Pre-Production paperwork

production log week 11

Throughout this week me and my partner created a script for our opening sequence. This included the; Location, Shot type, Camera angle, Camera movement, Duration, Dialogue, Graphics, Music & sound effects, Description of action, Actors and Equipment; all of which we will need within each shot of our opening sequence. 

Creating a script is a good way on keeping our production organised so that when we are filming, everything goes to plan. The script will also help the Actors in our film because although we will be directing them ourselves, for them to get a better understanding they can also look at the script as it is very specific on each shot.  

When making the script we found it difficult to divide each section of our opening sequence into each individual shots because the duration of each shot had to be very specific, as it had to add upto two minutes in total. Me and my partner both fixed this issue as we made sure all shots were reasonably long for the total of our opening sequence to add upto two minutes long. We also had to think very carefully about the music and sound effects we included as we want to make the sound flow fluently on top of the composed soundtrack. 

These were the Do's and Don'ts for the script we had to create this week.

Fake ID script

Production log 10

Throughout this week we mainly concentrated on our target audience. We were told to create a power point slide which was basically based on how our target audience are going to be portrayed. The title of it was; 'Meet my audience' and it was purely displaying an example of the audience which are going to watch our bsr film, It included general/basic information about the person and their lifestyle. This helped me become more familiar with the interests of my target audience, reminding me to produce something which will appeal to them.

We were set another important task, which was to do primary audience research. We had a choice to do this research through three ways, which were either; focus group video, Vox pop or questionnaire. Me and my partner both agree'd to do vox pop because we thought it was the best way to demonstrate evidence of our research as it's shown very clearly and obviously. 

From the audience research I got to learn many things about what the general public think about 'British social realism' and also what they thought of my own bsr narrative. Majority of the public were familiar with the concept of 'BSR' and had a good understanding of what it actually is, this allowed me to receive some solid feedback. The responses I got for my initial idea were quite positive as I found that my storyline is relatable to the target audience, connoting that it will appeal to them.

This primary research influenced my planning as it formed the basis of my initial idea and made me very aware of the audiences expectations.

Link to my vox pop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vt_6RL-Sj0

Data Presentation and Qualitative data analysis

Clicking the link below, will display the 'audience research' me and my partner done, through a; 'Vox pop' video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vt_6RL-Sj0


Stated below is the feed back i received from majority of the public.
(similar answers have not been repeated twice.)

1.What comes to mind when you think of British social realism?

* The other side of Britain
* A lot of violence
* "Kidulthood."
* Gangs
* Drugs (drug dealing) and alcohol
* Real life situations such as; kids getting into fights
* Estates and stabbings
* Knife crime and corruption
* Sexual acts

2.What British social realism films have you watched?

* Adulthood
* Kidulthood
* Shank
* 4,3,2,1
* This is England
* Topboy
* Fish Tanks

3.What themes and situations come to mind when you think of BSR films?

* What generally goes on within streets
* Drug associated fights
* Drugs and violence
* Killing and drug dealing
* Alcohol
* Fights
* Problems between teenagers
* Corruption

4.What do you think of our narrative, where a young teen goes against her religion and family?

* Good story-line as it happens a lot, but not shown in the media often
* Good narrative as it's seen in other films such as; 4,3,2,1
* Powerful narrative
* Good narrative
* " Not right shouldn't be doing it."
* " Sounds like it may make quite a good film."
* " Admirable sometimes, as it's quite tough to do that."
* " Really interesting storyline."

5.Can this narrative relate to you and how ?

* " Yeah because my sister use to wear a scarf but she doesn't want to wear it anymore."
* " My sister's goes against her religion."
* 2/10 people can relate to this narrative.
* 4/10 people have heard about similar situations.
* 4/10 people said "No."

Qualitative data analysis

1. From the feedback within my vox pop I found out that when my audience think of 'British social realism' majority of them understand the genre quite well and have a good understanding of it, very similar to what it actually is. This connotes that my film will appeal to my target audience as majority of them are familiar with the idea of 'British social realism' and also highlights the fact that they're perhaps interested in this genre.  

2. I found out that my audience tend to watch British social realist that are more recent such as; Adulthood, Kidulthood, Shank, 4,3,2,1, Fish Tank and so on. This connotes that perhaps the Era within my film has to be portrayed "modern", obviously so that the audience appeal to it. I've also noticed that the main characters in most of these films are seen to be quite young, mainly teenagers, Connoting that if I include similar aged characters within my film, my target audience will be able to relate to them better and their lifestyle (uses and and gratifications of personal identity). 

3. The themes and situations my target audience think of when they hear of the genre 'British social realism' are often; Drugs, violence, Alcohol etc. By identifying this we have found out the expectations of the audience, this way we can include the situations that the audience want and expect. 

4. One of the most important bit of information i received from the vox pop is what the audience thought of my initial idea. I asked the audience what they thought of my narrative and majority of them replied positively, for instance; "Powerful narrative", "Good storyline" and so on. This connotes that my target audience will appeal to my film and are interested within the storyline. Knowing this encouraged me to keep my idea how it is and made me much more confident on carrying the project out. 

5. Overall this feedback was most definitely helpful to me and my partner as it allowed us to sum up our final idea and base it on what the audience want, this way we can please their expectations. 

She is my audience

Production log 9

This week i have studied a lot on narratives. I have explored the types of narrative structure, I've learnt that there is a Linear narrative; where the story has a start, middle and end in that order. A non-linear narrative; This is where the narrative is not in chronological order, for instance in BSR films a non-linear narrative could be identified when we see flashbacks, like shown in the starting of the film 'Adulthood'. A Restricted narrative; A narrative from only one character in the story, (usually the protagonist), This is displayed in the bsr films; 'Fish tank' and 'Yasmin'. A Omniscient narrative; A narrative from more than one character, so the audience has access to more narrative events (sometimes knowing more than the characters). 

This information helped me along the week as it gave me different narrative ideas when it came to making my treatment and whole film narrative. It also made me realise what type of narrative structure suited my bsr film best, as my film is from one character's view which is the protagonist Ayesha, I chose to go with the 'Restricted Narrative'. 

Mckee's Classic Narrative Structure

Mckee's 'Classic Narrative structure'

Exposition Protagonists -
The protagonist is a young girl who is living in two very different lives, Her name is Ayesha, 18 years old, Her ethnic background is an Asian (Pakistani). Ayesha got sacked from her old job as a retail manager, due to poor attendance. This was very coincidental as her parents were struggling to pay off serious debts at the same time, Her family slowly reached a very low point of their life's were they needed every single penny to make a living for themselves. Ayesha became extremely desperate for money, to a high degree that she got influenced into prostitution, this soon turned into a permanent job for her. The prostitute job is a massive secret, as her family is excessively religious there is no way that they can find out about it, she lies to them; saying she works at a retail shop. Ayesha is represented as a secretive, disloyal, lieing, cheating young girl, she has basically decided to choose money and wealth over religion, faith and family.

Agents of change-
Poverty within the family is the disruption of normality as it is the reason for Ayesha going against her religion and parents to earn money through prostitution. The family is suffering from poverty as Ayesha's fathers corner shop goes 'out of business' which leads them into debt. The disruption ruins a young teens life so it is a very strong turning point in the narrative. Poverty is a key disruption point because it wrecks the relationship between her and the family because they become depressed, low and miserable being blinded by her daughters lies and actions. As we do not have an antagonist in human form we decided to include the antagonist to be one of the key theme of poverty and prostitution.

Conflict complication-
Ayesha tries many attempts to find a suitable job after loosing her job in retail to provide for the family and keep a roof over their heads, but as she fails to do so she turns to the dark, dangerous and desperate road trying to earn money as soon as possible through prostitution.However Ayesha is blinded by her parents state in poverty that she neglects her parents upbringing, the rules and regulations and does what she believes is seemingly right. 

Elaboration-
 Ayesha and her very religious family (two children and parents) face serious debt problems, this changes all of their lives to an extremely low point, as they severely suffer from poverty. Considering that Ayesha lost her job as a retail manager recently, in desperate terms she gets easily influenced into prostitution by a hooker she met on the bus. She ends up going to this secret prostitute house were she can earn 'easy' money. After experiencing it for couple days this Soon becomes a permanent job for her, she socializes and mixes with different people that are troubled and up to no good which manage to change her as a person. As Ayesha's entire family are extremely strict religious Muslims, in-front of them she portrays herself to be this;'innocent, honest, religious kind loving girl' that would never disobey her parents as she reminds them almost everyday how much she's focusing on carrying out a 'successful business' which would make her parents proud. There is no way that she lets them find out she is a prostitute, everything is done secretly. The problem is that it doesn't stay a secret for long at all, her true colours come out as she realises she isn't this 'religious' young women her parents (Nina and riad) force her to be. Instantly this prostitute job has an effect on her lifestyle and the person she is as she turns to drugs, changes the way she dresses, openly smokes and drinks in public. Her parents become aware that she has developed into a terrible person, but are still not fully aware of the full situation, the fact that she is a prostitute. It became regular that Ayesha and her parents would argue at the fact that she needs to fix up and go back to the religious, good person that she was, but she did not seem to care.
Themes of; poverty (The family is suffering from money problems), Religion (A very religious family), Drugs (Ayesha turns to drugs), sexuality (Ayesha becomes a prostitute), isolation and exclusion (Ayesha is living a separate life alone, that her family are not aware of).

Climax & Resolution-
It came to a bad point were both parents had no choice but to confront Ayesha and give her a serious warning. This confrontation led to a deep argument, Out of anger Ayesha reveals all; 'GUESS WHAT MUM AND DAD I DON'T NEED ANY OF YOU'SE! YOUR BOTH SHIT PARENTS ANYWAY, I BET YOU HAD NO IDEA MY NEW JOB WAS ANYTHING GOT TO DO WITH PROSTITUTION' At this moment both of the parents had a sickening feeling in their stomach, out of disgust and hatred towards Ayesha they told her to leave the house with all her belongings and made it very clear to her that she is; 'Completely disowned from today on wards'.

Coda- 
Couple months later Ayesha falls in love with an elderly man ( named Rob) that she met through prostitution. She's in a relationship with him were she is supposedly happy and has freedom as he provides her with a home and reasonable amount of food.
The ending will show Ayesha living in a better condition with her boyfriend although its still a dull and boring life, which again emphasizes the reality.