Evaluation - Preliminary Task

Digital Technology

For the digital technology that i chose to use for my preliminary task was using a camera and a piece of software which allowed me to edit the task as a whole. With the camera, i used an ordinary camera which (along with the tripod) helped to give a good presented image as someone were to watch it. With the software, i used a new version of IMovie on a Mac computer which caused the task to become of a huge success due to the software being very much easy to use. I felt that this version of IMovie was much more simpler to use than the old version and it caused it to become very comfortable when editing my work.

With the whole structure and story line of this 43 second production, i decided that i would make the genre Comedy. For this genre to become known as people watched this, within some scenes, i sped up the time sequence so that it appeared for of a slap-stick comedy production. For instance, from 0.31 seconds, the audience are able to denote the character dialogue being sped up as she speaks. Due to her tone sounding highly pitched, it causes it to become rather unusual which then reflects upon the comedy aspect that the audience feels whilst they are watching it.

Within my opening sequence, i sped up some clips slightly so that all the shots taken would sync in well with one another. I created this type of editing on IMovie as Dan begins his actions of domestic abuse towards Jade as she walks out of the kitchen at 1.00 within the production.




Within this preliminary task, i was given objectives that i was expected to fill such as the types of different camera shots. From 0.23, this establishes the first shot of a ''Shot, Reverse, Shot'' as the two characters first begin their conversation with one another. The second one is denoted from 0.23 and the shot is then reversed back to the original shot at 0.31 seconds. From this over the shoulder shot and the rest of the shots denotes, it caused to become of a very successful approach as a practice run for myself main production opening sequence due to me having an idea of the different types of shot types and camera techniques i was able to re-act upon. Also, i was given many skills on how to create continuity editing within my work so that the production would flow better.

Due to the new version of IMovie being new to me, i was given a tuition lesson on how to use it. It took a little bit of time to get used to the software but in the end, i managed to find it quite easy to use in order to edit my task. I felt that the task as a whole happened too quickly and i felt that i could have used more shots whilst i am seen (as a character) walking up to my friend by the swing.

With my main production, i was able to edit more efficiently due to the fact that i had already used the IMovie software before when editing my continuity editing exercise. Due to this practice  i was able to expand more strongly with the previous skills that i already had. For instance, at 0.20 on-wards  the audience are able to hear diegetic sound of screams and banging sounds whilst the door is shut where Becca is standing outside. Due to my previous experience with IMovie, i was able to record these sounds separately and edit them on top of the production afterwards in a way that would match what was happening on screen.



Creativity

The basic scenario that i aimed to reflect upon was to show a character opening a door, walking into a room, and having a conversation with another character. I chose to use a bicycle as transport instead of walking due to this creating a sense of good creativity which helps to make the production stand out towards the audience. Also, as the music plays throughout the production, i felt that the bicycle transport fitted in well with that as well as well as the genre of comedy which i aimed to achieve. The use of transport within the preliminary task was (what i felt) the strongest element to the creativity of my work due to the fact that this type of transport is not normally exhibited within productions. 

Post Production/Research and Planning

With the post production for my preliminary task, i created story board sheets which included drawings of the different shots and the story line of the whole clip. This caused my production to become very easy when filming due to me having planned what shots, angles, and dialogue i would include within the task. 

With my BSR opening sequence, i created a shooting script instead which was in a similar format to the story boards which i created for my continuity editing work but didn't consist in any drawings of shots. I felt that the shooting script was a weakness of mine because i felt (for some reason) a difficulty when trying to follow it. with the story boards, due to there being images to follow, i felt that way was easy in a way. Although next time, i will think strongly about the structure in which i lay out the shooting script so that i am able to follow it correctly and without any hassle and this will be one of the improvements that i am to make in the future. 

The research that i conducted for my preliminary task was mainly gathering important knowledge about all the different shot types and editing techniques in order for a well flowed production. This being Shot - Reverse - Shot, Close up, Long Shot, Extreme Shot, Mid-Shot etc. After taking in this knowledge and research, i was able to interpret this within my preliminary task so that it came out successfully as a media production. 
With this, i felt that i could of improved more on the number of different shot types used so that my production would have a variety of them which the audience would be able to denote whilst watching. 
When it came to producing my opening sequence production, i was able to think more about the different types of shot types that i would be using in order to achieve that full BSR media representation.

Evaluation - Technology

Evaluation - Addressing/Attracting Audience

Evaluation - Social Group Representation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within the world of media, teenagers are normally represented in a conventional way which tends to stand out towards the audience. They are stereo-typically characterized by their personality, sex, and appearance. Most teenagers within the media are represented as attractive, confident, and white; this of which could cause the related age grouped audience to become very paranoid about the way they look due to the intentions that they may feel after examining such a perfect stereotypical aspect of a teenager shown across the television screen.

Within my media production, I chose to represent my teenage character differently to this stereotypical aspect whilst being inspired by the representation of the main female character from the British film production of ''Fish Tank''.
The main character within my film Becca is represented as a 16 year old character and is denoted wearing dark unfashionable clothes which could connote her lack of class as a character. These dull colors could also maybe connote emotional depression that she goes through within her life.  Within the film, due to her age being of a young represented teenager, the audience may tend to judge her before her actions. Becca tends to act very mature about things within the beginning of the production (when we view her trying to stop an argument caused between Dan and Jade whilst they are resulting in actions of domestic violence) but as the rest of the film follows, the actions and decisions that Becca chooses to act upon completely change the way the audience look at her from how she was represented at the beginning of the film to how she changes in the rest of the story line; she turns into a violent aggressive character and this causes the audience to witness two different aspects of a typical teenage girl revealed within the media world.



Camera/Editing

Within the opening sequence, Becca is denoted as a young teenager and she is only denoted within the production for a few short moments. During these moments, the audience witness her knocking on the door and sliding down a wall resulting in her curled up on the floor. Whilst she sits herself amongst the floor, the camera pans down following her actions which then results in a high angle shot. This helps to connote that she is weak and is struggling on what to do within the situation that she is in at that moment of time. This tends to happen to most teenagers due

to the fact that in harsh situations like these, females such as herself would not know what to do. With women, they are normally stereo-typically judged as the weak ones out of the two sexes. Due to this being stated, Becca is witnessed in a similar way due to the power that Dan holds over Jade being so strong which Becca is then unable to prevent from causing.

At 0.20, I placed the camera so that the door and Becca were denoted within the shot. As this shot commences, the audience are able to hear the strong load sounds of screaming and banging which Dan is inflicting upon Jade within the room. Due to the camera being placed out side of the room away from the main action, it causes the production to create enigma towards the audience due to the fact that they are unable to know of what harsh damage is being inflicted upon Jade from Dan's strong domestic abuse actions.
Also, due to the shot denoting Becca outside of the room, it connotes that she is of a young age and she is not suitable to be experiencing these type of actions due to her being of a young age (16 years old).


During the beginning of this production, we witness one of the characters Jade walking into her flat after going somewhere without letting anybody know that she had left. As Jade walks up the staircase, the camera uses a close up shot of her footwork; as the audience denote this, it causes a sense of tension and causes her actions performed to become very strongly focused upon when being one of the first female characters to be introduced. While she is walking into the flat, Dan is denoted within the kitchen looking through the fridge. Both their actions twists with the stereotypical expectations that the audience have when witnessing their actions. Normally, the audience would expect the female character to be within the kitchen and the male character being the one to walk into the flat after going somewhere. 

At 1.54, we denote Becca suddenly walking up to a door and opening a letter slot to see if anyone is in the house. I used continuity editing to approach this whilst the camera is on the other side of the letter slot as Becca opens it from the outside. Usually, an adult would not typically be seen doing this action of opening a letter slot; they would be ringing the door bell or knocking like a normal person would. Due to Becca opening the letter slot in hope that someone opens the door, it is quite immature of her and helps to connote her representation as a teenager.

Sound

For the first 0.57 seconds of this opening sequence, i created a sound track to play on top of the action that commences from Jade and Dan. (The software that i used to create this was through Logic on the IMac). From researching into my target audience, i created the sound track in a way which would suit their musical appeal; this being genres such as Garage, Hip-Hop, R&B etc. Although this sound track has a depressing emotional element to it, the rest of track apart from the minor key melody line has a very deep strong based representation which relates to genres such as Garage and R&B due to these genres consisting in thick textured base lines. Due to my sound track being of this format, it would appeal more to the main social group that i am aiming towards for my target audience.

From 1.20, the audience are able to hear diegetic sounds of screaming and banging which Dan inflicts upon Jade within the room. Whilst denoting this, it connotes to the audience the type of character that Dan is whilst listening to all the harsh loud banging that he is inflicting upon Jade. Whilst hearing the screaming, the audience feel a sense of sympathy for Jade due to her being a female which the audience would stereo-typically judge her to be of a weak represented character. 

Mise-en-scene/Expressionism
The location which i chose for my opening sequence was a broken down flat estate which gave a very low working class representation towards who is living in it. Within the kitchen scene in the sequence, the audience are able to denote a lot of mess and one of the cabinet draws missing. This causes the mise-en-scene to appear of a unstable unvarnished feel whilst the audience watch the scene.

For Becca within the scene at 1.20, the expressionism with the lighting matches her representation and appearance once she is denoted. Due to the lighting being of a dim quality, this could connote the difficulty and depressed situation which Becca experiences at that moment as well as others. Due to her being of a young teenager, this lighting connotes her being in darkness of the situation and her standing there unable to help could connote her helpless actions towards what Dan is causing to Jade. The lighting also reflects upon the harsh actions in which Dan is acting upon within the room which causes it to appear as such a effective scene as he is a male adult within the sequence. 

Evaluation - Conventions Of Media Products

Evaluation - Film 4

Evaluation - Who Are The Audience?

Evaluation - Brief

The brief that i was working towards was to create the first two minutes of a British Social Realist film aimed towards British 16-24 year old's, whilst providing a clear sense of graphical editing and BSR conventions which the audience would expect to witness whilst watching. Also whilst conducting this production, i was asked by Film 4 that every type of audio and visual material would be created originally and if not, then we would need full permission from the original owner so that they have agreed for us to be using their creations.






Through the opening sequence, Becca's best friend (Jade) is denoted walking up the stairs to her flat where her boyfriend lives also. As she walks, the camera cross cuts to what Jade's boyfriend (Dan) is doing within the kitchen of the flat (0.34); he is looking through the fridge. As Jade finally approaches Dan within the kitchen, he creates an argument with her regarding her leaving during the night. Jade then follows his demanding questions with attitude which then causes Dan to become very angry. After this dialogue commences, the theme of domestic violence starts to commence. We denote Dan power walking up to Jade as she walks away
rudely and throws her into the bedroom across the corridor (at 1.00)  As this occurs, Becca is first introduced within the film whilst running up to the door trying to stop these actions which Dan is acting upon towards Jade. At 1.20, the door closes and we hear the screams and banging sounds that Jade creates as she is being abused within the room whilst Becca is there and moving backwards towards the wall to sit down. After this commences, a new scene is introduced of Becca suddenly opening a letter slot through someone else's door.

The title that me and my partner Ellie decided to name the film is ''Unexpected''. The story line as a whole reveals a young 16 year old girl (Becca) being witnessed as a innocent character at the beginning of the production and then throughout the rest of the film, she is denoted becoming a violent depressed character due to Dan's actions causing her to be influenced to inflict these upon others (Domestic Abuse). Due to the stereotypical judgement that Men are the more dominant ones in the world as a gender, we felt that if we were to create a twist and make Becca the more dominant one, then this would be something that people would not expect to see. Also, since Dan is the one at the beginning to be causing this domestic abuse actions, the audience would come to the idea that the story line of the film would be about the Male figure's dominance; as the film continues, Becca IS witnessed as the dominant violent one in the relationship with her boyfriend (Callum).

Within my treatment, i stated that the title ''Unexpected'' was named due to a female character not normally being denoted as the dominant violent character causing domestic abuse to the male figure; therefore, this title connotes the unexpected story line which exists within my film production.



Domestic Violence is a strong theme that is distributed within typical BSR films. It connotes the strong aspect of negativity and the harsh element that dominant men convey through their representations. This being one of the main themes represented within my production, the audience are able to relate to it due to their viewings on previous BSR films such as ''Nil By Mouth'' (1997). Within Nil by Mouth, there is a strong effective scene which emphasized strongly on the theme of domestic abuse where we witness a man beating up a women due to the fact that he has intentions of her cheating on him with another man. From this scene from my research, i chose to interpret this within my own production's story line due to to becoming a strong inspiration towards the main theme that i want to express within my film. The audience witness this theme from 1.20 within my production as the audience hear screams and banging sounds of the violence that Dan inflicts upon Jade within the room.




Another theme which i interpreted within my production is the theme of poverty. The location that i used within my production was a broken down flat estate which established the theme of poverty due to it having such a unvarnished feel whilst the audience would watch it. Within ''Fish Tank'' (2009), the location that the main girl (Mia) lives in is very unvarnished due to the denotations of dried up paint and clothes and furniture laying around within her home. Due to her not having enough space at home, she is denoted in another location where it is completely empty which reflects upon her not being able to afford. After researching within this film, i was inspired to find a location which would best suit this aspect of poverty within BSR films.

Production Log 9/10

Within these last couple of weeks, me and my partner Ellie have been recording new shots and scenes and editing them all together on IMovie. This involved creating many call sheets due to the actors schedules and their free time where they are able to film in. I decided to change the action that commences within the sequence so that the audience denote a cross-cut between Jade walking into the flat and Dan in the kitchen; this then resulting in the main domestic abuse actions which Dan inflicts upon Jade behind the shut door. Me and my partner were quite satisfied with the end result of the production as a whole but noticed that we could have improved on the continuity editing a little bit more and also the lighting as well. Within some sections of the production, the lighting would change suddenly and this would then cause the scene to not be so much of a successful one.

Through this week, i have mostly been completing evaluation work on how my production turned out as a whole and how i related it to BSR conventions as well as Film 4's ethos. I felt that overall, we were not completely organised with keeping track to the shooting script in which we created for the production and we know now that that is what we need to improve on more in future productions which we get given to create.
We chose to not use too much of the scene outside of the house where Becca is sitting on the floor outside, and decided to show only a couple of seconds on that in order for the production to seem as if it hasn't ended yet which is good because it allows the production to seem more of a opening sequence when the audience are watching it.

Call Sheet 6

Call Sheet 5

Call Sheet 4

Call Sheet 3

Production Log 7/8

Within these couple of weeks, I mainly focused on getting all the footage completed for our opening sequence draft deadline. After doing so and receiving feedback from many other classmates and teachers, this helped to see what we needed to improve on and gave us opportunities to think of new ideas to add to our story line and what shot types we could change or add.

After completing our draft, we noticed that we needed to create more continuity editing within the production so that it created a more of a flow. Also, as the beginning scene commences, we didn't really accomplish the camera angles and bridge of events that we wanted to occur. After exporting the draft, we thought long and hard on what we could improve. We then decided to just change the close up's used in the beginning of the scene and we decided that we should reveal the character's faces.


After completing our draft, we noticed that we needed to create more continuity editing within the production so that it created a more of a flow. Also, as the beginning scene commences, we didn't really accomplish the camera angles and bridge of events that we wanted to occur. After exporting the draft, we thought long and hard on what we could improve. We then decided to just change the close up's used in the beginning of the scene and we decided that we should reveal the character's faces.

After uploading the draft onto YouTube, people within my class viewed the video and gave back a lot of feedback regarding the improvements that we could make in order to make the production more of a success. For instance, they commented that the sound track that was originally created to play at the beginning of the opening sequence did not flow well with the action that was denoted on the screen. Therefore, as a pair, we had to reconsider the sound track and think about making it sound more suited to the action happening on the screen.

Call Sheet 2

Production Log 6

During this week, i have been focusing mainly on the post-production for my opening sequence production. During the beginning of the week in lesson, we had learnt on how to use a new software specially designed for different text animations "Live Type".
Within this lesson, we learnt how to use the software and all the different types of tools it comes with which you are able to use when editing your title sequences or credits. During this lesson, i decided to go on a website called www.dafont.com which allowed me to scan through a large range of different types of text fonts which i would be able to use for the credits of my opening sequence. I will make sure that the title stands out more than the rest of the credits so that the audience are aware strongly of what the title is ("Unexpected").

Due to the fact that the 12th February was a deadline for all of the Pre-Production work to be completed by, having finished my Call Sheet, Production Schedule and other pieces of Pre-Production work, i decided to continue the rest of the week working and editing my original soundtrack for the production for my opening sequence. Due to the fact that my opening sequence begins with a Smash Mouth opening, it was crucial that i thought strongly about how i wanted the soundtrack to exactly sound. I didn't want the tempo of the track to be too fast or too slow. If the tempo was created to be slow, the opening was sound too depressing. If the tempo was really fast then the sequence would appear to be too adventurous. In the end, i came up with three different soundtracks. I tried to make them all sound a little tense in a way which the audience will then be able to feel the pain of the situation occurring in front of their eyes as they first begin to watch the film.

Production Schedule

Location Reccies

Forest Gate

Council Estate

We decided on using the council estate because it is a common living area for someone to typically live in within a British Social Realist film whilst being of a working class character. For example: In Fish Tank and Adulthood, their living environments are in Council estate buildings. This tends to connote that they live in rough environment and this could reflect upon the character's representations as people in Britain.

When viewing characters living within a Council Estate building, we connote that they are unable to provide properly for themselves. It lives up to the stereotypes of the working class living within council estates. The general public associate the working class with unprivileged lifestyles. The colour of a typical estate tend to use dull colours which creates an unvarnished atmosphere if used within a scene of a British social realism film. In addition to this the colour is signifiacnt  as it reflects upon the characters negative miserable lives whilst living in Britain. This associates with the BSR ideology of a mundane life. As Becca's representation as a protagonist character is represented as a violent disturbed being, it reveals her living area of an estate to help  introduce her to the audience of a struggled person as the film begins. 

                                                     Small House
We will be using a small house in Forest Gate within the end of the opening sequence. Moving from the appearance given of Becca's home a coucil estate moving to the second location of Callum's house, It reveals a difference with the living styles which both of them live in due to Callum having a slightly better living environment. This causes the opening sequence to become very effective when representing working class representations of the characters due to the relation of poverty being a very common theme within British Social Realist films. This house will be very suitable for my video due to Callum's house offering an escape from Becca's estate from all the problems that she goes through in her life. We will only be revealing the outside of the house's appearance so that whilst watching the opening sequence, the audience are still unaware of the house's image inside. This creates a sense of mystery due to us not being able to know whether the characters have anything to hide; whether this is relating to drugs, cigarettets. or maybe just a distumpled home.

Production Log 5

Within these couple of weeks, I have conducting many pieces of reliable feedback, research, and important information as a pre-production in making my film a success. In class, we as a group explored the narrative structures which my film will reflect upon and set out to be as. The Narrative that we decided to all use was called "Mckee's 'classical Narrative Structure" This was conducted in a order of the Protagonist and Antagonist being introduced first; followed by the conflict/complication that is yet to occur; followed by the main elaboration where all the main events come in; followed by the climax & resolution; and finally finishes with the coda which basically defines the ending of the film and whether there is some sort of cliffhanger or not. In general British Social Realist films, Cliffhangers tend not to be used due to it leading to the ideology of there being some sort of sequel of the film and most BSR films do not consist in that.

During these weeks, i conducted a Vox-Pop to jot down basic research on what people's thoughts are on British Social Realist films in our daily day life in Britain. For instance, if i were to ask what theme they would prefer, they would reply in ''Violence'' for example; and due to that being a very well known theme to be used within a British Social Realist film and that the person who is being asked is from Britain, then this feedback further becomes very reliable and helpful towards the making of my production.

After conducting all the feedback given by the British citizens of the UK, it appeared that the idea of my story line for my British Social Realist film did not achieve liking. It appeared to be a very stereotypical idea for a B.R.S film and it needed some changes in order for it to stand out as a independent film. So one of the main issues during the Pre-production within this week was thinking of a better story line which still related to the original but consisted with some sort of 'twist' so that the audience don't expect to see what they have viewed. So my final story line idea is basically turning the world of domestic abuse into a women's hands. We thought this would be good due to our targeted audience having a liking in the theme of violence and their thoughts on changing the story line around a little.

Call Sheet 1

Treatment

Shooting Script

Narrative

Exposition - Protagonists

The film begins with Becca's friend, (Jade) walking into the kitchen of the council estate as Jade's boyfriend, (Dan) is awaiting there for her arrival. It sort of signifies the upbringing of a event which is going to occur. As this is happening, Becca is not seen yet but is sitting in her room within the flat.
Becca Wots- A female teenage 18 years old, who finds it hard to cope with all the problems that she goes through during her unvarnished British life. She occasionally skips school and sits alone somewhere away from her home to escape from everything in her life whilst smoking, taking drugs, and taking alcohol to help comfort her.
As Jade walks into the kitchen, Dan begins to create an argument due to the fact that Jade had left the house without letting anybody know. Jade reveals some attitude towards Dan which causes him to become very angry; resulting in domestic abuse being acted upon towards Jade which then causes the beginning scene to appear of a unvarnished atmosphere already as we begin to watch the film out of depression.

Agents Of Change - Antagonists

Callum Britway- Becca's Boyfriend. 

Unlike Becca, Callum is a genuine guy who cares a lot about Becca. Through all the aggressive violent actions expressed towards him from Becca, he still remains by her side due to his strong unconditional feelings of love towards her whilst having a very good understanding to how life has treated her. Callum has experienced the same issues that Becca is going through, which highlights his focused goal to help his girlfriend through her troubles. But unlike Becca, Callum's living styles are quite different to how she lives within a broken down flat/council estate whilst living in a nice big house. However it won't be easy as Callum faces many violent off putting obstacles that may challenge his love for Becca whilst being in the process of helping her.

Conflict - Complication

From the abusive experience that Becca witnesses from the actions created by friends, her mind  begins to collect in that influence of bad behavior given from Dan. We see how she experiences the domestic abuse that Dan has inflicted upon; Mainly being Dan being violent against Jade and how Jade's injuries has caused Becca to start to become like Dan and inflicts pain and ferocity towards others specifically her boyfriend. Becca decides to twist the world of domestic abuse into her own fingertips. Instead of the stereotypical issue of men beating up women, Becca decides to boost up the power of women and decides to fight for her rights in her world. However, this doesn't turn out to be a pretty picture with the actions she inflicts upon with others during the story.

Elaboration

While constantly living in her broken down council flat in an run down estate block walking around in depression and anger, she finds cocaine in the house which she notices Dan using and begins to smoke on that as an escape and cure for her problems. She does this to clear her mental state; to forget everything that is currently happening in her life and enjoys the feeling of doing it with pleasure she gets from taking it. Callum continuously gives Becca comforting advice regarding her behavior created due to the loss of her friend Jade who was horrifically abused by Dan. Callum sets out to take her many places to help address her dependency on drugs cocaine and her alcohol problems. He takes her to rehabilitation clinics but unfortunately Becca never follows through with that. He also tries taking her mind off everything that has happened to try and help her overcome all this madness. She refuses to go anywhere as she is very stubborn.  During these actions that Callum puts forward, Becca's friend Jade dies due to all the harsh injuries that Dan acted upon towards her. Henceforth, Becca still continues to be a very violent depressed person and Callum still chooses to persevere motivates the fact of making her life and behavior better. He talks to her about how Jade wouldn't be happy to be seeing her the way she is acting and that Becca should calm down and live life better by not inflicting what Dan inflicted towards Jade.

Climax & Resolution

After all the struggles that Callum went through in trying to make Becca better, he gets in the way of Becca and her drug dealer and suffers the horrific circumstances whilst getting beaten up. This results in him being in a coma. Callum is on his death bed and for his dying wish he wishes Becca to stop and become a better person. Becca loses everything once her love dies she hits rock bottom. She finally sees how her habit has led to destruction and despair which has caused others around her to get hurt. This is what Becca uses to kick-start herself in a new direction and to get her life back on track due to this dramatic event making her change. She put's down the drugs and alcohol and the harsh domestic actions (what she claimed to be the only escape to her stress and depression) and begins to change into a better person from all that Callum has done. She still remains to be a little upset of how life has treated her, the lost of her best friend  and her boyfriend but she manages to contain within herself all the harsh violent actions that she used to act upon with other beings.

Coda

Towards the end, after being effected deeply with the devastating events of her best friends and boyfriends death, she turns her life towards the right direction. She manages to achieve a job working in a supermarket and earns enough money to purchase herself an apartment of her own where she is able to escape from everything and live by herself as a independent being. After putting her foot down to all these actions which Callum guided her towards, she manages to keep a smile on her face throughout that day and the rest of the days to come living in her clean apartment in Britain. With going through with all of these actions, she is satisfied to know that both Jade and Callum would be happy to know how she is living life positive, strong, and brave with any issue that comes across to her in her life and she will try her best to stay that way as long as possible because she knows that it is better that way for her own positive benefit.

Audience Research

British Social Realism Vox-Pop

We conducted a Vox-Pop to find out research on the different types of ideas for a British Social Realism film that people would find more interesting and appealing to their liking.

 


Data Presentation

     1) Have you watched a BSR (British Social Realist) film? Which one? What did you think of it?

•  4/10 people claimed that they have watched “This Is England” for a British Social Realist film.
• 4/10 people claimed that they have watched “Kidulthood” as a BSR film. Due to          ”Kidulthood” and “This Is England” being such famous successful films in the British Social Realist film industry, this causes them to be better well known. This further explains the reason to why the majority of the people asked within the vox-pop answered back with those two films mostly.
• The other films that people answered back with were “Fish Tank” and “Four Lions”. Now, you would most likely expect that these two films would be mentioned more. Maybe the reason for this low number of presence of these films is probably due to the fact that they consist in metaphorical titles conveying a more in depth meaning reflecting upon what the film is all about. 

2) Have you experienced any stories which you are inspired by whilst watching a BSR film?

• All 10 people interviewed within the vox-pop all said that they hadn’t experienced any stories which they have experience. 
• About 4/10 of them mentioned that that they were inspired by News stories which come on television/newspaper/online. These stories highlight strong negative events such as Rape, Gangs, Guns, Drugs, and Domestic Abuse etc. This is a strong inspiration to be taken as a BSR film is being viewed due to the fact it relates to real life events that occur in Britain.

  3) The story-line for my film will be: A girl being abused for her boyfriend in a council estate building whilst being put on drugs and she is trying to find an escape.

What are your thoughts on this?

• 4/10 people stated that this is a good storyline due to the fact that it relates strongly to what British Social Realism is all about due to the fact that people in Britain may be going through similar situations and they are therefore able to relate to it through watching the film.
• 2/10 stated that if it is created in a strong BSR way like “Kidulthood” etc, then it will become a very successful film.

  4)  What could I change or add to that?

• A majority of people said that the storyline for the film should have some sort of twist within it so that it is created as a unique British Social Realism film of its kind.
• An idea given by one of the interviewees was that there should be some sort of age difference between the girl and the boyfriend so that the issue of domestic abuse is portrayed more strongly whilst being witnessed by the audience watching it.

      5) What kind of things would you expect to be viewing in a BSR film?

•  4/10 people claimed that “Violence” is most expected when highlighting the elements of a British Social Realism film due to the fact of giving that rough edge to the film.
• Events that are most likely to happen in real British life in the news etc is what people would most likely expect when watching a film of this genre.

     6) What type of issues would you prefer to be happening within a genre of this type?

• Gang Crime and Poverty would be preferred to watch within a BSR film due to the fact that it helps to create more verisimilitude whilst watching the film.
• 1/10 stated that they would prefer to view ALL issues. This would include Drugs, Sex, Poverty, Sex, Gangs, etc.

 7) Do you feel it is important to relate to a BSR film?

• 4/10 people stated that it is important to relate to a BSR film due to the fact that some people get the chance to be able to relate to whatever story-line that may be occurring within the film.
• 2/10 people stated that when unfortunate British people view this film, they will feel better due to the fact of knowing that they are “not alone” and that someone else in the world maybe going through the same as they are.

Meet My Audience
I created a slide to connote who my targeted audience is by conducting an complete profile of one of those people. This character then is reflected upon the representation of the whole targeted audience.

Qualitative Data Analysis

• Overall, after conducting with all my audience research on how a British Social Realist film should be represented, I have been given many ideas and advice on how to make my story-line more successful as a realist film. From my Vox-Pop interview, one of of the people that replied to what i should add/change said that i needed to make sure that my story-line is created in a unique way. In order to do this, i am considering to create a 'twist' within the story-line so that people's minds are changed regarding the typical representation of men's power over women.  

• I may also consider creating an adult figure character within the story-line. Maybe there are parents who constantly have aggressive fights with one another and the daughter has to witness it all the time which then could maybe result in her upbringing and influence for anger. Creating an adult figure in a BSR film would create a very effective atmosphere to the film due to that strong fact of adults being the ones who are supposed to set good examples for others; especially if they are younger. Although within my film, the parents would be setting a bad one.

• Due to terrible negative related stories appearing on British news, it is crucial that the conventions used within all British Social Realism films are used to its best standard and to its best effectiveness. "Abuse" as a topic for this genre is a very common one to be reflecting upon within a story-line for this BSR genre. It is always good to be using due to there being so many people in Britain that go through the same issues in their own homes and it thereby important that they are able to relate to their problems whilst watching a film like my own. 

• During my work, i will also consider the way i layout and position my camera work to be. If  it is used to be of a creative way, then people are able to familiarize themselves more effectively to how unique the film will be as they watch its outcome. For instance, i will consider maybe doing it hand-held or just on a Tri-pod. The more rougher the appearance of the film is laid out, the more verisimilitude there will be that is created causing the genre of the film to stand out more towards the audience who are viewing it. 

• Most people in the vox-pop claimed that my story-line was not as original as it could have been. From this being said, I will be sure to think of many more ideas that will help my film to be of a more successful and unique piece of work as a British Social Realist film. One of the comments regarding my story-line was to maybe add a age difference between the man and the women so that "abuse" as a topic in BSR is connoted more strongly upon as audience watch and establish the film. 

Analyzing Sound in BSR

Kes (1969) - Analyzing Sound in a British Social Realist opening sequence. 

Production Log 4

Within this week, I have learnt a lot regarding the audience that i should be aiming towards for my BSR opening sequence. In relation to this topic, the typical targeted audience that i have learnt out to be aimed towards for a British film is definitely obviously going to be from Britain. With my target audience, i have learnt that there are going to be certain groups of people in britain who are interested in their own preferred conventions/themes likely to occur. These would include: Gangs, Corrupt Families, Violence, Sex, Racism, Smoking, Escapism, Social Groups etc. So in order to be assured of what my targeted audience will be, i will become certain of the storyline that i aim to produce within my production and whatever conventions and themes involved within the sequence, i will base that upon my audience are their likings and interests. 
I have also learnt about all the institutions involved in the production of social realist films. The companies tend to aim their  BSR films towards niche audiences due to the gritty unvarnished atmosphere they tend to present within their productions. I did some research on this representation of BSR on a film called Adulthood which didn't really tend to reveal much about their institutions elements but revealed a lot highlighting the typically negative gritty themes and real time british events that are likely to be shown.
From this, i feel that with my production, i will make sure that it contains the same gritty unvarnished aspect that other BSR films will find a similarity to; making sure that the mise-en-scene is targeted strongly to the typical representation that a typical BSR film would aim towards. The audience will be familiarised to the British social realist feel whilst watching my production and being notified immediately as soon as they are introduced to the opening sequence and this will cause my work to become very successful being a Social Realist film in the British media industry.

BSR Visual Style

Production Log 3

Within this week, we have been looking at a range of different opening sequences so that we get a basic idea of how a normal opening sequence is presented and how title devices are shown. An opening sequence mainly tends to reveal the mise-en-scene of which the film is based within. An opening sequence is created to represent the theme in a particular style or genre.

For instance, within this week, we analyzed the opening sequence to a film called ''The Panic Room'' and looked at the way that they set out the credits. While doing this, i learnt about the order in which each individual credit for the film is set in a certain way or in a chosen way to reveal authority. For instance, ''Jodie Foster'' (actor) was the first actor shown within the credits of the opening sequence to ''The Panic Room''. This reveals that this actor must be one of the very main actors to star in the film. Actors that are shown together like ''Anne Magnuson, Ian Buchanan'', this reveals that these two actors are payed the same for the film. I have also learnt that the Production logo is always shown at the beginning of a opening sequence. With all of this in mind, i will make sure that i use these techniques within my opening sequence and make sure that my actors and other credits are ordered in a correct way making sure that elements such as a Production company logo is shown at the very beginning of my opening sequence.

I've also learnt that not all films tend to show any credits within the beginning of a film. In ''London to Brighton'', they dont reveal any credits at the beginning of the film. But in my work, i will definitely make sure that i include some of the most important credits to be shown. This would consist in the Director, Production company, Editor, Music, and most importantly, the names of the main actors who will be starring in the film. One of the methods i will definitely use in my opening would be to always most certainly reveal the mise-en-scene/location which the film will be set in. This is very important when being shown in a British Social Realist film because after looking over the location which the film will be set in, the audience would relate to the fact of that area being in Britain and this would then further help to connote the genre of the film strongly.

How British Social Realism Themes Are Used?

1) Domestic Violence - Nil By Mouth



In this scene of Nil by Mouth (made in the 1990's), a strong theme of Domestic violence is portrayed. The audience denotes a husband beating up his wife whilst their child is having to witness this terrible crime sitting nervously at the top of a staircase within the home. While this action is being taken place by the husband, we only see his actions against the women whilst kicking her on the floor. What makes this theme so effective is that we as the audience are not able to denote the women's image and her injuries taken place. The camera chooses to deliberately hide her away from the shot and only focus on the husband and his negative actions. This causes the audience to have a sense of mystery on their minds to how the women may be coping or maybe looking like. Questions begin to swarm the audiences' minds to how bad the injuries may be from the cause of her uncontrollable husband.
If i were to use this theme in my own work, then i would establish it in the same way so that my film would be able to give the same strong effect towards the audience as they view it so that they are able to connote the strong realisation of the situation occurring.

2) Racism - This is England




In this scene from ''This Is England'' (2006), the theme of Racism is portrayed in the most effective way. As the boy enters the shop, the audience witness him approaching the asian man behind the counter and calls him a ''paki bastard''. After this insult was expressed from the little boy, a big white man approaching the asian man with a large blade threatening him and mugging him for his stores merchandise. This theme of racism is established very strongly in this scene due to the use of overpowering and authority that the white ethnicity 'Skin Heads' claimed they stood within the British hierarchy. If i were to use this theme within my own work, i would use the same use of effectivity and style that they portrayed powerfully within this scene in This Is England and that would help to convey one of the main strong conventions of British Social Realism.

3) Smoking/Drugs - Trainspotting


Within the opening sequence for Trainspotting (), at 0.30, we witness him smoking drugs. We are able to denote this due to the strong effect that occurs within the dizziness and language of his body after smoking one puff of smoke. At 1.12, the camera uses a cross cut to represent the effect taking place with the drugs and the effect of the football smashing onto the mans face. Both shots denote him falling backwards onto the floor. With the cross-cut taken place to represent him falling, it foreshadows along with the fact of his life being downgraded whilst being a british citizen. I think if i were to use this camera work and theme in my work, then it would really help to give that strong 'kitchen sink' effect to how negative british life really is in our everyday world.

4) Dysfunctional families - London to Brighton


With the beginning scene of ''London to Brighton'', we witness family issue between a mother and a daughter. By looking at the mise-en-scene, they both appear to be inside a toilet. Due to the fact of the mothers eye being swollen up and blood being cleaned off the daughter, it connotes their struggle in life to the idea of violence being acted upon towards them. Also, the daughter is seen crying which helps to connote her worries about the struggle she may be sharing with her beaten mother. Whilst being approached by the theme of Dysfunctional families, the mother at one point also comes across the theme of prostitution in order to retrieve money for her and her child which then related back to the orignal theme of the struggle of their family. If i were to use this theme in my work, i would take the similar idea of relating two themes together causing them to work together and give a greater effect to the serious atmosphere of the situation.

5) Poverty - Looking for Eric



Within this scene from Looking for Eric, we are able to portray the theme of poverty from analysing the mise-en-scene which Eric is positioned in. Within his home, we are able to connote that there is a theme of poverty from looking at the dried up paint and dirt contained within his home. It shows he is struggling to provide which is helped by the dull colours used in the scene and the unvarnished atmosphere given within the kitchen. This would be very inspiring if i were to use this theme idea in my work and i would use the idea of my location being within a working class standard so that whatever theme i am trying to come across maybe regarding poverty, my audience would be able to denote it when watching.

Possible Location for BSR film

For my film, i have considered different locations in which would best suit the representation of a normal everyday negative british lifestyle. These locations would have to include the right conventions within the place which the audience would straight away be able to denote the relation to BSR. For instance, one location often used to represent BSR would have bad weather, dull colours, unhappy moods on people, and just a boring atmosphere around it all.

Locations i have considered:

Dagenham

Dagenham would be a good place for a BSR film to be set in due to:

• Unvarnished streets/atmosphere
• It is seen as a rough area to be in. 
• Most of its ethnicity is white which would be good for representing Britain.
• There are many council estates in Dagenham which would be good for representing the struggle of british peoples homes. 

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Barking, Greater London

Barking is known as a very unvarnished british area.

• For one thing, people in barking are always predicted to be getting involved in fights of any sort.
• There are people in barking who consist in very short tempers so they are most likely known to be getting upset over small occurrences that may occur in their lives. 
• Every day in Barking is the same so its people and their days never change in a sense for happiness. They always choose to deal with life in a struggled way.

Ilford Lane

Ilford lane would be a prime location to use for BSR. This is due to:

• There are many gangs that come together around street corners
• Many teenagers skip school and hang around 'Chicken Shops' for example.
• Ilford lane gives a very gritty unvarnished atmosphere. 

These conventions could help to strongly connote british life and its downgrades.

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Forest Gate

Forest Gate would be a good location to use for a British Social Realist film.

• It consists in other ethnicities apart from white so rasism could kick in within the area which is a strong negative convention of British Realist life. 
• The streets are dirty in some sense. Not really clean which could represent working class situations that people cope with.
• There are council states which are very common for working class British people to be living in when they are in the situation of struggle.

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