Pre-Production Evaluation

Ideas
We came up with four initial ideas to use for out practical production.
Our final idea portrayed elements of all the ideas we collected; this contained, suspense, fear, drama, betrayal and left the audience with a cliff-hanger ending.
It was difficult creating an idea for out production as we didn’t want it to be a reflection of other peoples work but instead an individual story, with a unique plot.
As a group we decided we didn’t want our story to be the typical horror story of a girl being murdered, but instead a story that teenagers in general could relate to.
We didn’t face too many difficulties as a group decided out idea as well all generally wanted the production to be relatively simple and leave the audience thinking what’s happening next; therefore there was no trouble in this aspect.

Screenplay
The Screenplay I found more difficult. This was partly because we hadn’t fully organised the scenes that we were going to use. I done the Screenplay as to what I thought it would entail and asked the group for acceptance, they then said what they thought would be better and I edited the parts they wanted to include. I believe the screenplay went well.


Storyboard
I was elected to do create the storyboard, and therefore had the job of drawing each shot and writing about why and what the shot was used for. I found this task quite difficult as I wasn’t sure on what shots would actually be used ie. The misty windows. However I included them in case they were to be used in post production. Once I’d drawn all the pictures I wrote down in order the shots and scenes I wrote why I had decided to use the scenes and why I thought they be effective in our post production.

Schedule
It seemed like as a group we were not all participating to our full potential so therefore made a schedule including every ones roles within the group. I felt like I had done a lot of the work and people in my group could be doing much more then they were. This helped us with things like:
o Props
o Meeting points
o Blog updates


What went well?
I think as a group we succeeded in making all the pre production essentials efficiently, deadlines were met and there weren’t many complaints within the group. Individually I think I did well, the story board was completed on time as well as the screenplay, I wrote up the synopsis and I also uploaded every ones work to the blog via the scanner. So in this sense I fulfilled my role within the group. Everyone in the group came together in the end, and research made by everyone was good.


What didn’t go well?
We started an influences PowerPoint but the person responsible failed to complete it in time, this meant we had to instead individually write our own and our own ideas to what we thought influenced our movie. I think the roles could’ve been divided more equally between the group. Other then this our groups final pre-production was successful and included all the elements initially asked for.

Questionnaire

Story Board

This Is our first 5 Implications of ideas. Each Drawing is an indication of what we want our film to include:
1- She stands alone holding a bunch of flowers. Establishing shot to identify her surround and full body etire
2- People begin rushing past her in all directions. She remains standing still and lifeless. Signifying her feelings; confusion and uncertainty
3- A Boy Approaches her as life stand still again "Whats Wrong?"- Mid Shot & over the shoulder shot.
4- Long shot as she throws the flowers on the floor and begins to run away.
5- She begins to run down the road. Wide shot shows the road and the houses which she passes.





These are our next 6 ideas. they represent in order what we wants our film to include throughout.
6-There is then a total blackout.
7-Shen then Runs into her house. An establishing shot shows her running through her gate; her house is shown in full view.
8-A sky shot shows her running up her stair, panicking and worried.
9- Mid shot Shows the fear and Distress Lucy Is Going Through aswell as Establshes where she is now going!
10-Long shot to show Lucy entering the bathroom.
11-Establishing shot- to show the bathroom in which the next shots will occur.






These are the next 6 shots of our film:
12-Mid-shot nas Lucy Walk to the mirror to view her reflection
13-Close up of Lucys distorted reflection in the mirror.
14-close up of Lucy turning the tap on (hand and sink).
15-Close up- showing Lucys hands opening the mirror cupboard.
16-Full body shot shows lucy open





These are our last 5 shots:
17-
18-
19-
20-
21-

Aisleigh, Anna, Chloe & Maria;s Shot Sequences/ Screenplay

Shot Sequence
1. Long Shot- Lucy by herself; lonely and deserted
2. Long Shot- People begin walking past (speeded up)
3. Over The Shoulder Shot (OTS)- boy approaches “What’s the matter?”
4. Establishing Shot (ES)- Lucy pushes flowers onto the boy and begins to run away
5. Pan Show/ Travelling Shot- Lucy begins to run (full body shot).
6. Blackout…….
7. Full Body Shot- Lucy opens her door and slams it behind her.
8. Zooming In Shot/ Birdseye View- camera films Lucy running up her stairs.
9. Travelling Shot- Lucy runs down corridor into her bathroom; slamming the door
10. Mid Shot- Lucy leans against the bathroom door; breathing heaving and distressed

11. ES- View of whole bathroom to establish her surroundings.
12. Mid shot- Lucy travels to her mirror; crying and panicking.
13. OTS- Lucy reflections becomes apparent
14. OTS- Lucy turns on her taps
15. OTS- Lucy opens the mirror cupboard and begins searching through the pills
16. Mid Shot- Lucy holds pills; distraught and confused.
17. Mid Side Shot- Lucy is still holding the pills; quivering and indecisive
18. Zoom Out- Camera zooms out and she closes the cupboard which are now misty
19. OTS- Lucy clears the mist of the mirror to show her distorted reflection
20. Close Up- Lucy Begins to open pills and pour onto her quivering hands
21. Zooms In- Zooms in to her mouth and stops as her hands containing the pills enter her mouth

22. Blackout entitles ‘6 Months later’

Aisleigh, Chloe, Anna & Maria's target Audience

Our film is based on drama and potentially real life situations. We thought it would be very useful to find out different people’s opinions on drama films and what kind of age range preferred them the most. For our target audience research, we conducted a questionnaire containing a series of questions that would enable us to see different people’s views on drama films. We started off the questionnaire with, how would you rate drama films on a scale of 1-10? We found that out of 15 people interviewed, 10 rated drama films as 6 or above (1 being the least, 10 being the most) and the majority of these people were sixth form students aged between 16 and 17. When asked about aspects and features in a drama film, basically everyone put things like violence, action and family and friend related problems, which is something we need to consider including in our film. Our next question presented a list of films such as Kidulthood/Adulthood, Casablanca, 8 Mile, Brief Encounter, Flight 93, Alpha Dog and The Godfather. These all relate to our project and we asked people to tick which ones they preferred the most. We found that Kidulthood/Adulthood was by far the most popular among teenagers and people from this age group. We thought this because its deals with realistic events and many teenagers can relate to it as things that happen in Kidulthood probably occur in every day life. This also helped in deciding what to use as our influences and inspiration. What would you expect to see in the opening to a drama? This question showed us that majority of people expected things such as the setting, some of the key characters and maybe a small bit of action to hint of what is to come later on in the film. Our next question asked was if they preferred films set in the past or present and most people said they preferred present day films. Our final question asked if they thought it was important to be introduced to the main character straight away and the majority of people thought that it wasn’t. All these answers are vital for how we should approach our films and what aspects should be included in it.

Aisleigh, Chloe, Maria & Anna- Pitch Ideas

For our project we can up with a serious of different ideas that we could pitch to enable our film to be the best it could be. All of our ideas are based on real life issues teenagers and young adults face in today’s society.


Pitch idea 1- Party scene
One of our ideas for our project was to show teenage life outside of school with friends and socially going out. Out main character throughout our ideas is Lucy Barker. The idea begins with Lucy getting ready for a party with her friends at her house. They are in her room with music playing in the background, putting on their make-up and having a good time laughing and enjoying themselves. There is then a fade from that scene cutting to them walking into the party greeting other friends. Lucy is a bit tipsy and gets close to a guy who flirts with her all night. Lucy is unaware that when this guy gets her a drink he spikes it and therefore accepts all the drinks he brings her as she thinks she can trust him. After that her vision is blurred and she passes out. The camera will ‘fall’ to the ground as Lucy does. Time passes and she wakes up in the house not feeling right. The following scenes (that we will not be filming) are about Lucy after this event trying to figure out what really happened and if justice is made.

Pitch idea 2- Bullying
Our second idea for our media coursework was to base it on the issue of bullying as this is a key problem many children have to deal with. We are going to have Lucy Barker at school, being approached by a group of intimidating teenage girls who make snide comments about the way she looks and just generally being abusive and nasty to her. This continues on more than one occasion and we see how the character changes from before and during the bullying. Lucy eventually reaches breaking point and results to drastic measures.

Pitch idea 3- Drugs
Our third idea was the concept of drugs and how many teenagers face problems with the issue of drug abuse. We wanted to show how the drugs affected the lives of those who use them and affect other people around them. The involvement of drugs in Lucy Barkers life is taking them through depression of being bullied and her disruptive family life. She feels that taking them is the only way of forgetting everything around her. When Lucy gets into the new crowd her friendship life is changing at the same time her family life is getting worse. The use of the drugs results to Lucy committing suicide. In this idea we linked the concept of bullying and changes to life.









Final pitch
Through our working ideas we came to a fourth pitch which is going to be our final pitch. It contains elements of realism which we extracted from the previous 3 ideas and implemented them into our final pitch; including stress, suicide, loss and bullying. We concluded out final pitch by looking at similar movies whose ideas we have taken a particular interest in.

Pitch 4- suicide
Lucy is a distressed young girl coping with the recent death of her mum. Lucy is locked in her bedroom accompanied by a bottle of pills and a pen and piece of paper on which her once hidden emotions and heartfelt feelings will be spilt. The scene as a whole will be quite distorted with flashbacks of herself and her troubles along the time frame leading up to her suicide. The final built up of Lucy’s death will be of her writing the last goodbyes on the letter and taking the pills which will lead to her eventual death.

Meida Synopsis- Aisleigh, Chloe, Maria & Anna

A reconstruction of the attempted suicide of Lucy Baker, set in the heart of south east London at the present day. In the UK there are around 400 recorded suicides per year. An estimated 30%-50% is under-reported. Masked with smiles and laughter Lucy lives life day by day; surviving. Oblivious to those around her Lucy is trying to find an escape, an escape from her corrupt past, an escape from her deteriorating soul and an exit from the cruel society that tears her down.

Lucy finds herself battling with the tragic events from her past, present and unknown future. Unable to cope with the recent death of her mum and ongoing bullying; she feels isolated and alone. At 15 years old Lucy is emotionally frail and socially unstable. Confused and morally broken she begins to break down from the moment she says goodbye. Each day since the death Lucy gets emotionally unstable. Running seems like the only way of escaping her harsh reality. Frantic, quivering and distressed Lucy can’t help but fiddle with the pills that are so temptingly beside her. “Who would have thought something so small can cause something so immense?” Familiar tears flow constant and Lucy’s fate is undecided. With no one to turn to or heal her pain Lucy results to the only thing that’ll answer her echoing question, “When will it end?” For some people-including Lucy, death seems like the easiest and quickest resolution for unhappiness.

This story reflects the unacknowledged seriousness of teenagers in need of help from there pasts and troubles.