Our film; A One Man War

Radio trailer:

Production; film poster

In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge the conventions of real media products?

How effective is the combination of your main product and the ancillary texts?

The combination of our main product (film) and the ancillary texts such as the poster and the radio trailer for our film were very important. The poster and radio trailer will help to promote our film to our target audience, and so both needed to be very effective in the way it attracted our target audiences.

We used various media languages such as camera angles/ movements and sounds effects to communicate with our audience. In one of our scenes, we thought it will be interesting to add a montage in order to make the scene of our actor getting prepared for school look exciting and not dragging on. We merged clips of our main actor getting dressed and working out to create a montage. We used close-up shots and not long shots to make the clips more interesting and to allow our audience to guess what he is doing. This will creates suspense as the audience would want to find out what is happening, and they will carry on watching it until they find out. We also added a very energetic and dramatic sound clip in our montage to enhance excitement to the scene.

In our film we used binary opposition. We have students vs. a teacher. We challenged the stereotypes of characters as we perceived the children as the ‘bad guys’ and the teacher as the ‘good guys’ the children are usually presented as being innocent and the teacher is fearless and uptight. Not only would it be useful to help establish the relationship between the two, but it also make our film very appealing to our audience, as it may be something they feel they can relate to.

Our target audience are quite young, so it is important for us to make our film clearer to this particular group. In our film we added a lot of things such as objects, signs and symbols to denotate that our actor is an ex-soldier. Using our creativity, we looked for objects as well as gestures we could use to give an impression to our audience that our actor is an ex-soldier who returned from the military. It is important that audience understands that our protagonist is an ex-soldier because he is also a teacher. So, to not create confusion between the two roles we made it things clear by using objects, clothing and the different gestures he uses to bring out his character.

Poster:- 

To make our poster appealing to our audience we decided to use strong, dark, striking and dramatic colors to draw our audience’s attention to our film. We decided to add images of our protagonist, images of the school building and also images of explosives in the background to enhance the idea that his from the military. The images of explosions in the background will also make our poster visually eye-catching to our target audience.

In our poster we are going to include a tagline ‘One man must stand alone to face his fears’ this will make our poster stand out from the rest with the addition of our unique tagline. The tagline is going to be in bold and it’s going to have to stand out from the poster in order for our audience to read it. Our tagline creates a sense of fear and suspense and makes our film look really interesting.

Radio Trailer:- 

Our radio trailer is also really important for the promotion of our film. From the radio trailer our audience will be able to get a glimpse of what our film is about. The layers of different sounds help to create a particular mood for our film and make our film sound exhilarating and exciting. We used sound clips of a soldier chanting, children screaming, explosions and fast-pace music and heart beats to create a dramatic sequence of sounds. The sequence of dramatic sounds will have a great impact on our audience as it will lure our audience to watch the film.

Our trailer creates suspense immediately as we hear continuous heart beats, a soldier chanting and children screaming. A voice over then says ‘teach them a lesson’. After a few seconds of silence we hear sounds of explosions with fast-pace and energetic music playing, slowly building tension. We then hear another voice over ‘one man must stand alone to face his fears’, this creates fear and unease for the audience as they will be wondering what is going on. The sound track becomes really dramatic going at a fast pace and we hear more explosions. We hear another voice over ‘will this be his last battle’ this causes the audience to worry and creates a lot of suspense. The voice over then continues to say ‘starring Olu Oseiende’, ‘Numero Uno presents A Man One War’, ‘Coming to cinemas near you’, ‘rated PG’ and then the trailer finishes with a loud crash of explosion. I personally feel that this trailer will have a great impact on our audience and on our film as it will make our film very appealing and ‘watch-worthy’ after listening to the trailer.  

What have you learnt from your audience feed back?

The survey we produced before creating our film was very significant in terms of informing us of what our target audience wanted, what they looked for in a drama, what kind of endings they preferred and how they wanted the film structured out. The feedback was a great help as it helped us to improve on the little things that will have a great impact on our film. The whole point of a feed back is to find out what would satisfy our audiences and, all in all help us produce a successful film.

We used survey monkey to create and publish our survey to our target audience. We used web 2.0 to get access to facebook and other sites in order to reach our target audience and get the responses. These were the responses we received:-

Results from our survey

View more presentations from CFGSSALMAB

Post-production; This is the feed back we received after the film was made.

Student;

Good points:

§         They understood the plot of the story, it was clear

§         It was easy to understand what was going on

§         They were anxious at first of what was going on – whole point of our film

§         They identified the teacher/solider

Bad Points:

§         Some clips were too long

§         Needs to be more clearer

§         More clear emphasis on military themes

§         More sound tracks

Person 2;

Good points:

§         Good use of camera angles

§         Story line is clear

Bad Points:

§         More emphasis needed on the actor as a solider

§         Need more military themes

§         Montage needs to be shorter

Feed back from our target audience is significant because our main aim of our film is to make I appealing for our target audience. So in order to satisfy our audience we needed to make sure where we were going wrong with our film and what needed to be improved. All the feed back we got was very crucial for our film as it helped tells us what needed to be fixed and where we were going wrong. We acted upon all our audience feed backs and made sure that we acted upon all the areas that needed to be fixed. 

How did you use media technologies in the planning, research, construction and evaluation stages?

View more presentations from CFGSSALMAB.

Radio trailer; Script:

[Heartbeat] 
[Screaming children- at the same time a man is chanting and army song]
Voice over:The time has come to teach them a lesson.
[Explosion]
Voice Over: One man must stand alone to face his fears... 
[Music and gun shot begins]
Voice Over: Will this be his last battle?
[Music gets more louder - continuous music throughout]
Voice Over: Starring Olu Sodeinde...Numero Uno presents, A One Man War...
Coming to cinema near you, soon.
Voice Over: Rated PG
[Loud crash/explosion - Music dies out]

Audience feedback

This is a video of our student response.. I asked a couple of questions and received important feed back for our film. For example, this student mentioned that we should make our montage even shorter. After receiving the feed back we then made a few changes to our film in order to meet our target audiences needs and to make our film successful.

Research and planning – Radio trailer

We are currently working on our radio trailer for our film. I've done some research into finding something similar to our idea for our radio trailer. It was really hard and took a lot of time to find a perfect one, but this came closet to our ideal radio trailer. This trailer contains different layers of sounds, there is peoples voices in the background, they're panicking and shouting which builds tension and suspense. The sound track used here is really striking and dramatic and it very effectively creates a dramatic atmosphere. Instead of having a huge array of voices in the background, we're planning to have a voice over (dramatic and sarcastic voice over). We want our radio trailer to contain a sound track similar to this, in order to create suspense, terror, anxiety and to make the audience feel agitated. This is effective as it will drag the audiences attention and make them anxious to find out more about the film.

Production: Editing; opening title

Today we have worked on combing all our animations together using the software final cut. We had encountered   some problems. Because we worked individually on our animations we had a lack of proper communication and mine and Tahmina's work which was meant to go together (the titles, title typing and then title shattering), came out in different font sizes. So, we had to figure out how to fix it. We had a professional BBC Production assistant who helped us overcome our problems. We had other problems, also, our animation when put together kept on over lapping each other, so we had to fix it.

Production: Editing film:

I was given the role to edit some of the shoots for our film. This gave me the opportunity to work on final cut and learn editing skills. I had learnt how to render clips, import clips on to final cut, how to shorten clips, how to use the timeline, how to remove sound clips or how to insert sound clips and how to change the effects. I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this and learnt many editing skills from this process. 

Production: animation for opening title

Production: Filming - Day 4

Today we started shooting our first scene of our film. It was important that we booked our locations and sorted out what props we were going to need. Also, importantly we had told our actor few days earlier of the day we were going to film, so that he was aware of it and prepared. We needed a bedroom, but we used a music studio instead. Using our creativity skills, we got enough props such as blankets and pillows to make the sofa we were using, a bed. It looked believable. When filming we made sure that we only got the particular parts we wanted and had to make sure that the back ground didn’t reveal the music studio too much.

We also worked on our third scene again to take the remaining shots for the journey to the school. We used a wide variety of camera angles and shots. We took a distant shot; we did panning shots and close-up shots of our actor making his way to the school. 

Practicing making animation

Using Flash, i practiced making animations. I practiced making motion animations and i was overall happy with my effort. I have successfully learnt how to make a motion tween animation.

Production: Filming - Day 3

Today me and my group set out to shoot our classroom scene. We had some bits and bobs left to film for our classroom scene. Firstly, we needed to film from a wide variety of angles including long shots of the classroom, close-up shots of the mischievous student and panning shots of the classroom. It was important that we took a series of different shots so that when we edit our shoots, we can pick and mix the best camera angles for that scene. This will enable us to use our creativity skills by planning on how a particular scene should look like, also making our scene look interesting. Me and Sufia both worked on scene three – the journey, the teacher makes his way to the school. For this scene we just took a couple of shots of the school surroundings. Overall, i improved my filming skills and my use of camera shots and angles and enjoyed myself. 

Planning: Movie poster

As a group we have decided what we're going to be working on in the next few weeks. We have to work on getting our trailer and poster of our film created, as well as editing our film clips using final cut. We decided that in our fours we are going to split the two tasks between two groups of two, two of which who are going to be working on the poster and the other two are going to work on the trailer. We decided that we are all going to have our inputs, listening to each others ideas for each task and we are going to use our creativity skills to bring out an excellent movie poster and a movie trailer. Me and Sufia chose to work on the poster, and we used our ideas, as well as the other members ideas to decide on how our poster is going to look like. I have made a plan of our poster, but it is yet to be completed. I have roughly drawn our main actor, and of what he will be wearing.

This is a rough idea of how our main actor is going to be dressed. We decided that our main actor is going to be wearing a dull green blazer (or brown) to emphasis his from the military. His going to have a strap of grenades on him which is going to be revealed slightly. Also, his going to be carrying a side bag.

Research: research on various film posters

I have done some research and identified some of the features of movie posters. I then looked at what features the movie posters had in common with other posters. As there are tons of old and new movie posters it will be hard to gather all the similar features. From this process I will learn what kind of common features each and every poster contains, which makes it eye-catching. I could look at the most popular new ones and look at people reviews to see what they liked about it.  

Old movie posters:

  

This is a poster from 1999, not very old but, as you can see lots of effective presentational elements have been used to make the poster eye-catching. The film is set in a desert, and the colours of the font and the background emphasises on this.

• Both posters have a use of striking colours that make each poster noticeable.
• Both posters present the main characters in the film. These days’ movie posters only include a few or just the main actor in the poster. 

Current and new movie posters: 

These posters have the same conceptual design. They are really eye-catching and stand out. The silhouette of the actors contains the name of the film in the centre. 

It’s interesting to note that these days move posters have a large emphasis on the main actor; where the actor is enlarged on the movie poster with other things around them. Many posters are being created in the same generic layout, like these for example: both posters have an actor in the middle of two huge buildings; they also have their back to the camera. This is effective as makes the audience anxious to find out who they are. I have read some reviews, and many people (age not specified) have said that they found the following two posters very eye-catching. These posters are similar to our ideal poster, of a man in standing in front with lots going on in the background. This shows that are ideas are easily going to relate to modern posters which will attract lots of audiences from the young generation. And, our film is targeted at a young audience, ages 7-16.

Research: On our poster step 1

The poster of a movie is an important extension of a film. The layout of the poster is very similar to our ideas of our film poster. We are using the same layout of the poster; with chaos in the background and our main actor in the front walking away from the disaster. To make it look creative and add suspense, as well as humour, we’re going to make our actor dressed as a teacher, underneath his blazers will be a strap of grenades and he will be walking away from a war scene. Also, to add humour, we are going to have a little girl standing the in the background, in the middle of the mess staring out of nowhere, lost and confused like a zombie.   

What makes this poster especially out of the ordinary and striking is the use of the dark, dull and mood-dropping colours which reflects the theme of the film. The image in the background, especially, is what makes the poster stand out and attention grabbing; there are pictures of broken buildings, car tipped over and buildings covered with large sheets. This all adds to effect of making the poster look surreal. The image of the man by himself, above all, adds to my fascination, and the description which reads ‘the last man on earth is not alone’ makes me as an audience feel anxious to find that what that means, and makes me feel tempted to go and watch the film and find out. 

Animatic: Story board for A One Man War

This is a preview of our scenes that we created for our film using our script. These pictures are from our
storyboard which we then used to create a short movie by uploading the pictures from the storyboard onto IMOVIE. I worked on scene 1 and 2 of the storyboard, and two other members from my group worked on the other scenes.

Production: Filming - Day 2

On our second day of filming, we worked on filming for our fourth scene which takes place inside a classroom. Before we could start filming, it was important that we booked a classroom for our scene and it was also important that we informed our actor and the pupils know before hand about the place and time of which our filming was going to take place. Before we could started shooting, it was important to make sure that we only used those particular pupils - who returned their permission slips, to be included in the shooting. We successfully set the camera up and changed the settings of the camera to white balance to get a clearer and professional image. During the shoot, we experimented with different camera movements and angles and I really enjoyed it. Taking lots of clips from different angles allowed us to use a mix of camera angles in our film which could make it more interesting. Overall, this experience allowed me to work more with the actor and the pupils and I had fun. And it also allowed me to build my skills on learning more techniques about using a camera and enabling me to increase my standards of using a camera.

Student consent forms: signed and returned

It was important that we collected the reply slips from the students that wanted to take part in our film. This was because the students were all under age 16 and needed parental consent of being allowed to be featured in a film. After collecting the slips, from the group of students, we had to allocate a  pupil that will be interested in taking a role as a mischievous pupil who throws a paper ball at the teacher.

Research and Planning: Story board

Before starting on our story board, i carried out some research on what story boards are and why they are important in the process of planning for our film. From this video i learnt that a story board is a photography/visual version of the script for our film. A story board is really important as it will help us plan what props will be needed, what type of lighting should be used, what camera angles or shots will be used and important of all, it tells us whats going on in that particular scene. This video also mentions that we should have a 'shot list' - a list of shots that are going to be included in each scene. This is also important, as it will help us be organised and use time efficiently and not waste time on agreeing on what shots should be used. Having a shot list will also enable us to see who's in the shot e.g. the teacher or the students and or teachers and students.

Production: Filming - Day 1

Today my group and I have decided to start filming for the first and second scene of our film. We met up with our actor and started filming a few clips for our scene. We had begun filming for our montage first, so we had to use a gym to get hold of the exercising machines and equipment. Before we started filming, we had decided to practice taking different shots and experimenting with different angles; we also used some time to figure out how to use the camera setting accurately e.g. how to set the white balance. After filming clips for our montage, we then moved on to filming our beginning scene, which takes place in a bathroom. We used a changing room, where we found a suitable sink and mirror for our scene, and it was successful. Overall, today was very exciting, I used a camera for the first time professionally, and I enjoyed using my camera technique skills to help decide on what camera shots and angles we should use.

Schedule for our film and a agreement letter for the premisses manager

As a group we created a schedule to help us prepare for filming. A schedule is very useful as it will help us organise ourselves and find suitable times for us to start filming. In our schedule we included:-

- The date and time of when we will carry out our filming

- The location of where the filming is going to take place - we will need to book it

- The props that will be needed

Schudule For Filming

View more documents from CFGSSufiaB.

It was important to get permission from the premisses manager to that we can work in the school site.

View more documents from CFGSSALMAB.

Research: Camera shots

Before starting filming, i have done some research on crucial camera shot techniques to improve my knowledge on the types of shots that can be used whilst filming. This will also allow me to find out the different  shot composition we can use in our film. This is important as it teaches why how and why a shot should be used.

Final Script; A One Man War

A one man war

View more documents from CFGSSufiaB

Sample Letter: Students consent form

This letter is for the students to be featured in our film. We need to get their parents consent first because they are all under 16.

Sample Letter: Students consent form

View more documents from CFGSSALMAB.

Actor agreement form: For our lead male role

This letter was created for our chosen lead actor. In order to include him in the film, first we needed his consent.

Actor agreement form

View more documents from CFGSSALMAB.

This is a picture of our lead actor signing the actor agreement form.

Risk assesment

This risk assessment was produced in order to help us to take caution whilst filming because we are going to be held liable for our actors injuries.

Risk assesment

View more documents from CFGSSALMAB.

Production: Opening title:

In our group, we allocated different roles to different people for the production of different parts for our opening film title. Sharing the work helped us use our time more efficiently and allowed us to produce our title at high quality and detail. We were each allocated a role which suited our capabilities. I had the role do produce cracking effects on our title (when the silhouette of the soldier shoots at the film title its shatters like glass). I used the flash software to help me do this, it was surprisingly simple and fun, and it came out really good.

The other members of our group were given different roles, for which they used different software’s for. Khadijah was in charge of animating the movements of soldier, Tahmina had to animate our film tile and Sufia had to draw the key hole and the key.

Overall, all our work came out successful and I can’t wait to put it together.

Research: Lead room shot

The concept ‘lead room’ is used in photography and filmography. A lead room is the space that is left in the image, and it is often used in direction of moving/stationary objects. For example, moving objects such as cars require a lead room because if extra space is allowed in front of a moving car, the viewer can see that it has some place to go. Without the space, the viewer will see that it’s not moving.

Narrative theorists

Narrative theorists

View more presentations from CFGSSALMAB.

A poster to attract our main actor

This poster has been created in order to help us attract as many actors as possible for a lead male role in our film. We made the poster eye-catching and simple. We included details - such as our contacts - email address and the age range of an actor we're looking for. We haven't included any information of our film, so we told our actors that they can find out more information if they get in touch. This way, we can provide lots of information about our film and help if they don't understand, rather than stating everything down.

Research on camera settings:

Today a professional cameraman, Yoshtio Derman, came in to teach us about camera settings. As a group we focused on different camera settings; we looked at white balance and how it had an impact on images. White Balance refers to the adjustment in film imaging that corrects the colour balance of the lighting. A digital camera needs to find a reference point which represents white. It will then calculate all the other colours based on this white point. So if the camera knows the wall is supposed to be white, it will then compensate all the other colours in the scene accordingly. White objects will appear white, rather than coloured - e.g. yellow when lit by tungsten filament lights, or excessively blue under sunlight. This is because when an image is shot under different conditions white does not appear white and so, white balance corrects the balance of lighting.

This is the colour temperature - typical light source

Source: http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Digital_Imaging/White_Balance_01.htm

Results from our survey:

Results from our survey

View more presentations from CFGSSALMAB.

Practising editing videos

Working in a group we learnt few basic steps of creating a movie. We used some video samples and worked on editing it and putting different transitions into it, order to make it look interesting and visually attractive. I learnt how to cut off unwanted parts of the film; this can be done by first playing the video up until to the bit you want to cut off and then by clicking on snip. This was really convenient as instead of filming the whole scene again; we can just easily just cut off unwanted parts of the film, thus, saving us a lot of time.

As a group, using a video camera, we worked on taking a video of someone from different angles, using different shots and using different camera movements. This was interesting and important as this experience allowed to us to gain an insight of how to work with a camera as it allowed us experiment with different camera angles etc..

Research on the rule of thirds and headroom

Rule of thirds:

This technique is going to be really useful to us as it will come in handy when we take different shots. The rule of three is a composition technique. The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine dividing an image into nine equal parts, then dividing the image into two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. By placing an image at these points, you can make your image well balanced and less busy. It also helps a viewer naturally move through an image and also help you tighten the composition of your pictures.

Headroom:

The headroom refers to the distance between the top of the subject's head and the top of the frame. This is done to include the sense of space on both sides of the image. If the headroom is too little then this shot will make viewers feel uncomfortable, as the top of the screen is pressing down on his head. A good headroom is when there is adequate space above the person to make it look comfortable. The person’s eyes should be 1/3 down from the top. Too much of the headroom will show too much space above the person.

Working with animations - learning basic steps

As a group we have been working on how to create animations for our film title and production name. So, in order to create successful animations, we learnt how to use software called ‘flash’. This software is going to be very useful for us as it will help us create animations. From the help of an animation specialist, in groups we first worked on a few simple steps of creating basic animations.

With the help of the animation specialist we learnt how to create motion animations. First of all, before importing an animation it was important to insert a key frame (if you wanted your animation to last for 2 seconds, you have to place your key frame on the ruler marked 24) After inserting the key frame, we needed to use the selection tool; using the selection tool we then had to click on a shape tool to make and an oval. After doing this, it was important that we then click on modify to convert the shape to a symbol. After completing the first stage, it was important to keep in mind that every time we wanted to create the next step for an animation we had to click on ‘insert key frame’ – in order to create a moving picture. Lastly, it was also important to help the animation move smoothly, so in order to make this happen, using the selection tool we had to click on the previous key frame and then click on properties and click on tween motion.

We also learnt how to create shape animation. You first had to insert a key frame, using the selection tool, draw a shape – modify the shape into a symbol, insert another key frame and draw another shape using the same instructions and then go to properties – instead of clicking on motion, you had to click on shape. This allowed the shape to re-form into different shapes. We also looked at how to include special effects – you just follow the same instructions above, go to properties and you can click on different colour techniques such as alpha, or you can just hold down the shift button and re-scale shapes in proportion.

It was really important for our group to understand the key aspects of creating animations as we will need to use it to create our production name and an animation for our opening film title. This experience was exhilarating and I look forward to learning more about creating animations and further developing my skills.

Planning for the script

As a group we worked on how to produce our script perfectly by including all key elements of script writing. It is really important that our script is concise as we have to produce a 5 minute film. In our group, we talked about how actions speak better than words, and we decided that we should keep our dialogue short and let actions speak rather than the character talking about how they feel. We are going to show the characters emotions through actions and this is really effective as the audience will be anxious to find out how a particular character is feeling, so this will mean they will have to focus and look at the actions of the character-creating flair and moving the story forward. When we write a narrative description, we have to make sure that the writing is visual. Our film is going to be 5 minutes long, so, this means that our script will need to 5 pages. If the actions in a particular scene that we include in our film last for a minute, then we will need to produce a page of script for that scene.

All the key elements of script writing include, the slug line-otherwise known as the heading which helps by giving a short brief of the details of the setting of the scene. This is composed into three parts, including exterior and interior, location and time of day.

An example will be – INTERIOR, DON’S LIVING ROOM- DAY

Special scene heading is a heading used when the script alternates between different time periods. – January 1966 or Spring 194.

We found out that when a character is speaking, you have to put the characters name in capital letters etc. An example will be:

- Character speaking: Johnny

- Johnny (Silently)

- Dialogue: …..

We came across many editing styles such as Montage which means, when there are short clips of the film which indicate a series of short related scenes. Continuous editing is when you use a sequence of scenes that have a clear connection; are linked to one another. An intercut is when scenes take place in more than one location-this is often used with telephone calls, one person may be talking from London; whilst the other person may be talking from New York. A split screen is also used to show the intercut between two scenes.

Audience/Research Survey targeting our audience

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B82T9SW

Evaluation on a short film based on Drama

I have done a review on a piece drama I watched. This is very relevant as, this will help me plan for our film that we are going to produce. By looking at this piece of drama, it will allow me to find out what conventions are used in drama films and if the film challenges any conventions of drama. I used the BBC Film Network to search for a film of my particular choice, in this case I am going to search for a film based on drama because our group has decide to make a film based on comic-drama.

The short film is called ‘Mud Boy’ written and directed by Nic Penrake and produced by Anit Bashar. The film is based on a working-class family. The film is about a traumatised young girl who makes a disturbing and chilling discovery at the bottom of her garden. I have chosen this film because the title of the film seems very interesting and makes me feel anxious to find out what this piece of drama is about. The film contains very strong language and disturbing scene that may me inappropriate for younger viewers, I believe it may be certificated as 12A.

The film opens with a master shot which reveals the entire dramatised scene. We are immediately shown a mysterious object (a shovel) in the middle of the garden and in the background there are diegetic sounds of two people talking. At first the conversation sounds unclear as there is a lot of chatter and eventually their conversation gets clearer. The conversation seems to be between a man and a woman as they are accusing each other for something. This creates an impact on the audience as it helps reel the audience in the film so that they can find out what’s happening in order to get a clear picture of what the conversation is about. It’s interesting how the camera focuses on the shovel whilst we hear a glimpse of the characters conversation, this immediately creates a connection. This is really affective as it creates suspense and tension on the audience as they will feel eager to find out what’s happening.

The close-up shot presents the first character of a young girl. The close-up shot reveals her facial expressions that show she is frightened. This makes the audience feel sympathy for her. From a low-angle, from the young girl’s perspective (making her look inferior compared to her parents); we are then introduced to two other characters. The over-the-shoulder shot shows both characters. Both look like a working-class couple family. The man uses a lot of foul words on his speech as he talks to the women. He is dressed in a vest and some trousers and his hair is messed up, this allows the audience to make assumptions of him being drunk, being mentally un-stable with anger issues. This is significant as the director uses various elements to construct a bad representation of this character. This makes the audience feel anxious to find out why. The other character, the women, is constantly accusing the man of seeing her son last and from this statement we find out that her son is missing. This builds a lot of tension and anxiety on the audience.

The film begins with conflict from the start and in the middle it reaches a climax. This is when Mina runs off to the back of the garden to avoid the yelling and cursing of her parents. She plays by herself imitating the argument between her mum and her mum’s boyfriend. As Mina plays with her toys she accidentally unearths her brother’s grave. Failing to accept that he is dead, Mina make-believes her brother Jamie is alive and starts to do all she can to clean him up and bring him inside again. When the police arrive, they find the dead Jamie, but to Mina Jamie is now roaming free in the garden.

Drama films mostly depend on the in-depth development of realistic characters who are dealing with emotion situations etc. This film uses conventions of drama by including conflict between to characters, it’s based on crime, there’s a climax point and everything is dramatic.

The ending is really tragic because the secrets unravel a chilling truth, we find out that the women’s boyfriend had buried her son in the back-garden and he then gets convicted. There’s a twist at the end as the audience probably thought that Jamie lives and he is found but we find out that the little girl make-believes that her brother is alive. When the police arrive, they find the dead Jamie, but to Mina, Jamie is now roaming free in the garden.

In general, this film happened to be really tragic, emotional and dramatic. The director cleverly structured this film well, as the film kept me as an audience completely engaged with the urge to find out what will happen next. The hook at the beginning was really effective as it had an impact on me as an audience; I was reeled into the film having constant suspense on what was happening. I learnt a lot by watching this piece of drama, as it helped me understand what type of conventions drama films use and how they use it so that it has an impact on the audience. I importantly learnt how to reel our audience in our film to keep them engaged and interested in finding out what will happen next; with the constant anxiety and suspense.

Research on the Internet Movie Data base (IMDB)

What is IMDB?

IMDB stands for Internet Movie Data base. It was first known as a hobby project by an international group of movie fans. IMDB is a huge collection of movie information. They try to catalogue every relevant detail about a movie, from who was in it, to who made it, to trivia about it, to filming locations and even where you can find reviews and fan sites on the web. They then do our best to present this information in a manner that is convenient and easy to access for their viewers.

What does it do?

IMDB offers its viewers information about the latest movie releases, trailers to movies and other useful information about movies. It also lets viewers watch TV clips and episodes. They also include news about celebrities, featured news and movie news etc. They have message boards where viewers can discuss about films, awards and TV episodes. As you can see from the following, IMDB offers their viewers a great variety of entertainment features that will be very appealing to them.

This is the plan for our script

Numero Uno - ‘One Man War’

Locations:

• Bedroom
• Bathroom
• Gym
• Streets – travelling scene
• Classroom

Costume:

• Pyjamas
• Gym clothes – e.g. tracksuits, top etc.
• Suit – smart, work attire
• School uniform – students in classroom

Props:

• Teddy bear
• Alarm clock
• Boxing set
• Rucksack
• Paper planes and paper balls

Actors/actresses:

- Main character – Mr Williams

- Class of students

Script: Scene one: A man is sleeping in his bedroom, the alarm clock goes off. He switches it off; he rests his head in his hands. [ sound- breathing heavily ] [ Screen goes black, sound of brushing teeth and washing face ] – Numero Uno (logo) presents ‘One Man War’

Screen re-appears of the man looking at the mirror, resting both his hands on the basin. (Expression – apprehensive, slightly scared)

Scene two:

[Music starts – ‘Eye of the Tiger’] He starts working out in gym or bedroom/ skips scene to getting dressed in bedroom. Crane shot to show him dressed. [ Music stops when door closes as he leaves house. ]

Scene three:

[Travelling, siren as police car goes past] Camera shots: establishing shot of London, high angle shot, shot of his shoes walking, establishing shot of school.

Scene four:

[Point of view shot, sound of heart beating] – Man holds door handle, a window on the door shows screaming children throwing paper planes and paper balls.

Man: It’s time.

[Opens door] It is now silent. Panning shot reveals the children [Camera –eye line view] Camera shows faces of children looking innocent.

Man: [nervous] okay, class, i don’t want any trouble today. Let’s get started. [Man starts writing on board; a paper ball hits him in the back of the head]

Students: [Laugh loudly]

Screen goes black, Eye of the tiger music. Finishing credits.

THE END.

Research on genre: Drama

I have done some research on the genre we will be working on for our film. This research on drama had helped me understand on what conventions drama use etc..

Presentation on Drama

View more presentations from CFGSSALMAB.

Preview of our opening title

This has been produced using Photoshop. This is a preview of how our opening title will look like-as you can see our production name will first appear on the screen with the word 'presents' below. On the right is the name of our film that is going to be appearing right after our production name.

BBFC Presentation

I have done research on the British board of film classification to find out what we will need to exclude from our film to make it suitable for a young audience.

Source: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

BBFC Presentation

View more presentations from CFGSSALMAB.

Description of the opening of our film:

The opening starts as a gold screen with a white number one. A key enters the number one (symbolising the key latch) and it appears as if a door is opening outwards with a creaking sound. Behind the door, there is a black screen with the ‘Numero Uno’ logo. The ‘Numero Uno’ logo is in Edwardian script. It also has a yellowish-gold border.

‘Presents A one man War’ is in Bodoni SVTY and appears on the screen through apparent typing with a white line flashing after the typing. All the writing is in white. There is also a white silhouette of a soldier on the right of ‘One man war,’ slightly bigger than the font. The white soldier moves his gun barrel towards the screen and shoots, the screen cracks and crumbles.