Distribution

For one of our evaluation tasks, we have to research one company that is most likely to distribute our film. We have to take into account what themes our film contains, the target audience and also the age rating. We have decided to pick Revolver Entertainment as they make many films based on problems with young people which fit in with the drug problems of our main character.

Revolver entertainment is mainly based around Britain even though a few of their films have been based outside of the UK. This includes the french film Tzameti 13. This film like many others, contains some form of violence. The violent content in these films rely less on blood and gore, and more on social realism violence, like with gangs. Even though our film does not depict violence, it has a drug reference which is heavily influenced by films like Kidulthood.

Audience Feedback

Today our film opening was finally shown to the class, but before they saw it we gave them all pieces of paper which had questions on. After watching the opening they answered the questions and then handed us back the questionnaires. They looked like this:

Many of the questions required you to rate things out of 10, such as technical things like lighting and more practical things such as acting. I counted all of the research sheets up and found out the average result for each of them.

Camera Shots-6................Music- 7/8
Cuts/Transitions- 7/8.......Acting- 7
Lighting- 6.......................Locations- 8

There were a lot of spoken comments from students and teachers about what things could be improved and also what should be kept the same:

Positive Comments:

• The transitions felt natural and helped the flow of the scenes better. They did not look too sudden or dramatic.


• The title of the film was good, as it could mean many things because of its ambiguity. The font was also used well as it fit in with the theme.
  
• It was good the way the music was edited to stop when Freddie pretended to turn off the TV. This made it clear that it was diagetic.


• The Mad Apple logo was very well made and fit in with the opening well.

Negative Comments:

• Through the use of the lighting, the camera shots and the music, it felt too much like a thriller.


• The establishing shot of the house was zoomed in a bit weirdly.


• Some shots like the one with Freddie lasted a bit too long.
  
• The titles need to be consistent with the font instead of being in different styles.


• The music wasn't quiet and moody, but instead was too upbeat and dramatic.


• It wasn't apparent that the music was non-diagetic at the beggining, and it could have been muffled slightly.

Overall, our first version of this film got mostly positive reviews and many people thought that on a technical level our film achieved many standards, however they thought that in terms of traditional genre conventions, our film could have made it more clear as a social realist film.

After filming, our group had to split up into two pairs for the editing process. Sam and Freddie were in charge of editing the footage which meant doing things like cutting and changing clips to make the opening seem more professional. Me and Daniel had to make the opening titles and then layer them over the footage.

Me and Daniel were using a program called LiveType which was a program specially designed for making credits. We typed in things like who the cast were, the film name and production company. To make it appear interesting, we changed and animated some of the fonts to make them fit in with the theme of our opening. The cast names however were left in a normal white font which will be overlapped with a long shot in our opening.


Sam and Freddie were editing clips on a program called Final Cut Express. When they had nearly finished, me and Daniel imported the credit titles onto there and added our Mad Apple logo. We also managed to place our song over the credits. We were initially going to add a heartbeat noise but then realised it was a bit cliched and overdone. After we got the credits, we place them onto the footage.

Good/Bad Camera Shot Examples

This is an example of a bad shot due to the bad experience of the tripod. What was intended for this establishing shot was a zoom upwards tilt into the bedroom window but instead we zoomed in between them. In addition to this, the road was on a hill which went against having a straight and steady shot of the house. However we managed to achieve acceptable lighting conditions with the contrast between light and dark. We had multiple other problems filming outside though, such as passing cars, background noise and pedestrians walking past our scenes.

Our view is limited in this shot which is why it works well. It is a close up of the father's hand opening the door. This shot builds suspense and exaggerates the importance of what he is doing. The lighting was perfect as we could see everything clearly while still appearing continuous with the rest of the scenes. There was a good contrast between black and white here which is symbolic. This was a static shot which meant that it look neat and professional. The slight tilt of the door makes the atmosphere appear unnatural and uneasy.

Props

It is important for the mise en scene in the bedroom to suit somebody who is a drug user, so it should look bleak, intimidating and dark, instead of bright and colourful. It should also not look too much like a typical teenager's bedroom like you see on TV and in films, but it should appear as natural as possible. This means that we probably won't have to move a lot of things around as it isn't a set, but a few things can still be in view of some shots such as:

• Stereo
• Television
• Blinds/Curtains
• Posters
• CD's/Videogames
• Games Console

Many of the things listed utilise technology of some sort which is what teenagers like to use. By involving quite a lot of these things in some shots, it will show that he is an average teenager and it reveals what his interests are. No props for drugs will be shown as we do not want to make it too clear to the audience about what the character's main issues are. By showing that he lives in an under average area, a few things could even be placed oustide of the house so that we get some idea of his living conditions. These could include:

• A broken bicycle
• Scattered Rubbish
• Dustbins
• Cardboard
• Dead Plants

Locations

For our opening we will only be shooting in two different locations, which will be Sam's bedroom and Daniel's road. We are using Sam's room because it is much more suitable in terms of mise en scene, but also Daniel's road as it has a rougher appearance. This means that we have to be careful not to reveal the two different streets in our film opening. This could be helped by closing all of the windows in Sam's bedroom if his own street can be seen and not showing any continuous shots of the teenager leaving his home.

We wanted to start with exterior shots of a street so that it establishes where the opening is going to be set and it also gives information about the character's background, personality and even race. We wanted to end the establishing shots with a shot of the house which will be Daniel's. We then cut to the interior of Sam's bedroom. When we see repeated cutaways of the father coming towards the house, it will give the illusion that both shots are filmed right near each other when in reality they are much further apart.

We have chosen these particular places because we wanted to choose somewhere we thought would be "average" enough for audiences to relate to. This is why we chose a normal road. It is undecided if we are going to show a school in an opening to show that the teenager is a student. It will depend on the running time we got left, and also if we decide if it seems too obvious or not.

Film Idea

Our film is called Numb and is based on the 2006 film Half Nelson. Half Nelson is a film about a school teacher who leads two different lives and has to cope with his struggles. Outside school he is a drug addict that causes him to live a dangerous secret life, but in school he gets on well with all of his students eventhough they are all from a rough neighbourhood. We have reversed that idea however, with a school student playing the main role instead of an adult. This is because we found it more common to hear about teenagers taking drugs than teachers in London, and so people would relate to it much more. To show a clear contrast between both sides of the student in the opening, different filming and editing techniques will be used which are similar to the ones in the film.

Dan's drug life is shown through a dark and gloomy filter which represents a darker habit outside of his colourful school life. These dark colours also make the scenes appear to be intimidating and secretive. Music plays in some scenes such as when we see him taking drugs for the first time. This was rock music which was fast, loud and dramatic which can be related to his drug habits that contrast his calm school life.

His life as a teacher is shown to be surprisingly positive and although he receives sarcastic comments from the class, he responds with equally sarcastic remarks which earn him respect. However, the camera is always swaying to show slight annoyance with having to share two different lives, but also to show his unstable state of mind. There are also a lot of close ups to establish his mood and the moods of his students.

A key difference between this film and our opening is that our one does not rely on several actors to show a difference between the character's lifestyles. In Half Nelson, several shots of students in the classroom show that Dan Dunne, the main character is in fact a teacher and has the important ability to get on with these students. However, our opening will only be using two actors and so it will be harder to show him leading two different lives as he will not be reacting with anybody else.

Questionnaire

To gain some audience research, we had to do a questionnaire involving many questions to do with film viewing habits, preferred story line elements and what aspects of films they find the most important. The questionnaires were given to several people around our age so that the results would not be biased in any way. The questions that were asked are below and the most common answer(s) for each one is in bold.

1. How old are you?
10-12, 13-15, 17-19, 20-28, 28+

2. What is your favorite genre of film?
Social Realism, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Teen, Rom Com, Film Noir

3. What is your preferred way to watch your films?
Cinema, DVD (Home), TV, Drive-In, Internet

4. Who do you prefer to go with to the cinema?
Alone, Friends, Family, GF/BF/Spouse

5. How obvious do you like the plot to be?
Obvious/Spelled Out, Subtle Hints, Complete Twist,
Worked out with character throughout

6. What aspect of a film do you consider to be the most important?
Acting, Camera, SFX, Sound, Editing

7. How many social realism movies have you watched?
None, Under 5, 6-9, 10+

8. Would you say a social realist film generally targets a male audience?
Yes, No, Not Sure

Based on the most common answers, the majority of people do not think that social realism is mostly restricted to males, eventhough many films of the genre use men as a central character, which in turn has created the 'angry young men' stereotype, meaning typically northern men living in the 1960's coping with political and domestic issues.

In addition, many people find that acting is the most important aspect of a film which is very important in social realism because if the acting is not realistic it will defeat the purpose of the film. It will also look less impressive in general which is why in our opening we need a very good and convincing actor.

Conventions of Social Realism

• British social realist films usually contain negative aspects of their own culture, a few examples being football hooliganism (Football Factory, Green Street) and gang culture (Kidulthood, Adulthood). Our film will focus on the drug habits of a sixth form student around the South London area.
• They are usually based on a large number of people that fit a certain subculture/theme such as chavs, football fans and pupils. However, there are also many films which revolve mostly around a single character which is what our opening will do.
• Because it is a social realist film, everything that will be filmed can be possible in real life situations. Because drugs are an increasing problem in London, especially in areas around Lambeth, we decided to do an idea based on it.
• Many social realism films also use political events as a backdrop to the main story such as Billy Elliot or This Is England which indirectly affect the central characters in some way. Our idea doesn't revolve around political issues so much, however it will probably be referenced somehow in the opening.
• They usually contain some form of violence. Some of this can be in a domestic setting but in most cases it usually involves a large group of people in a public area.
• Instead of making an attempt to look glamorous, they usually stick with making the film look gritty and true to life.
• Finally, these types of films are mostly filmed around urban areas (especially London) than in rural areas as that is where most of the main issues lie. We will be filming in a poor or average area in South London where there is alot of poverty and crime.