This Is England' (also in capitals) establishes he film and the type of genre it will fit into.

rought font + rough estate

There is a huge variety of clips, from lower class to upper class, at one point, it shows protestors then cuts to princess diana. This cutting shows the two different sides of the spectrum of England.
The first thing shown is a clip of Roland Rat saying "Testing testing 1,2,3!' before being followed by a song by Toots and the Maytals and a black screen with rough white font, 'Film Four and The Film Council Presents'. This creates trust in the audience, as Film Four and the Film Council are both well known companies who have been recognised in England as good for producing and showcasing good films.

Final Script

This is the final script that I created, it has a few minor changes but also a few larger ones, we had to take out one of the scenes featuring a large group of people, as most of our friends were too busy at our allocated filming times. We also changed a lot of the dialogue as some was no longer necessary or no longer made any sense after some of the other changes, I believe that this edited version of our original script will do a much better job of establishing our codes and conventions to our audience as it has more  ways of showing both the different sides of Flo and Ceaser but also their connection, when we begin filming I hope this script helps our film turn out as we hope and plan.

Costume

We plan to have Ali (Caeser) and Jotham (Link) dressed as a stereotypical youths, for example, the main characters in Kidulthood. A modern tracksuit would suffice. This clothing will portray them as working class youth. Wearing tracksuits out of a track is usually associated with working class. Audiences will immediately be able to recognise the characters as working class. In films such as Kidulthood and Adulthood, a lot of the characters wear tracksuits and hoodies which reinforced to the modern day audience the idea of a stereotypical working class youth. Choosing Ali and Jotham (Caeser and Link) to wear this will hopefully work as a signifier as we planned.

Kirsty's character being middle classed means Kirsty will be dressed accordingly. Her clothing will portray her as a middle class girl. A lace skater dress seems appropriate. This dress compared to the tracksuit shows a difference between working and middle class. the elegance of the dress compared to the simplicity of a tracksuit further reinforces the difference in classes. Along with her home and technology, I hope the audience is able to recognise Kirsty (Florence) as middle class.

Plan for this week

Finishing off our filming on:
Wednesday (06/03/13) at Period 4 and Lunch time
and Thursday (07/03/13) at Lunch time and Period 5
We are filming the scene between Caesar and his group of friends.

Locations

These locations seem best for our film as they each have things that can reinforce our genre and theme of the film, the characters in our film are supposed to be connected by music and so the use of a music room fits perfectly, the other parts of the film are set in a school to remind audiences of Ali and Kirsty's age and reinforce the theme of YOUTH culture. the clean look of the music room gives the audience an impression that music is Ali's way of getting away from his gang life.

Synopsis

SYNC. (Film title) Ceaser and Florence two teenagers from two completely different backgrounds, share the same passion for music. A cross between 'Kidulthood' and 'Brown Sugar'. Both of them find themselves facing their inner demons and struggle to battle against them. Ceasar (Ali) tries to shed his 'gang life' image and Florence faces up to her parents as she refuses to live up to their great expectations of an academic career but to follow her dream to be in the musical industry(Kirsty) . Ceasar and Florence meet more and more to make music together but find themselves drifting towards being more than friends. They confide in each other sharing their problems and work together to overcome them. Problems arise and test their bond but they discover their shared passion for music and feelings towards each other are their only way out and nothing will make them go back to their old ways

Prop List

Based on my script we will need the following props:

• Headphones-These will reinforce the theme of music in our film
• Cereal-This is a more generic breakfast for a middle class family reinforcing Kirsty's characters background
• Mac-
• Fake drugs-
• Mobile Phones-
• Homework-
• Music Room-

Script Version 1

Original Script

This is our original Script 

Camera Techniques

As I am not very experienced in recording, i thought it would be best to research camera techniques and how to avoid our film looking too amateur. the video above was of great help, especially with the two handed recording technique as this would be very useful in shots where a monopod or tripod would not fit. I plan to put what i learned from this video to good use. With a new variety of techniques available, there will be more shots available for us to use.

Genre Decision

As there are four people in our group there was a lot of debate about which genre our film should be, but in the end we ended up agreeing on 'youth culture' genre as the main genre of our movie. There will be two main characters, a boy and a girl who are connected by music. This along with romance are the main themes. In an attempt to think of title we stumbled upon a word that can be associated with music and romance, 'sync'. As a musical term it is used to describe rhythm in a song, but outside of music it can be used the connection between two people, to be in 'sync'. This is a great portrayal of our movie's plot.

Trainspotting Opening Sequence

The Medium Close up/ over the shoulder shot to start already gives the audience an idea of who the main character is. This Opening Sequence is quite sudden and instantly causes the audience to question what is going on, by using the rule of thirds, main character at the left, sub character at the right and further back taking up much less of the screen showing his importance compared to the much larger figure to the left. This is a good youth culture opening sequence as it is unique.

Bullet Boy Opening Sequence

ESTABLISH LOCATION

Set in a prison, along with the title poster featuring character holding a gun, the audience is given the idea that the main character has committed a gun related crime.



INTRODUCE CHARACTERS

Character is in prison, on colloquial terms with female officer which insinuates he's not a hardened criminal, the character lying down in his cell shows he's quite laid back even though he's in prison.



SET UP NARRATIVE

The audience gets an idea that: the character is a deviant, about to be released and from the officers calm nature towards him, the audience is given the impression that character is not as bad as originally expected.


ESTABLISH THEMES

Located in a jail, an average audience would get from a black youth, in prison, who speaks like someone of working class, along with the titling showing him holding a gun that the theme of this film is crime.



ESTABLISH GENRE

Starts with  black youth in jail just about to be released into the outside world, his clothing (tracksuit)  gives an impression to the audience that this is a youth culture film.




PROVIDE INSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION

Shows "BBC FILMS" logo
Shows "A Shine Production"
Shows "UK Film Council" logo



ENGAGE THE AUDIENCE

Ominous music creates tension, point of view camera shot giving an impression of an officer looking into the cell as if the audience was the officer.

CREATE EXPECTATIONS

Boy in dark space with a torch, gives an impression of mischievous behaviour. The audience is given the impression that something may happen to this boy.