Planning and Research

Planning of our film (drama&character) 

We have started to plan out our film for our assessment. We have started to look at our genre which is fiction and out sub genre which is drama. We have to produce a 2 minute long opening. Looking at the characters and casting we have thoroughly looked into it , and made it specific what kind of character we need for the lead. We had 3 ideas to what the narrative would be. We wanted to have a verity of different ideas so we could pick the best one out. These 3 ideas had completely different sub genres.

Our 1st idea was : To have a girl finding out she had a critical illness and her dealing with it.
our 2nd idea: having a party scene kind of film, 3 girls going to party to Brighton and their adventure during the partying. 4th famous girl going down a bad route in fame,
 We looked into drama more as a Genre and looked for famous drama films; The Shaw shank , The godfather , Casablanca.


These are all classic drama genre films.
After looking through our ideas and these typical dramas , we decided to go with the idea about the fame and how it all effects her and the pressures of it all
.


We thought this would be a good idea as there isn't many films about fame and the effects on individuals , as many young kids want to be famous , we want to shine a different light on the specific side of fame , the one that's not seen by many.


We started to plan our film with looking at the characters , mainly the main one;

Name: Miya- Lilly
Age: 23
occupation: very well known actress
Nationality: British
Personality: She wants to please people , wears he heart on her sleeve. Bubbly and loves to have a laugh on an odd occasion. Cares more about others than herself bottles everything in , doesn't want to worry other people with her problems
Appearance: Long brown hair , dark features , blue eyes , pale skin , 5'1
Weight: 8 stone
Likes; Hanging out with friends , preforming , meeting fans , keeping healthy.

As we looked into her character we had a base so now we can broaden it by looking at posture and body language.

Planning (research into other products)

As we decided to do a drama and a girl in the spotlight of fame we looked for films that apply to our idea.

beyond the lights:
"Though she's been groomed for stardom all her life by an overbearing mother (Minnie Driver), singer Noni (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is having trouble dealing with her success. Feeling unable to cope any longer, Noni tries to kill herself, but luckily Kaz (Nate Parker), the police officer assigned to be her bodyguard, thwarts her suicide attempt. Noni and Kaz feel an instant attraction, but those in their orbit oppose the romance for fear the pair will stray from the course planned out for both of them."
   


we watched the trailer of the film and we looked at the micro and macro elements. As i watched it , the story line and mis-en scene really drew me in , it really got you engaged.

micro elements:

music is calm and subtle which is a contrast to  her life and fame. Flashing lights show the reality of fame. Birds eye view showing the intensity of the crowd what she has to live up to. Cross-cutting looking at her mum for comfort. Setting is in LA were most celebrities live building a massive expectation for her . Titles brake up the story in the trailer. Short dialogue not giving much away . the slow motion with the fast lights show she can't keep up 

macro elements: 

Working class girl who rose to fame but she is constantly bullied onto the road of fame and success by her mum. She cannot handle the pressure . Helps to show the audience the reality of fame.

research into similar products

we had 3 videos played , i think to make a good product or piece of production you need to look at examples so you make your own judgements on what is a good piece of film and whats not. We had to grade it a level and give it positive and negatives. 

video 1:

video 2:

video 3:

at the start we asked ourselves a question; what makes a great fiction opening....

there are many things you need to look at when you want to film/script an effective and eye-catching . You want your audience to be interested and wanting to watch more. I made a mind up of the key features and things that need to be included in a fiction opening:

• offering hints/clues but they need to be subtle
• strong script (not massive amount of dialogue gives too much away)
• believable acting 
• engaging narrative
• micro elements

also started to look at the micro and macro elements -

micro elements include mise-en scene-costume , make up props ect

macro elements include- representation , narrative , genre

To get a good idea of what are good openings we looked at 2 films ; City of god and Goodfellas
watched the 2 clips of the opening to these films. The main question was how does this opening engage its target audiance ? how does the titles and shots support the narrative? also looked at these questions; what genre is this opening ? how codes and conventions demonstrate this?

GOODFELLAS:
 "A young man grows up in the mob and works very hard to advance himself through the ranks. He enjoys his life of money and luxury, but is oblivious to the horror that he causes. A drug addiction and a few mistakes ultimately unravel his climb to the top"



CITY OF GOD
"In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood. José "Zé" Pequeno (Leandro Firmino da Hora) is an ambitious drug dealer who uses Rocket and his photos as a way to increase his fame as a turf war erupts with his rival, "Knockout Ned" (Seu Jorge). The film was shot on location in Rio's poorest neighborhoods."

Looking into actors and actresses

Michael B Jordan -

An american actor. 

TV roles: 

• Dillon high , school quarter back
• Vince Howard in Friday night lights ect

films:

• Oscar Grant in fruitvale station 
• The awkward moment 
• Creed
• Red Tails ect

these are only some of the films Michael B Jordan has done. What I like about his work that his characters are not the same , in awkward moment he was a young doctor that was doing very well in contrast to fruitvale station where he is a young man that just came out of prison.

 He's also had guest appearances in shows like : CSI: crime investigation , without a trace and Cold case. What i love about his acting is that he always portrays the characters emotions so well in his films and his emotions get transferred to the audience watching.

Ashley Walters 

English actor from Peckham

has appeared in number of films/programms:

• young Indiana Jones chronicles
• Grange hill 
• Bullet boy 
• Get rich or die trying 
• Sket
• Topboy
• The bill
• cuffs ect

Ashley Walters plays a ranger of characters. He does a lot of urban London films , his characters range in; bad boys , drug dealers , police officers . I think he goes well with these characters as his acting is very harsh and he does have characteristics that portray anger and mystery. He fits in not only visually but personality wise as well.

He plays a police officer in Cuffs which is a big contrast from Top boy and Bullet boy.

Script and story board - Planning