3 initial ideas

Idea 1

Protagonist

The protagonist in my first idea is a 17 year old Asian boy who has been brought up in a rough background. His father abuses him and he is neglected in the house and in school. He is lonely but he likes looking at celebrity magazines. He wears baggy clothes. 

Settings

Taken place in an isolated area with flats all around the area. Some scenes can be taken place inside a house or a flat or even a school. 

Story

A child is neglected all his life and he desires attention from anyone or anything he gets. He like reading celebrity magazines and sees how drugs and baggy clothes are associated with these celebrities and starts having a fondness to them. Drug dealers approach him and recruit him into the gang and he likes it at first as someone is giving him attention and then he realizes he's gotten himself into a deep hole and wants to get out. He then does anything he can to leave the life he had. 

Themes

The themes that will be explored in this film are themes such as drugs. This will be the main theme but there are other themes like corruption of youth, violence, abuse and even neglect. 

Idea 2

Protagonist

It is a 15 year old white girl that seems to have a dual personality. She dresses appropriately in the house and then dresses rough and skimpy outside. She is into her education but depending on who she is with she can be easily swayed to be interested into the bad things. 

Settings

This can be taken place in a school and an apartment in a flat. Also it can move onto going to small chicken shops on the street and dark alleyways.

Story

The 15 year old girl is brought up into a good loving world by her parents. She is smart and achieves the best she can. In school she has all these friends until a rumor spreads about her being a slut and how she cheats in everything. She goes through grief but then decides to embrace it. She starts hanging out with the wrong people and starts dressing inappropriately when outside the house. She gets consumed by drugs and alcohol and even performing petty crimes such as shoplifting. She knows it is wrong as every time she goes home she turns into the sweet little girl she used to be.  The story follows her throughout and how she changes and how she then overcomes it and to see which path she permanently takes. The right path of a nice girl or the wrong one filled with drugs and alcohol. 

Themes

Corruption of youth, drug abuse, violence, crime are all some themes that will be explored in this film. 

Idea 3

Protagonist

A group of white teenagers aged 15-18 go around causing various crimes from theft and lock picking etc. All grown up in the same rough neighborhood with neglecting parents. 

Setting

Rundown area with a lot of similar people living there meaning all in gangs and all into the wrong lifestyle. Under bridges and near small chicken stores or run down old train stations. 

Story

Throughout they cause all these violent acts towards people and do things that could land them in jail if they are caught. One member of the gang wishes to escape them and go on to actually getting a education and a job. 

Themes

There will be themes such as violence,crime,aspiration and escape and also corruption of youth. 

Production log 8

I had to look deep into my own ideas for my BSR film. I had to look at 4 main things which were the protagonist, setting, themes and the story. I had to have 3 initial ideas from which i can pick from and use as a final idea. I had to make sure everything i think of links straight back to BSR films and keeps with the conventions of a BSR film. The themes were very important because it had to include themes that you typically see in BSR films such as drugs, violence etc. The narrative plays a big part as if we know the whole journey of the film it is easier to know what the opening sequence will look like.

The things that influenced me were many different things. It was mostly movies but surprisingly it wasn't BSR films that influenced me most. IT was Hollywood films. I got inspiration from their films and then thought of ways to make it into a BSR film. I used influence from BSR films for things such as representation of characters and also some themes.

We had picked our groups ourselves and my group consists of two other members. This is risky as it could mean one person could get a significantly lower grade than the other two. I think working as a three will be good in a way because we know we all have to contribute even amounts of ideas and to make sure no one lacks in specific things. All of us had similar ideas from which we merged together to make a final idea. Our final idea consisted of drugs being the main theme.

There is going to be a lot of drugs and a lot of money

Presentation of initail BSR idea

Production log 7

The things i have looked at this week are what is in the news. Looking at these articles made me realise what the most real stories are and gave me story ideas. I can use these ideas in my production of different crimes going on. If it is based on a real news story then it makes it amore authentic for the audience. It has also give me an insight to the world problems and it lets me know what things i can associate with crimes. It helps me know what the stereotypes are and this means i can subvert from them which makes my production so much more original.

The key issues i had to deal with when doing this work is looking for the more appropriate stories that relate to BSR's like murders and thefts. These were quite hard to find as there were a lot of killings but i had to find a variety of crimes that are relatable. Other than that this was quite an easy piece of work. Also writing about how it relates to a BSR was quite easy as the task was to find articles that relate to BSR's in the first place.

Some of the pictures from articles i had seen

Whats's in the news?

Roy Harper

Singer Roy Harper has appeared in court accused of having unlawful sex with a schoolgirl.

Harper, 72, faced two charges of having unlawful intercourse with the girl when she was under the age of 13.

The folk star was further accused of four gross indecency charges involving the same girl when she was under the age of 14 and three charges of indecently assaulting her at the same age.

This will be good for a BSR film because sex is a running theme in most BSR films such as fish tank. Also this shows corruption of youth as it is with a schoolgirl and she is underage. If this is incorporated into a BSR film, it would generally be a authentic film. It suggest that the protagonist could be a victim of sexual abuse and her journey is about getting away from that life or accepting it. 

Horrific moment man is "repeatedly knocked over by his girlfriend" 

These dramatic pictures show the moment a man was repeatedly knocked over in a suspected hit and run.

Horrific CCTV images capture the moment the car - which was allegedly been driven by the man's girlfriend - hits him and knocks him back to the ground.

This is good for a BSR film as this can connote the themes of violence. Violence is one of the main themes that run throughout BSR films. This story shows obvious violence as the girlfriend knocked him over repeatedly. This can also be a protagonist as a violent person in a gang or something and abusing people by running them over. Possibly a murderer or maybe the victim could be the protagonist with people coming after him in violent ways.

Taxi boss attacked by yobs after he refused to order them cab saying they were too aggressive

14 Nov 2013 13:18

He was rushed to hospital in an ambulance after the attack by the men as he finished his shift on Sunday afternoon

This is the moment a taxi boss was attacked by yobs - after he refused to order them a cab saying they were too aggressive.

This story can connote themes of violence and even social class clashes. This is because these guys had randomly beat this other guy up because they didn't do what he had said. They felt threatened by him. This is more of the theme of social class clashes. The protagonist could play as the person causing the violence and his life of violence. The protagonist could also be the victim. This is typical of a BSR film because it makes it more authentic to follow a real storyline.

Beachcombing for inspiration

Camera shots

One thing i really liked was the technique used in the opening of Reservoir Dogs. They had used a 360 shot which revolved around the characters sitting around a round table and the camera rotating around the table slowly capturing everyone and everything.

I find this inspirational and i may even attempt to imitate it in my production by opening like that but making sure the situation is different making sure it isn't a direct copy. Also a scene from Bad Boys 2 is very inspirational as they use a 360 shot as well but in a different way, it is more fast paced and used for a different purpose. (00:54-01:11)

This is inspirational as it gives me a selection of 360 shots to use even though to master the Bad Boys 2 shot i will need CGI which i do not have access to but it is a good idea to look into and see what other ways i can perform it.

0:40-0:52 shows another example of a 360 shot.

Sounds

The song used in this film in the background was brilliantly used as it described everything that happens in the scene character from character. Almost as if it is a narration of the scene that is happening. Seeing as we have to get original music this will be an ideal thing to get ideas from and get music that narrates the story in my production.

This is a brilliant soundtrack that is actually inspirational to play maybe if i used a dramatic opening such as someone being shot and people rushing over to the body whilst the camera pans all around them this sort of soundtrack can be played non-diegetically and it will create an emotional atmosphere and connect with the audience. Also using a montage of shots from the movie like it has been used above is a good idea.

Locations

This is the sort of location i would want to film at because it is a real location and it is a chicken shop which is a general shop that most teens would go to for food. I will try to find a more run down area though with shops like this.

I would also like to use something similar to this. A long road with a lot of small shops and bins lying there and just sort of a dull area. This would be brilliant for a BSR film. It gives of the gritty feel to it and creates the atmosphere.

Costumes

These are the sort of costumes that i am going to need people to wear to make it seem authentic that the characters are rebellious teenagers and are actually quite uneducated but that can be seen through the dialogue that they use. Also in my film the clothes have to make the personality of the character so they also have to be acting violent

Themes

What i like about this poster is that you can just look at it and you know there is violence. I want people to be able to look at my film and when they first see the opening scene i want them to be able to see that violence is a big theme in it. I want it to be obvious, just like it is in the poster.

Tony Montana (Scarface) with cocaine

I want to use drug abuse/experimentation in my production and i like how it is used in Scarface because he takes the drug and yet his face still looks all screwed up. I want to make sure i convey the effects of drugs and how bad it was.

Hotel Rwanda

Blood Diamond

Poverty is a running theme in BSR's. Two films that show poverty well are Hotel Rwanda and Blood Diamond. These films are brilliant at showing poverty and I may use the fact of a lot of people crowded in a small area to convey poverty or even show people working hard labor. 

Typography

I like the typography in this movie that she has used, it is child like but it is simple. This works effectively because it can connote things about the characters and also it is simplistic. I can use this in association with characters.

I like how in Fight Club the poster had the title written on a bar of soap which plays a role in the film. I like this and may use this. I will put the graphics in random objects that are associated with the story or the character.

The typography used in The Dark Knight is a simple as it gets. It contrasts against the black background and the colour is just a basic white. It is simple typography for three of the most legendary films of all time. I might incorporate this into my production because simple typography is easy but if used in the right places then it is effective.

Actors

I like that Christian Bale can adapt to any character and so quickly. He went from skinny to muscle in 5 months. I need to find suitable actors that can adapt to the environment well and this will make it believable for the audience. Christian Bale has played as a psycho to a superhero to a hustler to a drug addict. He is British yet grasps accents and acting very well. It will be easy for me to find a British actor being that i am in Britain but finding someone who can adapt to the role may be hard. 

Production log 6

We had to analyse the first half hour of three different BSR films and we had to look at three specific things. Mise-en-scene, camera and editing. This had to be a detailed analysis of the three opening sequences. 

I have learnt many things about BSR films overall from analyzing these three things. Such has the fact that editing rarely happens and only happens mostly when locations change. Also i have learnt about how the camera is not a smooth camera movement but it is a bouncy movement as if it was a handheld camera like a documentary. I also learnt about how unsaturated lighting and dull lighting makes it more authentic for the audience and all this can connote the mood of the scene. 

This will impact my production in such a way that i now know a good idea of where i want to film. It has to be a real location and dull lighting to make it authentic for the audience. Only then will it have that realistic feel to it, i also  have to make sure i film it with a slight bounce to the camera. If it is too clean then it makes it seem fake like a blockbuster movie. I need it to be realistic for the audience.

Mise-en-scene style

In this I had to analyse the first half hour of three BSR films for camera conventions, editing conventions and mise-en-scene conventions. I had analysed Made in Britain, Scum and Kes.

Production log 4 & 5

I have learnt quite a bit about titles. I've learnt when they appear and what order they should typically be in. I have analysed the 'Skyfall' opening sequence to see the order of the credits. On top of this i haven't just learnt the order; i have also learnt what they do. I have learnt the actual role of directors, producers, D.O.P and much more.
 This will impact my work as it has let me know what people not to include, such as visual effects supervisor. This will take away the realism of the film and i only have to include the conventional credits that appear only in BSR films. I also know whose names appear where and when.

Production Log 5

Skyfall

We had to do multiple amounts of work over the half term including opening credits analysis, fish tank case study and a sound analysis of a BSR film, for which i chose Adulthood. Doing all this work is actually quite simple for me as media is my main subject. I make sure my work is done at a good standard. Doing the fish tank case study was probably the longest piece of work i have ever done but this was the piece of work i enjoyed the most and i found it quite simple because it involved analysing a whole film which was pretty fun. As well as that i enjoyed the analysing of the opening credits of a film. The film i chose to analyse was Skyfall. Even though the opening sequence was longer than normal i didn't mind watching it over and over again because the film is actually a really good one. I found the sound analysis quite hard as there is a limit of what you can write  about sound without repeating yourself.

To overcome these issues i had to keep reading over my work and even though at some parts i did repeat myself i had to make sure i didn't do it over and over. The issue i had with doing the opening credits analysis was that i had to fit all the credits onto one A3 piece of paper which i thought would be big enough. It was just about enough as the Skyfall opening consisted of a lot of names. I had to manage my space wisely on this sheet of paper. The only issue i had with the Fish Tank case study was finding the scene that i had in mind. This was due to not knowing the time code of the scene so i had to guess where it was from memory. This was overcome via trial and error by clicking on a random part of the timeline and hoping my scene would be there. This was not a major issue though.