Story Board for our film 'The Escape'

Finished story board from Polly Sargent on Vimeo.

By doing this it helped us to outline our two minute film and it also helped us to work out what settings we could use. It was also helpful to give us an idea of the type of actors we would want in our film.

Escape: Script

Tony: Alright Shaun?

Shaun: Yeah, alright?

Tony: Yeah, where are you?

Shaun: Ah mate I’m just in college.

Tony: Yeah alright mate, I just had to sort a few things out, I’ll be there soon.

Shaun: Yeah…alright…yeah just hurry up.

*Dan walks in*

Dan: Alright Shaun?

Shaun: Dan?!

*Dan and Shaun fight*

Tony: Shaun…Shaun?

*Tony’s after Dan in the park*

Dan: Shit.

Writing out the script and going through it has definitely helped me in the production on my media text. By doing this I now know where dialogue needs to be and I can start thinking about music as I know where dialogue won't be.

Preliminary Task

first film from Polly Sargent on Vimeo.

From this me and my group learnt how to use match on actions correctly and also get used to the editing software we will be using for our film.

Regulation Research

We are thinking of giving our Crime and Ganster film the certification of a 15, and so we could do this I decided to do some research on the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) by doing this we would know the codes and conventions of a 15. This would also be helpful for us so whe would know how much explicit content we could use e.g. how much swaering we can use. 


 The BBFC have a strict policy on sexual violence and rape. Content which might eroticise or endorse sexual violence may require cuts at any classification level. Any association of sex with non-consensual restraint, pain or humiliation may be cut.


I researched the guidelines for a 15 film and here they are:
Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory

language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not

promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily

accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example,

aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic

or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and

self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be

copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example,

‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be

acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated

use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without

strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a

non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail.

There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour,

but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable

unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is

sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is

appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction

of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to

be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also

unlikely to be acceptable.

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence

but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and

have a strong contextual justification.

As our film in a Crime and Gangster film now we know the guidelines of a 15 we will stick to them and make sure we don't feature anything that may go over the guidelines for a certificate 15 film.

By doing this research it has helped us to know exactly what we can put in our 2 minute film

Stereotypically Crime and Gangster films have a lot of violence, swearing and smoking/drug use in it. Now that we know the guidelines it will help us to make our two minute films, for example we will try to keep smoking to a minimum and also keep swearing to as much as a minimum as we can, we will also refrain from using words such and 'fuck'.

I have done this research because I now know what I need to refrain from doing what the BBFC does not reccomend.

Institutional Research

The kind of media institution that might distribute my film..

I think the companies most likely to distribute my film would be either Warner Bros or 20th Centry Fox. I think think because both of these companies are renouned for having good Crime and Gangster films and therefore if an audience were to see that Warner Bros or 20th Centry Fox had ditributed the film they could trust that they are going to be satisfied with the film.

Although there are alot of camoanies I could have chosen to distribute my film I have decided to choose Warner Brothers because, to me, they have produced some of the best Crime and Gangster films there are today films such as 'Rock n Rolla' and 'Little Ceaser' one of the first Crime and Gangster films to be created. Both of these films are popular world wide and also have a similar target audience as to what we would like.

Production and Distribution..


The two companies I think will put money in to out film would be either New Line or Paramount Pictures I think these companies would be interested, but mainly New Line Cinema as many of their films have been crime films. New Line Cinema were also involved in distributing The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight is a superhero movie with the sub genre of crime, making these 2 institutions perfect for distributing our film. 
My two minute film will have a niche audience as it has a specific target audience of males from 15 upwards as the certification on my film will a 15.

I believe it will be a successful film as it sticks to the codes and conventions of a crime film with a couple of twists the audience wont expect to keep them interested and to create that tension that will draw them in.

By having these twist will make my crime film seem individual but still having traditional conventions so the audience aren't put off too much. 

By doing this research I have learnt what institutions and film companies would be most likely to distribute my film. It has also helped me to create my film by getting inspiration from other films that the companies have distributed so I can strive to make my film as good as possible.

Audience Research

Finished audience research from Polly Sargent on Vimeo.

By doing this we found out what we should include in our film to make it a crime and gangster film and also what people expect from a crime and gangster film.

• We got feeback saying that we need to include things such as, violence, smoking and 'tough' looking people.
• People believe the target audience for a Crime and Gangster film should be from the ages of 15-40 so by doing this we are going to try and cater for such a vast audience.

Target Audience Research

By doing this i have learnt that our main target audience is going to be from 15+. We also found our key themes need to be violence, cars, smoking and revenge, suspense and gang culture.

Textual Analysis

THIS IS MY TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE CRIME AND GANGSTER FILM 'ROCKNROLLA'

The film starts off with a black screen with some heavy bass music. Then we hear a voice over saying 'what is a rock n rolla?' this male person has a cockney accent and his voice sounds husky, stereotypically cockney are associated with crime. This could imply what may or may not happen in the film. 

We are introduced to a topless man, we as the audience assume he is an important character as he has a lot of camera time and the camera zooms in to him. Then we hear the voice over "sex, drugs, money" and we are still hearing the same music.

The camera continues to zoom in on the character and pulls a gun out from the back of his jeans, we assume he is going to shoot something as the music gets quieter. As a gun is stereotyped with crime, this is why we assume he is going to shoot something/someone.

The camera pan round to the side of the character and reveals that the gun is in fact a lighter and he is doing some sort of drug. Drugs is also another convention of a crime and gangster film. Then we hear the voice over "a rock n rolla wants the fucking lot" by this point the music has stopped.

Then we see the title of the film and a animated man holding two guns in his hands. This could imply conflict and is again, another key convention of the genre. The 'N' in the title is a different colour to the 'rock' and 'rolla' which may imply conflict later on in the film

Titles then start to come up of the actors names. Although they are still in animation they are all holding o pose of action, either running or shooting. All of the poses are in accordance to the genre.

After this all the music stops and we immediately get a close up of a middle ages man. Because of this the audience assume this is the main character as this is the first time in the film we have seen a characters face. the voice over says "my names formally known as Charlie Archibald" again, suggesting he is the main character.

We are then introduced to a character 'Lennie'. Lennie is well dressed and wearing dark glasses, implying he wants to hide his identity suggesting crime. We can still hear the same music although it is quieter. 

To end the end of the introduction we see a establishing shot on London, implying where the film is set, and because the narrator has a cockney accent. The music is still continuing at a lower volume.

By having heavy bass music, fast paced shots, implications of the conventions of the genre and the voice over it gives a clear idea to the audience of what the film is about and possibly what might happen later on in it. it is made clear to the audience who the protagonists are and their status in the film. To make my film successful I feel I need to include similar things to this. This has helped me to understand what I need to have in my media text.   

Overall by doing this textual analysis work i have learnt to make a successful opening two minutes i need to use a variety of camera shots, i got an understanding of the type of setting i need to use eg a big well known city, a voice can add tension and give hints towards the film and finally the type of music i need to use eg. bass heavy, fast paced, upbeat.  Knowing all this now i have a better understanding of what needs to go into my own media text to make it successful

Film Synopsis

Film name: ESCAPE

Beggining:
 Dan beats up Shaun, Tony's brother; leaves him for dead
Dan runs away
Dan ends up in London
Tony comes after Dan

Middle:
Dan needs money so turns to drug dealing
Dan meets and becomes friends with Kim who is a police officer
Dan & Kim fall in love
Tony comes to London

End:
Tony finds Dan
They have a ‘fight’
Kim helps Dan escape
They run off together

By doing this it gave us a clear structure this is good for our first two minutes because we knew what is going to happen and also how to portray our chracters. It also was good for telling our actors how to play their characters.

Genre research

By doing this we have found out the sub genres of our component genres and examples of films in the sub genres. I also found out what genre appealed to me the most and therefore we all decided we want to do a Crime and Gangster film.