Main Task - Pitch Feedback

Overall I believe the feedback was positive as I asked a few of my peers after they had seen the pitch whether or not they liked the consept, to which they said they did. This is relevant as I am priamrily aiming my film at 16 - 24 year olds therefore they fit into the target age group for the film.

One person asked whether or not we would see the character's lives before they left their ordinary lives and subsequently became part of a cult. This suggests that I need to revise my idea so that it is more clear as to why they left without having to detract from the main plot by explicitly explaining their background story.

There were questions asked as to how it's a thriller to which I explained that it has psychological elements as well as having a sinister plot, an isolated protagonist an other such devices that are often portrayed in Thrillers. However, I will be revising my ideas in order to make it more obviously a thriller as there is a possibility that the film could become less thrilling and fall into the Drama genre instead.

There were also questions asked of the title, "Freedom...", however audience feedback suggests that it's a good title as it keeps the meaning ambiguous, leaving the audience to interpret it's meaning as they wish, which is in keeping with suspense employed in thrillers.

Main Task - Pitch

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AZMRDGmMNFjWZDZqdmh0Nl8zMWd3cXJicWdq&hl=en_US

This is the powerpoint that I created as part of the pitch for my film. Unfortuantely in the upload some of the formatting was lost.

Main Task - Plot Ideas

Initially I came up with two ideas:

1. Courtroom
2. Cult

The courtroom idea would tell the story of a man who was on trail for murder. The plot would be told mostly through flashbacks, building suspense as the audience would not know who the killer was and it would be unclear as to the true nature of the crime.
The film ends on a cliff hanger as the judge asks the jury whether they find the accused guilty or not guilty - This leave the audience to decide whether or not he committed the crime.
Although I intended to employ lots of techniques that are typically associated with the thriller genre I came to the conclusion, with the help of audience feedback from my target age group, that this would be difficult to make and would be at risk of not being a thriller as the format is better suited to a television programme rather than a feature film. If it were to be a film it would probably fall into the drama category.

My second idea revolved around a girl who ran away to gain some freedom from modern living. However over the course of the film things become more sinister as it is revealed that the group of people that she's travelling with are not mentally stable and they start imposing rules and restrictions on the group until the protagonist decides she must escape from them.
It's a thriller film as the protagonist is isolated from the rest of her group, there's  suspense, psychological elements, a chase sequence etc.

When I pitched these ideas to the class they unanimously voted for idea number two which I will continue to work on and develop over the next few weeks.

Main Task - Target Audience Research

I believe that my film will primarily interest those who fall into one or more of the following categories:

·         Aged 16 – 24

      ·         Attend Film festivals
      ·         Have an IQ of 100 or more

Reasons behind these beliefs:

The film starts a young cast who are all between 16 and 24 years of age therefore the audience is most likely to be able to identify with the characters if they are the same age.
As this film will be shot on no budget and does not have the backing of a global distributor it would be my intention to exhibit the film at festivals in order to gain financial aid and ultimately be shown in small arts house cinemas. Therefore I hope to appeal to film festival goers as they would be most likely to actually see the film were this a real scenario.
Although the thriller genre is usually more appealing to men rather than women, my film ought to appeal to both genders equally as it has a female protagonist which is subversive of the genre.
Finally, I believe that the audience needs to be of at least average intelligence in order to follow any thriller due to the fast-paced, complex storylines that are involved that may be missed by those of low intelligence. Therefore I recommend that my film will be more likely to appeal to those with an IQ of 100 or above as 100 is average.

In order to test these beliefs I will be creating and circulating a self-report in the style of a questionnaire which I aim to hand out to as many people as possible from an opportunity sample sourced from the sixthform common room.
Reasons for choosing the sixthform:
They are all 16+
They all study A-levels which suggests high intelligence

Downsides, of course, will be ethnocentrism and cultural biases but as a rough idea about target audience I feel they are an adequate sample.

Preliminary Task - Evaluation

 It is my belief that the film poster worked very effectively with the film for many reasons. For one, a good film poster ought to introduce the themes of the film without giving away the plot itself. In order to do this I chose to colourise the image in three sections in order to recreate the Irish Tricolour over the top of the still image of Todd as Michael.

In addition, most posters include their protagonist, which mine does, therefore the audience knows instantly who the main character is.

However, as this is a thriller film, the poster also keeps to convention as it creates a sense of mystery and an unknown element in the film that is then reflected in the poster through the use of the cut out titling over the top of the image, blacking out the rest of the scene from view. Moreover, you can only see a mid-shot of Todd from behind; therefore, obviously, you cannot see his face, which ought to intrigue the audience who should want to find out more.

However, as I am the one who made both the poster and the film this is not an objective evaluation therefore I asked a couple of people how well they felt the film and poster went together:

                “Well the pic [sic] is of your main actor, the 3 flag colours, fits in with the theme well. The title is as very vague (I explained that this was not the title I would have chosen given a choice)
Oh… Then yeah that makes sense, I like it” – Miss K

“I think the style is great, I like the use of darkness around it, which you already toughed [sic] upon in the description, the variety in colour to match the flag was clever, though it was a little hard no recognise what the picture was of, due to the brightness in the centre” –Mr R

From both asking their opinion on the film and poster combination as well as screening the film to my target audience I feel that the reception, on the whole has been a positive one. It was very useful and enlightening to get the opinion of others as they are not attached to the project as I am therefore were able to make constructive critisms:

“Seemed good to me. The ending bit where he made eye contact with the camera with a faint smile was well done sort of threw the viewer off a bit because up until then you couldn't be sure if he was happy to be doing it, or whether he purely felt it was his duty to do it but the emotion there added a bit of a twist by making you rethink what you'd already heard that he really was sincere about it… Also the amen seemed a little late or at least the mouth movement did” –Mr R

 

“Nice clear voice over, bonus point on the Irish accent in relation to the plot and flag. Good opening shot of the beads, let’s you know that the plot will be based on his beliefs/religion. Next time try wide screen aspect, cus yt [sic] keeps changing the screen size! Nice shots, goes with story well. Bit of continuity with how much the voice over says and the amount written but it's minor really!
Liked the end, with the heartbeat and irish language, again fits well with the theme. Just the lipsync might have been rendered a tad out at the end. but more mistake on software’s part cus lipsyncing [sic]renders awkwardly sometimes.” –Miss K

This project has really boosted my confidence when it comes to the main task as I now feel more certain when it comes to editing footage to convey meaning as well as poser creation. I still feel that my camera work is an area that needs to be worked on as some shots that did not make the final cut could not be used due to poor framing.

From my audience feedback it would seem that I ought to learn more about rendering and lip-synching to avoid out of time speech and movement again.

Preliminary Task - The Video - Individuality

Preliminary Task - Shot list

Shot List

Individuality
SHOT LIST
“Individuality”
By Gemma Clear
Draft “1”
Date: “20/09/11”

Scene 1 – INT. Bedroom - Day
Shot Number & Shot Description
1
Close up of Michael's hands holding rosary beads - Front view
2
Close up of Michael's hands holding rosary beads - Side view
3
Medium Long Shot Michael Blesses himself
4
Mid Shot - Michael sat at his desk writing his suicide note
5
Mid Shot - Michael sat at his desk writing his suicide note - Alternate angle

Scene 2 - City - Day
1
MCU of Michael walking down the city highstreet
2
Follow shot of Michael walking down the city highstreet
3
POV shot from Michael's point of view of the crowds in the City
4
Close up of the bag being set down
5
Long shot of Michael walking towards camera after ditching the backpack
6
Extreme close up of Michael's mouth

Preliminary Task - Production Schedule

Die IRA – PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
Recording 24/9/2011, Day One/ One
Filming		Set Up		Crew Needed
SCENE 2,4,6,8,10		7:30	8:30	All
Location
My room		Filming		Cast Needed
		8:30	11:00	All
				Extra Filming Time (If Needed)
				-

Die IRA – PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
Recording 24/9/2011, Day One/ One
Filming		Set Up		Crew Needed
SCENE 1		11:00	11:20	All
Location
My room		Filming		Cast Needed
		11:20	11:40	All
				Extra Filming Time (If Needed)
				-

Die IRA – PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
Recording 24/9/2011, Day One/ One
Filming		Set Up		Crew Needed
SCENE 3,7		12:05	12:15	All
Location
Peterborough town centre		Filming		Cast Needed
		12:15	12:45	All
				Extra Filming Time (If Needed)
				-

Die IRA – PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
Recording 24/9/2011, Day One/ One
Filming		Set Up		Crew Needed
SCENE 9		12:45	12:50	All
Location
Peterborough town centre		Filming		Cast Needed
		12:50	13:00	All
				Extra Filming Time (If Needed)
				-

Die IRA – PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
Recording 24/9/2011, Day One/ One
Filming		Set Up		Crew Needed
SCENE 11		13:00	13:10	All
Location
Peterborough Town centre		Filming		Cast Needed
		13:10	13:30	All
				Extra Filming Time (If Needed)