Bloopers Video

Pictures from Video Shoot 1

18. Animatic

Below is the animatic for myHOOD. It roughly describes the opening seqeunce, combined with pictures.

Screenplay, Shot List & Storyboard

Feature Film Name ;  Untitled Urban Drama
LOCATION : 

Set in Fellows Court, an estate in Hackney. The opening sequence is the daily routine of a 17 year old drug dealer called Cali. This follows her getting dressed, and eventually traveling to sell drugs to school children.

CHARACTERS :

Cali

Location 1 - Cali's House

 We see Cali wake up, get dressed, bag marijuana and leave her house

Props: make up, chain, tracksuit, phone, "marijuana"

  

Location 2 - Bus journey

Cali - looks out of window, as if thinking about her life

Location 3 - School
Cali

Miscellaneous school children

We see Cali approach the school children, and sell the marijuana to an individual


SHOT LIST;

Karolinas House;1. alarm
2.grab phone
3. lipgloss
4. mascara
5. weed bagging
6. book and weed
7. leaving house
8. shutting door
9. walking away
10. down stairs


Bus Stop;
11. sitting on bus stop
12. traffic fast forward


Bus;
13. mid shot christie sitting down
14. close up
15. traffic fast forward


Clapton;
16. pan of school children
17. mid shot of girls talking
18. close up of phone
19. pan of girls


Fellows;
20. Fellows court sign
21. Pan on Fellows building

STORYBOARD

As my film is going to be an urban drama that is distinctly British I have chosen to pitch to both the national lottery and Film4. I have chosen these companies as they have previously funded films such a This is England, Shaun of the Dead and Millions. These companies culminate what I would want my film to represent, in both style and the message I want to come across.

To sell my film I would demonstrate how the film;
-Is original in story line and plot
-Creates innovative representations of the female character
-Would be independently shot by a student, which means a small budget but large benefits
-Would be a gritty drama that would appeal to various ethnic and age groups

Call Sheet

Title of production: Untitled Urban Drama

Production: Stoke Newington School, Clissold road, London N16 9EX

Number : 07779651593

Key contact: Amber, Christie,Karolina

Emails: 

Amber-  07531206312, amberrosesmith@gmail.com

Christie- 07506108391

Karolina- 07525340968

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Call Times:            20/1/12

Call time: 1.15 pm

                        Day Wrap:  4.15 pm

Shot date: 20/11/12

Scene 1: Christie wake up routine

Location: Fellows - Karolina's House

Actors: Christie

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Call Times:            20/1/12

Call time: 1.15 pm

                        Day Wrap:  4.15 pm

Shot date: 23/11/12

Scene 2: Journey to school

Location: Dalston-Clapton

Actors: Christie

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Call Times:            20/1/12

Call time: 1.15 pm

                        Day Wrap:  4.15 pm

Shot date: 20/1/12

Scene 3: Selling drugs to school kids

Location: Clapton

Actors: Christie

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Props:

• Camera
• "Drugs"
• Tri-Pod
• Money
• Costume; tracksuits, chain etc
• Bandana

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Locations:

A) Fellows (Karolinas House)

B) Dalston (243 bus journey)

C) Clapton (Our Lady's School)
(see map)

A.

B. 

C.

LOCATIONS

From research I have conducted I have discovered that in order for my urban drama to be realistic, it has to be set on a council estate in london. I think this use of mise-en-scene is effective because we connote council estates with crime and poverty, something that the main character in myHOOD has to confront.

Fellows estate, Hackney

 Above is a picture of Fellows Estate in Hackney. A large estate in heart of Hackney I think this location will be perfect for the home of the main character. Its vibrant colours mixed with its decrepid state will depict the life of poverty that she leads.

Christie's bus journey

This still was taken on a test shoot with the main character. The use of mis-en-scene, in her costume, reflects her background, whilst the location, a Hackney bus,symbolises both a literal and metaphorical journey. When we film we will take a bus from Stoke Newington to Dalston, and get shots of the main character inside the bus, and also from her point of view.

Clapton Girls logo

The above logo is that of Clapton Girls Academy In Hackney. I have planned for Cali's journey in the opening sequence to end here, with her selling drugs to school kids. I have chosen to use this as I found from my research that the target audience relate with real locations rather than mocked up situations in a studio

Possible soundtracks

As i know that I don't want dialouge in my opening sequence i know i want the main sound to be music. Here I started to look at possible soundtracks-

The Streets - Blinded By The Lights

Wiley - I Was Lost

The Streets - Has it come to this?

Nas - Lifes A Bitch

Wiley - Baby Girl 

Past students research

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HHkXU3474c&feature=related

Unfortunately Blogger won't let me put this video up on my blog but this is what I hope my finished product could look like. The effects and editing are far superior than anything I thought could be done. Although this is a different genre to my opening sequence I know that I want my editing to have jump cuts and be 'edgy' like this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVkfeY03q1I&feature=fvwrel

To me this is an example of a bad piece of media work. The viedo has no narative and doesn't make sense. There also isn't much continuity which make the plot unbelievable. I plan to avoid these problems in my coursework by shooting all the scenes that are in one location at one times. This avoids unavoidable problems with continuity such as the weather.

Representations

Name: Cali

Age: 17 years old

Location: Fellows Court,Hackney

-Strong Female
-independent
-entrepreneur
-only female drug dealer
-intimidating

-Conflict reality vs aspirations
-tries to escape estate, but keeps catching up with her
-wants an education
-known no better
-no opportunities

-Education vs Poverty
-education only escape, but has to make money to survive

17. 9 Frames Mood Board

16. Target Auidence

I took a survey of 30 15-20 year old's in a school in Stoke Newington, Hackney. The general consensus was that they wanted to see a dramatic film that contained crime. Here are the Results in graph form:

 

We can also analyse the difference between girls and boys in the target age range;

GIRLS

BOYS

From the results we can connote that it is mostly boys who prefer and identify with the chosen genre of myHOOD. I did expect these results but I hope I can change this with the depiction of the female character in myHOOD. I propose that having a strong and independent female character in the film will appeal to all the females that haven't identified with the male presence in 'urban drama's' previously.

When handing out these surveys, I conducted a short interview with the participants. I chose to type out the questions and answers to these questions as it respects the anonymity of the individuals who took part.

Here is the survey;

Name: ______________________________________________

Age:    ______________________________________________

Location: ____________________________________________

Sex (circle one):                   Male                        Female

Favourite Film:  _______________________________________

Favourite Genre: ______________________________________

Which would you rather see in a film?

a) A famous actor

b) A relatively unknown actor

c) A completely unknown actor

Do you think you would identify with a main character of the opposite sex?

a) Yes

b) No

If No, why?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

In your opinion, what is an 'urban drama'?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

What wardrobe would you suggest for a female character in an 'urban drama'?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

What setting would you suggest for a realistic 'urban drama'?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

In doing this survery I learnt numerous things. This research helped me to categorise the genre's that specific sex's and locations preffered, and also gave me a starting point to plan the mise-en-scene for the character. This also helped me when thinking about locations. I learnt from the target audiences advice that it should be filmed in Hackney, on a council estate to keep the authenticity, and ultimately make the film more realistic. (see relevant slide for information on location)

15. production company ident

14. Logo

The original cartoon

When creating the logo I knew I wanted to stick with the 'urban theme.' I toyed with pictures of trainers and 'bling' but finally stuck on the idea of a girl gang because I thought it reinforced the notion of the strong female characters that I want in my films.

I edited the picture above in Paint to look like a girl gang.

Edited to look like a girl gang rather than boys

I then looked at the company name. 

Boy Better Know are a UK grime group who also run their own record label."Boy Better Know" is a registered trademark, clothing line and Boy Better Know sim cards, BBK are legendary amongst 'urban teens.' I chose to mimic this by calling my production company 'GBK PRODUCTIONS.' This stand for 'Girl Better Know Productions.' I thought this emphasised the dominant female in the film and to break down the stereotype of a patriarchal society in this genre. 

When looking at the text I went on www.dafont.com to look at fonts. I researching 'graffiti' fonts as I wanted to text to look as if it had been spray painted on. I finally decided on this;

Next I put the picture and the font together, but I couldn't decide whether I wanted a border or not.

1. Black Border

2. Fade effect

3.  Angle

Eventually, I decided to go with number 1 as I liked that the character looked as though they were stood on top of the text, which has connotations of being a strong female.

Final Product

7. Synopsis of 2 min opening

My opening will  be like an insight into the main characters life. We will see her;
-traveling from her council estate home
-shots of street signs and landmarks in Hackney
-the people of Hackney, whom she is around everyday
-we see her dealing drugs
-we see the contrast between her and the posh children that she sells drugs too
-we see the contrast between social classes
-we see gangs and crime
-we hear the dialogue that separates the social classes
-we see graffiti and the decay/ poverty of Hackney

There will be hardly any dialogue in the opening sequence, just simple "hello's and goodbye's exchanged between the main character and her peers, along to the soundtrack of grime/hip-hop music. This is because the opening sequence is meant to be a glimpse into her life, more documentary than film. Also I want to demonstrate the difference between herself and her peers, and with less conversation she is represented as a more isolated character.

This is the best way to start my film because it sets up the character and the location, which are key part to the film very well. The contrast between the characters and locations is demonstrated clearly, which is crucial, and landmarks and street signs also solidify how important the location is to the plot

7. use screenshots and write up an analysis suitable for an art of the title post on your chosen film
8. write a list of do's and dont's of the first 2 mins of the film include both images and titles & draw on your knowledge of mise-en-scene, camerawork, editing and sound

Opening Titles

Kicking of ball is fluid throughout opening

Font is setting to the genre, an 'urban teen' film

Introduction to characters

Introduction to characters is a reflection of who they are. Sam = mysterious

Sam = bully, intimidating, scary character

Do's and don'ts for the first 2 minutes of the film

1.  Titles - this film follows the conventional structure for an opening sequence. Its titles have a black background, and are at the beginning of the sequence rather than being edited in.
2.Don't give away the main plot - this film doesn't do this, but it alludes to the motives of the character
3.Grip your audience and keep them - the characters dialogue and introduction characters does this
4. Include music - the sequence does this and it is in keeping with the 'urban teen' genre

6. Brief Outline of feature length film idea

-Strong female character

-Sells drugs opposite posh high school

-See's privileged children

-In envy of their lives

-Bad home life

-No parents/absent parent

-Born and bred in Hackney

-Intimidating to other people on estate

-Dreams of being posh and nice family life

-Tries to get out of the estate but people mock her

-Eventually gets out somehow but a tragedy lands her back there;

       -murder?

       -crime?

       -friend?

       -love interest?

       -fails at job?

5. Mindmap of Initial Ideas

Research: Shot idea

-quick cuts at 2:29
-graffiti tunnel
-walking past and bumping

-street signs etc

DespaCam - Movez "WV Make Dough" - Net Video (StayFresh)
-split screen

RAPCITY 'CHUBBZ-CRUD MODE' STREET VIDEO
-close up shots on graffiti

Research

I plan to create a female character in an 'urban drama.' First, I needed a name.

I looked at this video first to get an idea for 'ghetto' names.

This helped with coming up with possible names.

Today I also

-thought about possible locations

-possible shots

-came up with a solid plot 

Also I now know that i want the female character to be strong. Because of this I am now going to analyse Juno. I am analysing this because it demonstrates a strong female character that challenges the stereotypes of teenagers.

 Ellen Page stars as Juno, an independent teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Critics have reffered to Juno as feminist because of its portrayal of the protagonist as a confident and intelligent teenage girl. Antifeminist Phyllis Schlafly wrote that Juno's theme "isn't love, romance, or respect for life, but the triumph of feminist ideology, i.e., the irrelevancy of men, especially fathers".   I want to recreate this theme of a strong independent character in my film, but tackling the issue of crime and gangs rather than preganancy as I think it is more origninal and hasn't been done in the UK before.
    Another journalist, Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe concluded "Juno serves cool, intelligent girls something they rarely see in a movie: themselves". Again, I think this is an important aspect to take into consideration. This representation of women in the media is rarely depicted and I think it is important for me to try and tackle this in myHOOD.
       Cody said about writing the film, "Women are clever, women are funny, women are sharp, and I wanted to show that these girls were human and not the stereotypical teenage girls that we often see in the media" and "There was a lack of authentic teen girl characters ... I saw writing this screenplay as an opportunity to create an iconic female." I want to recreate the passion and representations that Cody had when she aproached writing Juno. As media is so prevalent in our society, I think it is important to embrace strong women, with an independent attitude and an innovative approach to life.


TITLES RESEARCH

Attack the block credits

Attack the block credits

Breakfast at Tiffanys

Breakfast at Tiffanys

I chose to analyse the titles from a film from my chosen genre, Attack the Block and a film that isn't it my genre, Breakfast at Tiffany's, but will always remain timeless. Both the films have simple titles, that are superimposed onto the video. I think this creates an simple effect, that allows the audience to focus on the character and the film, rather than be blown away by flashy titles. I want to recreate this in my film by superimposing simple titles onto my video and this is to be accompanied by a soundtrack to the first 2 minutes. I think this will be simple, yet effective and will hopefully add to the emphasise of the strong female character. I am going to attempt to create these titles on Adobe After Effects, as I think they create a professional appearance. I am also going to emulate the opening studio credits that were used in Attack The Block to make the simple theme continuous.