Back At Ya - Final Cut

This is the final cut of our film. It is not hugely different from the second cut of the film opening, although between the two of them we had to change the song due to copyright restrictions. However we have now received permission from Chess Club records (the record label who own the rights to the song we used - see post on organising sound for more information) to use one of their songs in our film, which means that we were able to put the song back in. In addition to this, I used a parametric EQ in order to clean up the dialogue, because some of them were being made inaudiable due to the sound of the wind.

Additional changes to this included a change of institutional logo to one which we have completely designed ourselves, and an addition of sound in order to make the logo look more professional.  These minor tweaks are all that our film needed in order to make it into the cohesive and imaginative project which we had planned it to be, and the difference between this film and our initial rough cut is one which is immeasurable.

By George Martin 

Rough Cut 2

After recent feedback from our peers, teacher, family and friends we have made relevant changes to the wellbeing of our grade and our film. Back At Ya now has been redrafted and the fonts have been changed, there are more scenes and clips to show our camera skills and the music has been edited to feature Walk This Way by MO. I believe our second rough cut has vastly improved our film opening and we will continue to redraft until we are happy with it and receive a majority of positive feedback.

This is the second rough cut of our film opening.

Feedback

1. The film needs a better production company title.

2. There is not enough dialogue in the film opening at the moment. 

3. The existing dialogue cannot be heard over the music in the film opening. When the main character shouts "Stop filming!" it is muffled and too quiet. Also when there Revenge video is being played the other character's "GET OUT LEAVE ME ALONE!" should also be louder.

By George Martin and Jack Jolly 

Rough Cut 1

Feedback from teachers:

1. The Peacock Productions title is too basic, a more in-detail animated title would be better and more professional.

2. The piano backing track doesn't match the ideology of the film opening and creates a confusion when watching the film opening.

3. The titles and the font of the titles are in an incorrect order and don't match the theme of the film. The title font needs to be changed. IMPORTANT.

4. There needs to be some more sophisticated industry style shots which demonstrate a level of professionalism within creation of film.

5. Because of the title of the film the whole design of the film has to be relatable and targeted at a teenage audience, hence the removal of more adult themes needs to be done.

Feedback from target audience:

1. The protagonist of the film should be on screen for longer - her character needs to be built up more.

2. The style of titles doesn't really appeal to somebody my age - I think they should have a more solid design, as they look a bit too frilly to interest an audience of teenagers.

3. Change the music to a popular song, as this will make the opening more interesting and engaging. 

We will take all of these comments from various viewers into consideration and change what needs to be changed. We agree with the comments and understand that the rough cut needs re-working to become industry standard. We appreciate the main comment that the film opening is currently in-between a more teenager-esque and adult style film and We have chosen to revise the film so that it is more like 'Kidulthood' and aim the film at teenagers and base it around teenagers.

By George Martin and Jack Jolly

Final Location Decisions

 For the corridor location within our film, we decided that this one within school would be the best choice, because not only is it long enough to be able to film a tracking shot in, it has quite a lot of natural lighting, which means that our film won't end up looking too dark. We decided to film in this one instead of the other hallways which we considered because it was much quieter than the other ones, which meant that we would be able to find a time where we could film in it without disruptions. 

A close up picture to show the props which we added to
the location in which we filmed all of the bedroom shots

In terms of the interior shots within our film, we decided to use the bedroom which I showed in the initial post about locations. This is because it has neutral colours and is quite plain, which allowed us to embellish upon it in order to create the mise-en-scene ideas which we wanted to include within our film. This mise-en-scene consideration can be seen in the top picture, as we included lots of feminine items such as perfume with a daisy on it in order to create an impression about her. 

A picture of the entire room in which we decided to film,
before we had added in the props which needed to be
included in order to create our mise-en-scene

By George Martin

Filming Diary

March 20th

This is the day where we filmed the YouTube video which was featured within the film opening - we opted to use a mobile phone to film the video as this footage was supposed to be low quality and grainy, in order for it to give the audience the feeling of verisimilitude - the feeling that the action is real and that they are actually witnessing it.

The camcorder style footage of the video of her being
bullied is supposed to be deliberately grainy

Other pre-production which I did on this day was creating a YouTube account for each of the female characters - this is what each of them uploaded their videos onto in the film. It also involved a change of costume for the two of them to take a picture which was used as the phone background, in order to show the audience that the two of them used to be friends, and that Rebecca, the character who the phone belongs too, appears to be initially still clinging on to what is left of their friendship.

March 22nd

Most of the filming of the bedroom shots were completed on this day. This is because we were given a certain day where we could borrow the camera and tripod in order to film outside of school. All of the clips filmed on this day made it into the film. We also recorded some voiceovers on this day, using  Logic X on the iMac, although we eventually decided against using these in the final film because we believed that they made it seem too unprofessional. 

March 31st

Today we filmed most of the shots which needed to be done inside school - this is because we had access to our camera again, and could use a dolly in order to film professional looking tracking shots. This shoot didn't take very long, as we just had to get a few shots of Jess walking through some corridors and then film the part where she is being harassed and runs away. We opted to switch to a handheld camera for the part where she is running, again in the interest of verisimilitude for the audience, who would want to see this part of the film represented as accurately as possible.

By George Martin 

Film Genre Expectancy Questionaire

I have chosen to spend longer performing a questionnaire to gather Qualitative data rather than Quantitative from my participants. This is because it is more in-depth information so I can use it to better our work in a more sufficient way.

Question 1) What gender do you expect to see in a teenage coming-of-age film about bullying?

Participant 1 said: I think both genders could be used because everybody is effected by bullying. Girls are more spiteful with words and less aggressive actions whilst boys can be very intimidating and very violent. Films with harsh violent scenes put me off so I would prefer female characters rather than male characters.

Participant 2 said: As a man I do enjoy violent action films, so it doesn't really matter to me. I just don't want to see a load of girls squeaking and squawking about who took who's boyfriend!

Participant 3 said: As long as the story is sophisticated then it doesn't matter which gender is seen more. For me I think a female and male mix would be interesting and be something new.


Question 2) Do you think cyberbullying is an interesting topic to create a film about?

Participant 1 said: Cyberbullying is a new thing so a there aren't a lot of films about the subject. If done in a different way to most teenage bullying films it could be really good and really interesting!

Participant 2 said: Yes, I think it makes a change to usual films about teenagers where the main storyline is sexual discoveries and making and losing friends. I just hope your film is raw and doesn't beat around the bush.

Participant 3 said: It is a very modern thing to create a film about so if the rest of the film is modernised and contemporary then it could work really well! There's just a chance it could be cheesy.


Question 3) If I said to you our film involves 2 girls who used to be friends who are now enemies and one of the girls has been bullying the other for so long that she turns around and starts embarrassing her and bullying her back online, what are your initial thoughts?

Partipant 1 said: Sounds like revenge is the key theme in your film. I love films involving revenge, I love the TV series Revenge so if it is modern and pop culture like that then I say the film sounds amazing!

Participant 2 said: Erm, it sounds good, it depends on how girly it is though. If it isn't very girly then I think it could be interesting.

Participant 3 said: Sounds amazing. In my head I can't think of any other films like it! I think if it is done professionally and tastefully then it could be a really good original take on modern film.



I am overwhelmed with the positive feedback received for the pitch of our film. I will take on board everything that has been said, especially not creating a film that is too feminine and making sure the film is appropriate for both genders to watch and can be interesting for both. The idea is to attract a large audience to a independent film so the film will have to be very good and very well thought out. The feedback is very helpful because I have peoples real thoughts and opinions which is important to me because I want people to like our film.

By Jack Jolly

Final Prop Consideration

These images from our other post show the props we used in the main part of the film opening. We wanted to convey that Rebecca does possess femininity because she does get extremely hurt by the bullying and she is effected by it. The lamp we chose is a white colour which is more uni-sex than feminine because Rebecca isn't a girly girl. She wears black and loves The Smiths, which can be seen on her Mac desktop in our film. Some of the other props were slightly more feminine to balance out the representation of Rebecca. The cupcake money box and heart shaped decoration combines with the perfume to help give Rebecca some female qualities which are generic for women. Perfume seems to be an essential to women as is cologne for men. The Mac itself shows wealth and that Rebecca is a very fortunate character however is very unfortunate at the same time. Displaying that money cannot buy happiness it helps convey our message that anyone anywhere can be bullied and it's never okay. This is vital because we have prided ourselves in the fact that our film has a moral. The raw hardwood desk also suggests wealth and gives Rebecca's room a injection of masculinity when compared to her other feminine items. 

By George Martin & Jack Jolly

Final Shot List

Below is the shot list based on our original storyboard. This may change overtime, although any changes will be reflected through updating the post. The shotlist will be helpful during both the production and post-production stages of developing our product, because it gives a more straight forward view of what each shot should look like than the more detailed storyboard, which also takes into account factors such as Mise-en-scene and the role of actors.

In School:

1. Close up of Jess' feet walking through a corridor, dolly shot (4 seconds).

2. Midshot of her body and hair in order to show its a girl, dolly shot (4 seconds).

3. Close up of her opening the door (2 seconds).

4. Close up of her walking out from the other side (2 seconds).

5. Shot of her walking up and over the camera (1 second).

6. Static shot of her walking towards another door (3 seconds).

7. Close up of her being filmed and tormented (2 seconds).

8. Tracking shot of her running, handheld camera (3 seconds).

9. Close up of her feet walking up the steps (1.5 seconds)

At Home:

1. A cut to a midshot the video being watched by Jess in her bedroom (6 seconds).

2. Close up of the video to show more detail about the video, its title, who uploaded it etc (8 seconds).

3. Close up of her phone as she receives a text message (3 seconds).

4. Another close up of the phone as she responds to the text (4 seconds).

5. A midshot of her watching a video from when the two girls were friends, which is entitled "revenge" (7 seconds).

6. Slightly closer zoomed in shot to show her uploading the video to YouTube - putting the shot closer in represents her sinister intentions (4 seconds).

7. Close up shot of the video being played on YouTube, zooming in through the Ken Burns feature of iMovie until nothing is left of the shot apart from "Back At Ya" - the title of the film (5 seconds).

Whilst there will also be titles for the institutions, cast and crew, these shots are what will make up the basis of the film, so it is incredibly important that we shoot them as well as possible because they will be the part which is most difficult to go back and redo at a certain date, especially as we will only be redoing certain shots.

By George Martin 

Final Costume Decisions

Our final costume decisions were different that originally planned. For Rebecca, rather than a dark coloured jumper and jeans I decided on a black and white outfit which would highlight her femininity more. A black dress with a white top underlay to make sure our actress was covered up but with benefits of connotations of black and white being dull and plain, like Rebecca. We thought a skirt was more appropriate to create a modern film, just like our other actress Sophie Grimble who played Rachael, she was also wearing a skirt and her whole outfit consisted of more colour to show her as more of a vibrant and rambunctious character. As the bully it was protocol to make sure her outfit looked glamourous so she looked superior to other characters who fall victim to her. Our other bully Sam who is only seen when filming Rebecca being bullied is wearing a basic Polo Shirt from topman of a similar colour as originally planned. I thought this worked better than the flannel shirt because it is more summery and modern because it Topman is a very popular retailer for teenagers the same age as our characters. Below I have images of what our cast wore. 

By Jack Jolly

This is a screenshot from our film opening showing what Jessica Carroll was asked to wear to play Rebecca. As explained the simple colours highlight and reflect her personality. The Dr Marten shoes are a current trend right now and are more popular with the groups and crowds outside of the mainstream. This sums up the character really well because we wanted to portray that 'Hipster' or 'Indie' vibe when portraying Rebecca.

For Kurtis' small part in our opening we only required him to wear a polo shirt which we described to him. The reddish colour highlights danger as he is a bully whilst still being a modern and more mainstream garment which would be seen on teenagers Sam's age. Also his watch shows wealth and a fashion sense which we wanted all of our characters to have. I feel we have created quite an original piece of film because most bullying films are central around the "chav" culture whereas we have portrayed richer, better dressed and higher class characters being involved in bullying. This makes audiences aware that anyone can be bullied and in any situation it is not right.

Sophie Grimble plays our main antagonist in the film and her outfit had to be on point to portray her character well. She had to look smart to also highlight her wealth and prosperity. Also she had to contrast Jessica's character so a bit more colour and flashier jewellery was required for the role.





By Jack Jolly

Consent forms

We had consent forms filled in so that our cast were legally illegible to star in our film. This is documentation to prove that.

By Jack Jolly

Using Social Media To Advertise 'Back At Ya'

Twitter is a great way to advertise films and keep the public updated all the time, so they don't lose interest in our film. I myself have created some tweets as Director and one half of Peacock Productions to advertise Back At Ya to the public.

I used Twitter to advertise the film Back At Ya.

I made these tweets to built excitement for our film for our followers. Giving little hints towards the film and when it is shooting gives fans and awaiting audience members snippets of information to create a 'buzz'. Using the hashtag phenomenon is a very popular way of trending certain things all over the world, #BackAtYa would hopefully catch on and would be a prime way of tweeting about the film and connecting with other fans.

Twitter is used a lot to advertise films such as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,

The official Catching Fire twitter page used the hashtag #CatchingFire to help people connect with other audience members and pages around the Twittersphere which were tweeting about Catching Fire.

By Jack Jolly

Animated Storyboard

By George Martin 

Initial Shot List

Below is the shot list based on our original storyboard. This may change overtime, although any changes will be reflected through updating the post. The shotlist will be helpful during both the production and post-production stages of developing our product, because it gives a more straight forward view of what each shot should look like than the more detailed storyboard, which also takes into account factors such as Mise-en-scene and the role of actors.

1. Close up of Jess' feet walking through a classroom.
2. Midshot of her body and possibly face to show that it is a girl.
3. Establishing shot of Sophie outside, waiting around the corner for Jess to arrive.
4. Close up of Jess opening the door one side.
5. A match on action cut to a long shot of her walking out of the door the other side.
6. A cut to a midshot the video being watched by Jess in her bedroom.
7. Close up of the video to show more detail about the video, its title, who uploaded it etc.
8. Close up of her phone as she receives a text message.
9. Another close up of the phone as she responds to the text.
10. A midshot of her watching a video from when the two girls were friends.
11. Slightly closer zoomed in shot to show her uploading the video to YouTube - putting the shot closer in represents her sinister intentions.
12. Close up shot of the video being played on YouTube, zooming in through the Ken Burns feature of iMovie until nothing is left of the shot apart from "Back At Ya" - the title of the film.

Whilst there will also be titles for the institutions, cast and crew, these shots are what will make up the basis of the film, so it is incredibly important that we shoot them as well as possible because they will be the part which is most difficult to go back and redo at a certain date, especially as we will only be redoing certain shots.

By George Martin 

Organisation of sound

Our film is going to use both diegetic sound, which will be captured by a microphone which is attached to the camera, and non-diegetic sound, in the form of an original song written and performed by our friends and some voiceovers.

Diegetic Sound

On a larger budget, we would be able to use
a boom microphone to capture the diegetic
sound, rather than using a standard dynamic
microphone like we had too.

We plan to capture the diegetic part of the soundtrack live along with the action, as this will look much better and will be easier to do than recording the video separately and then overdub it with sound which is recorded later. This would be more difficult to do because the sounds in the film, for example the sound of the phone going off would be more difficult to get perfectly in time as the text came through if we were to overdub it afterwards. Additionally, there was no problem with the audio which was recorded as part of the clip, because it was filmed inside which means there was no wind noise to ruin the recording of audio. The only time we had to film outside was to make the YouTube video which is seen near the start of our film, however the wind noise here is almost desirable because we are trying to make it look like poorly recorded camcorder footage anyway, despite shooting it with an expensive camera. Another diegetic sound which needs to be considered is how the microphone picks up the YouTube video within the film, because it will need to be set at quite a sensitive level in order to make it stand out how it should be. Finally, we will probably add an extra sound into the part where the girl gets pushed over through a self recorded Foley sound, as this will add emphasis and excitement to the part.

Non-Diegetic Sound

The main component of the soundtrack of our film is going to be an original song written by two of our friends, Connar and Morgan. I take A-level music technology so I am going to produce the recording myself, as this way I will be able to get the right feel to the song from the performers, which is a slow acoustic ballad which allows the viewer to reflect on the emotions which are being conveyed within the film. Additionally, self producing the recording means that myself and Jack can change the speed of the song and add parts in so that parts of it work more efficiently with the film, as this is what will show that the piece has been specifically recorded for our film. UPDATE:  We later decided to instead use a song called Walk This Way by MØ. Below is the email from her record label, Chess Club, confirming our rights to use the song because our film is to be a not-for-profit production.

Dear George and Jack, 

We would be happy for you to use the recording, so long as your video isn't being produced for money, or the song is used in further projects without seeking permission in due course.

Yours sincerely, 

A&R Team
Chess Club Records

Additional non-diegetic sounds within the film are overdubbed voiceovers of the girls reading out the text messages which they send to each other, which I am planning on recording at home using a microphone plugged into a computer - these will give a much better quality of voiceover than if we were to record the voiceovers using the microphone which is built into the camera.

Considering the different uses of sound in our piece has shown not only the large amount of equipment which will be needed, but also shows how we could improve the sound if we were to make it on a larger budget.

By George Martin 

Final Casting Decisions

Rachael: Jess Carroll

Rebecca: Sophie Grimble

Sam: Kurtis Brampton

By George Martin and Jack Jolly

Final Mise Decisions

Before shooting the film, before the actors required for the shoot got to the location that we were filming in, we had to set up the Mise En Scene of what would be seen in the frame of the film and make sure everything was prepared to create Back At Ya.

This is the main area of our film. The desk at which the computer, the central prop in our film opening is placed. We used feminine lamps, make up items and decorations to create a more typically 'girly' desk for our main character to be seen at. We made sure the desk was in the correct positioning so there was no light glare and so we could get a shadow, to connote the dark, gloomy theme of our film opening. 

This close up shows some of the items we used to create the feminine desk set up. I was in charge of set design and had control of the Mise En Scene so I chose some items that weren't over the top, seeing as our main character Rebecca isn't a extremely feminine character, in contrast to Rachael. White's and pale pinks are the main colours of these items which matched the look I was envisioning for the framing area of the location we were filming in.

This image was when the Youtube channels we created for each character were being made. We did this to increase the verisimilitude for our piece and create a realism about our characters. Our film opening is about cyberbullying so it is essential for social networking sites to be set up for our characters.

The central theme of our film is abusive videos being uploaded and it is the grounds of our plot so Youtube channels are an important part of our media piece.

Camera placement was an important part of the shoot which I took time figuring out so we could achieve the best natural light when filming and feature some of the best angles properly. Due to our main character being a bully victim I positioned the camera to film 'Rebecca' in a high angle to show her vulnerability and depressed character. Also I had to make sure everything was visible in the frame that we wanted to include in our film, otherwise some of our props may have gone to waste. Also important was the working space, I was concerned that we may not have enough space to film and this would be obvious in our final product but after moving some things around we had ample filming space.

Prior to the shoot we showed our actresses everything we had done for the film opening, including taking them through the Youtube channels, telling them the story and the characters motives and the overall plot so they had a better understanding of it. We also recorded voice overs from both of our actresses which were crucial to the storyline because we wanted to use their voices to read out their own text messages. To do this we used Logic X and a microphone and showed our actresses what they had to do. 

We both share each task and have an equal role in filming and editing aspects, to get the best possible product. We filmed each clip 3 times so when we come to editing and piecing our film together we have more choices for our film is we notice something wrong with the clip. This will make it easier to create a film without having to worry about re-takes and re-shooting some things later on.

The importance of doing this shoot was to achieve our film opening that we had put a lot of hard work and planning into. Doing this post shows how well we planned our piece and the effort we put into creating a good film opening which we can be proud of. 

By Jack Jolly

Costumes and Outfits for our Characters

Rebecca, our bully victim, should be wearing quite dark, alternative yet fashionable clothing. Swaying towards an Indie style of clothing, I will create a mock up of an appropriate outfit from clothes on clothing websites. ebecca's outfit consists of clothing found on both the Topshop and River Island website. These dark coloured clothes reflect her character and connote a sense of unhappiness and depression. Clothes similar to these will be easily achievable for our chosen actress. This mock up will help visualise the sort of costumes which is appropriate for our main character. The dark clothing contrasts with the more provocative clothing of Rachael to show a clear contrast between the two characters. Rebecca's dark full-body clothing creates a sense of vulnerability and a lack of self-confidence. This makes her seem more susceptible to bullying and what other people think of her, creating a realistic character for our audience. Black has connotations of sadness and depression which is a correct representation of the character of Rebecca as she is being bullied by people who used to be her friends.

Rachael's outfit, being our bully, is slightly more provocative without being distasteful. This shows her expensive taste and in-fashion style, portraying her confidence and dominance. The red PVC skirt both displays promiscuity through the material and the colour. Red also has connotations of danger, warning and violence which is an accurate representation of her as the character who bullies Rachael. The extreme juxtaposition between the two characters and their clothing implies the difference between the characters as people. This mock up outfit has been created through items on the Topshop and River Island website as well, the similarity in shops shows the things that the characters had in common when they were friends. Doing this mock up has helped me change certain aspects of the outfits for both characters which might be unachievable or uncomfortable for our actresses to wear. Rachael is more mainstream which is shown through her clothing choices which I have decided, this makes it clear that she clashes with Rebecca in some aspects, perhaps some of the reasoning of why they have fallen out.

 

This is mock up of our male characters outfit. This is Sam and he is another bully who joins in to bully Rebecca. I chose another piece of red clothing to connote a sense of danger and aggression and contrast with Rebecca's dismal dark coloured outfit. I have chosen typical slim leg jeans from Topman so he is seen as mainstream and part of the crowd rather than a loner like Rebecca. Vans are also a very common shoe and show that he is just a regular person. Sam doesn't play as much of a big role in the film as Rebecca and Rachael but his outfit is important to show which side he is on. I chose red for both of our bullies on purpose for the connotations and so a clear link can be shown and a clear contrast towards Rebecca. Doing this mock up has helped me visualise how I want Sam portrayed for this short amount of time he is in the film and so the audience can see clearly his role in the film as a bully.

Costumes are an important part of film because it can create a enigmatic persona of a character before they act or speak. Colours and styles can show stereotypes and the sort of person a character is and I have tried to construct outfits which will show the audience that Rebecca is a bully victim while Rachael and Sam are the bullies. When dressing our actors the outfits may change slightly due to what they already have and what we own which we can provide but I will be determined to create a very similar outfit for each character like I have planned on this post.

 

By Jack Jolly

Filming Schedule

We plan to do the majority of photography across three days: March 20, March 22 and March 24. Choosing to film on dates which are fairly close to each other means that there will not be a chance to get distracted from the film or forget aspects of it, which will result in a more professional, cohesive product in the end. Below is a plan of shots which we hope to complete on the days.

March 20 - Film the video which is going to make the basis of the film - it is a video of the protagonist being bullied, which is what gets uploaded to YouTube in order to push the bullying further. We are planning on filming this outside on an overcast day in order to make it seem darker with low key lighting, as this will reflect the clearly dark patch of the life which she is going through.

March 22 - This is the day where the bulk of the filming will occur. We will film both interior and exterior shots of the house, and we will be able to dedicate several hours to the filming because it will be on a Saturday. These shots are mainly going to be based around a bedroom in order to show that the girl has resorted to isolating herself because of the bullying.

March 24 - This day is going to be dedicated to finishing off any shots which were not completed or not completed to a good enough standard on the other two days. 

Completing this filming schedule will ensure that we have a good level of time management and efficiency when making our shots.

By George Martin

Audtions and Actors

During free periods and lunch times I created audition posters to attract people to our roles which we needed actors for. This was just to create a general attraction for our film, however, I targeted students doing Performing Arts and Drama A Level to ask them personally if they were interested in starring in our film opening. This was because I felt like people who studied acting and performing on stage/ screen could portray our characters as best as can be.

These are some of the potential actors who auditioned for our piece:

 

  

These are the videos we recorded of people auditioning for our 2 minute film opening. All potential actors did well to recreate a movement or vocal piece we wanted them too but we chose Jessica Carroll and Sophie Grimble for the lead female parts. This was because they fitted the character profiles that I designed better than any of the other actresses but overall because of their acting skills of which they portrayed in their auditions. We felt Jessica was a good actress to play the role of Rebecca because she is a petite female and her display of a dramatic fall was one of the best out of the people who auditioned. Sophie was chosen almost immediately to play the role of Rachael, the bully. This was because of her superb fit to the character profile and the extreme acting abilities she showed when pushing Dani Ellis. Also she is a A Level Drama student so we can rely on her to have more experience than some of the other potential actresses. For the male role of Sam, the other bully, we didn't go with either Ryan or Kieren but with Kurtis Brampton who auditioned at a later date. Unfortunately we don't have video evidence of his audition but his acting abilities and fit to the role won him the part. 

We thought auditions were the best idea rather than asking specific people because it would attract people who actually wanted to participate, so we knew we could rely on them. Now we have chosen our actors the filming schedule will be put to them and we will begin filming Back At Ya, which will feature our actors portraying their characters. 

By Jack Jolly

Photographic Storyboard

Our photographic storyboard differs from the paper one because of the fact we made creative changes during the process. We believe we have changed it for the better and the final product will benefit from it.

Each picture represents a scene in our film and we had to make do with the scenery and props we had but each scene resembles an idea of what we want and some things will be replaced. We will be using an Apple iMac instead of the school computer and there will be something on the screen each time narrating what is happening in our film opening. The screen will be showing our protagonist turning into an antagonist and posting hurtful videos on Youtube. All of our scenes are very accurate and I believe we have executed this well and hope it is understandable.

by Jack Jolly

Explanation as to the lack of script

Our film opening doesn't contain a script, because the characterisation is built up through the use of other actions - there is no actual direct contact between the two female protagonists seen within the opening, instead the audience only get to see YouTube videos which have been produced of the two of them, meaning that they are given time to make their own minds up. In this respect, not having any dialogue is a better way of keeping the audience impartial to the opposing characters of the two girls, because the Hypodermic Needle theory suggests that the audience will be influenced into liking or disliking a character for the entirety of the film based on its opening, and will perhaps take this dislike of the character away from the film and into their actual life. It is because of this that we have opted to not include any dialogue, and thus no script, in our opening.

By George Martin

Considering Actors to Audition

For the role of Rebecca, we have auditioned:

Amy Temple

Katie Pridige

Roisin Sterne

Harriet Sorrell

Ella Redden

For the role of Rachael, we have auditioned:

Sophie Grimble

Catherine Warner

Olivia Pridmore


For the role of Sam, we have auditioned:

Liam Willett

Lewis Hale

Elliot Deemer

Rhys Willett

Health and safety whilst filming

There are a multitude of different issues to consider in terms of health and safety whilst filming:

 

• We need to ensure we get permission from the owners of land and houses to ensure that we can film on their property, as otherwise they could halt the filming which would badly affect the film.
• We need to consider issues such as traffic and the public when we are filming outside - as these things out of our control, we need to find ways to get around them safely.
• Ensure that we keep the camera protected by not filming in dangerous places or in the rain.
• Set up equipment such as tripods and dollies on flat, dry ground, again to protect the camera.
• We need to make sure that the general public are treated with courtesy to ensure that they do not complain about us to the school.
• Ensure our actors are aware of the tripod and camera cable to ensure they don't trip over it, which could damage both them and the camera.
• Don't spend too long filming each scene, because this could cause the actors to become tired or frustrated, which is not only bad for them but will also mean that our film suffers because of it.
• Finally, we need to ensure that we don't film anything in public which could be construed as being a weapon as this could land us in trouble.

By George Martin and Jack Jolly

Post on Mise-en-scene consideration

It is incredibly important that we consider the various elements of Mise-en-scene when making our opening, as this is how the majority of the representation of the various characters and themes will be formed. Whilst we cannot be expected to consider it as much as it would be in an ideological TV drama such as the ones which we study for the G322 exam, there are a variety of factors which we need to include in order to represent out characters in a certain way.

Costumes: The costumes are how the instant contrast between the characters is going to be created. For example, one girl is going to be wearing dark, black colours to express her withdrawal and shyness, as opposed to the bright clothing of the other girl. Even little things like this add a huge amount to our film, as they allow the audience to instantly place the girls into a certain archetype.

Lighting: The lighting needs to be lighter when the bully is the focus of the camera, and then darker and more low key when the girl who is being bullied is on the camera. This is because high key lighting connotes happy thoughts, and the bully is obviously going to be more happy than the girl who is being bullied.

Props: The props need to. Be used mainly to show the wealth of the girls - despite the girl who is being bullied clearly being well off, she still seems to be unhappy with life because of the breakdown of her friendship. This could be interpreted as making points such as money cannot but happiness, and it is representational points like this which are key to include in the opening.

Considering these various aspects of Mise-en-scene have shown us the different ways in which we can represent things within the opening, as just a slight change in some of them could present the. Harassers and ideologies as being completely different.

By George Martin and Jack Jolly

Initial Hand Drawn Storyboard

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These three pictures show our initial hand drawn storyboard - whilst our final film opening didn't look entirely like this, it does feature all of the same shots, it was just edited into a slightly different sequence. This was a very useful thing to have with us whilst filming, because it contained information about the movement which we had to include in each shot, for example the zooming in on the computer screen and the panning direction which is drawn on the shots which happen outside. Additionally to this, it gave us the timings which each shot needed to run for whilst we were editing, which was incredibly useful in keeping the film concise and not letting shots run for longer than they needed too.

By George Martin and Jack Jolly 

Location Scouting

There are two main locations which we need to scout out in order to film our film opening: a school corridor, and a bedroom. However, there are also a number of other exterior shots which need to be done in order to establish certain locations.

Corridor: This can probably be filmed within our school, as it only makes up a small section of our two minute opening. However, the main issue with this location is going to be finding a time when it is quiet enough to film in without background noise, which would make the dialogue within the scene hard for the audience to hear, despite it being crucial in building the characterisation of the three protagonists of out piece. Below are pictures of a couple of corridors which we could use in order to shoot this part.

Pros: This hallway is clearly well kept and brightly decorated,
which could suggest that the school she goes too is a good
one meaning that this case of bullying is rare. Cons: It is a
fairly small hallway to set up camera, microphone and
actors in, so the motion may have to be reduced.

Pros: This hallway is much bigger, and the shadows which
come in from the window could be used for some interesting
cinematography. Cons: It isn't as aesthetically pleasing
as the other hallway, meaning that we would have to change
certain parts of it in order to be representative of what it
needs to be. 

Bedroom: The bedroom we choose to film in is incredibly important, because every single decoration and prop within it needs to be significant of not only a girl, but also of the state of mind which the girl is currently in. It needs to have space for a desk on which we can put the computer, another crucial prop within the opening. Below are some ideas of bedroom designs which we could put into place within the opening.

Pros: The bedroom does not have much design and is
fairly neutral, meaning that we can design it in any way
we see fit. It also has a desk, which is necessary for
the majority of our filming. Cons: The bedroom seems a
bit large and empty for a teenager, although this could
also be seen as a pro because of her inner emptiness. 

Here is the same bedroom from a different angle. 

Exterior house: Whilst this location will only be seen in one shot within the opening, it is incredibly important to choose a house which reflects the mindset of Rebecca within the film. It needs to be a detached house in order to reflect how she feels detached from the rest of her peers around her. Additionally, it needs to be in a suburban area, because otherwise it will not look like a realistic place for her to live. Below are pictures of a couple of houses in the local area which I think we could use for the exterior shot. 

Pros: This is a detached house, which could be used to reflect
her detached state of mind. I also like the colour of it, because
it is neutral and unaffected - it contrasts with the personality
of the girl. Cons: The most obvious con is that the house looks
like a manor house, yet the girl goes to a comprehensive school.
This clash could undermine the whole film, so it is important
to find a way of making it realistic. 

Pros: It is smaller than the other house, and is also easier
to locate in order to film outside. It is still a detached house,
which is a necessity when making our film. Cons: There are
only a few windows in the house, and since interior shots
will be done in a different location, which means we will
need to make sure we don't shoot in a room where the view
out of the window will make it obvious that we are
filming in two different locations.

By George Martin 

Why we chose our film title

We have chosen to call the film Back At Ya. This is because it has a multitude of different intepretations, which means that different audiences will watch the film expecting different things. Providing that we include a representation of all of the different connotations which the title could have, using an ambiguous title like this one will help to attract a larger audience.

The most obvious connotation of the title is one which gives a sense of retaliation towards somebody. This is the main theme of the film, because it is a film about how a girl attempts to overcome her bullies by bullying them back - she's fighting fire with fire. 

However, a different connotation of the title which has to be considered is the idea that somebody is going back to somebody that they used to know. This is a potential ending for our film, yet is a fairly different interpretation of the title, so including this idea within it would give the title a much rather reaching appeal.

In short, we have chosen this title because not only is it punchy and catchy, it attracts a youthful audience through a use of slang, and has multiple connotations of meaning, which is sure to attract a wider audience to come and see our film. 

By George Martin

Running order of titles

Here is a visual representation of the order in which our titles will run. I chose to represent it as a video, as not only does it give a better representation of how the titles will flow into each other, it also allows more accuracy with the timings of the titles, because I can see how long each title is, and then elongate it or make it shorter. It also means that I can digitally copy and paste the titles into the final film and retain their order and timings - this would not have been possible without making the titles in Final Cut prior to the post production of the film. I followed the industry standard order of titles, with my actors names before the crew names, as this will make our film opening look as professional as possible. Despite myself and Jack being the ones who are doing all of the crew based jobs, from costumes to directing, I decided to include the names of other people, in order to make the title sequence seem more realistic, as no real film would contain titles which contain the same person for each crew role.

Additionally to this, I added in some extra actors who don't appear in the opening, because if we were making a whole film, there would no doubt be many more supporting actors than the two who appear in the opening. 

Organising the running order of the titles has greatly helped, because I can use these exact titles in the production of the film, and just change the fonts - I will already have the correct timings and order.

By George Martin

Final Choice of Institutional Logo

We decided to use Jack's logo as our final logo which will be featured at the beginning of our film. This is because Jack's logo is a lot more simple, which makes it more appropriate for use at the beginning of an independent film. It also uses the image a lot more effectively than mine, with the only downfall of this logo being the fact that it doesn't show our technical prowess quite as much due to the lack of animation etc.

After considering both of the logo ideas, we are probably going to go with the idea presented by Jack. This is because whilst mine was a good demonstration of our technical skill, Jack's one will suit the type of film which we are trying to make a lot more, so we have settled on this one.

By George Martin

Group Ideas for Institutional Logo

George's - 

This logo is the more technically advanced of the two, because it contains animation. However, that does mean that it is not completely fit for purpose as the logo of an independent company, because an independent is more likely to have a logo which is plain white on black, in order to reflect the fact that the film hasn't been produced on a huge budget. Because of this, whilst it may look better, it will perhaps not be as fit for purpose as some other logo ideas.

Jack's -

Jack's logo is a lot more simple, which makes it more appropriate for use at the beginning of an independent film. It also uses the image a lot more effectively than George's, with the only downfall of this logo being the fact that it doesn't show our technical prowess quite as much due to the lack of animation etc.

After considering both of the logo ideas, we are probably going to go with the idea presented by Jack. This is because whilst George's was a good demonstration of our technical skill, Jack's one will suit the type of film which we are trying to make a lot more, so we have settled on this one.

By George Martin and Jack Jolly

Group Research into Independent and Mainstream logos

Mainstream: 

The logo for Universal is one of the most well known logos of any institution throughout the world - it has been at the start of countless films. It is also a lot more complicated than many logos, due to the complex animation which is involved. This is typical of a mainstream institutional logo - a lot of money would have been invested into making the film as flashy and engaging as possible, so the logo has to match this. Being an independent company, we are unlikely to design a logo like this, because not only would we not have the money to be able to afford the expensive graphics design expertise necessary, but it would look out of place at the start of a film which deals with raw, realistic films from the beginning. 

Another mainstream institutional logo which is world recognisable is the 20th Century Fox logo. It again features animation which would be completely out of the reach of an independent company, but also features the overstated styling which is a feature of mainstream logos. The font is huge and unmistakable, whereas with the independent logos below, the use of text is quite understated and is not immediately recognisable. Another important feature about this logo is its use of sound. The matching soundtrack is as recognisable as the actual logo is, because the two are always heard in conduction with one another. Being an independent institution, we are unlikely to feature sound in our logo - if there is any sound, it will be a single shot sound, rather than an instrumental piece which is set to the entire logo.

Independent: 

The HanWay Films logo is a typical example of the logo of an independent company. It is incredibly simple, white text on a black background, with no animation and no music in the background. This could be due to the financial restraints on the company, who can't afford a fancy logo like the ones above. However, it could also be a deliberate stylistic choice, as the company may decide that the artistic content of their films is more important than the logo which precedes the film. The logo for our company, Peacock Productions, is likely to look a lot like this logo, as it is fairly simple to design and render, yet still works well at the beginning of an independent film. Also note that this logo will usually only be on screen for a few seconds, as opposed to the mainstream logos, which are often on the screen for upwards of 25 seconds.

The Film4 logo is a fairly unique type of independent logo. Whilst it is still not as complex as any mainstream company logo, it contains some animation and embedding, which is a lot more than the other independent institutional logo I analysed has. This could be because Film4 films are usually relatively large budget compared to the rest of the independent film market, so they have the money to be able to design a logo which is more comparable to the mainstream institutions which dominate the market.

After looking at both independent and mainstream logos, I have realised that whilst mainstream logos  can draw in a larger audience for a film, an independent institutional logo would not only be much easier to make, but would also suit a film in the drama genre much better, as a flashy logo would look out of place at the start of a film which is going to likely be about dark themes. 

By George Martin

Description of characters within our opening and hypothetical casting of celebrities to play them

Our storyline features a female protagonist who is 16 years old, our film will feature her, two high school bullies in the year above her and the male bullies girlfriend who intervenes. 

Rebecca - A character who is around 16 years of age, meaning that she is in year 12 at school. She had previously been friends with a group of people who were a year older than her, but this all turned sour in events previous to the film, which will be shown in flashbacks throughout the film. In terms of complexion, Carrie is a light brown haired girl with pale skin. She is generally quite quiet, which obviously reflects the nature of her bullied character. However, the main perspective of the film is that Carrie goes from being a victim of bullying to becoming a bully, in a form of revenge - in this respect she is the protagonist of our film. 

We think someone like Taissa Farmiga could play Rebecca really well because of her impeccable acting skills as a bullying victim in American Horror Story and her wide variety of acting skills as playing a more sinister role in The Bling Ring. We well need both of these qualities because our character, Rebecca, will start becoming a cyberbully to get back at her ex-friends who make her life a misery in school. Farmiga fits the role perfectly with her youthful looks, light coloured hair and pale skin. We may be an independent company but Farmiga isn't an A-Lister celebrity so she could be affordable with our storyline which doesn't require a great deal of special effects or props. Having at least one fairly well known face makes our film more likely to draw in an audience and it is a risk we would be willing to take, even if it pushes our budget slightly higher. 

Rachael - 17 year old who was formerly the best friend of Rebecca, and is now the one who leads the bullying against her. She is in many ways the opposite to Rebecca - she has blonde hair, possesses a more attractive figure than her. She is aggressive, spiteful and talkative throughout the film, which means that the audience will recognise her as being the main antagonist within it.

Rachael will be portrayed by a lesser known actress because her strong character can be a break-through for a aspiring actress and it will cost Peacock Productions less. Juno Temple will be playing Rachael due to her natural blonde hair and portrayals as headstrong characters in Wild Child and St. Trinians, both films feature her as a school girl so her role in our film will be believable to the audience. Temple's acting abilities are unquestionable due to her being awarded the EE Rising Star award at the 2013 BAFTAs, as voted for by the British public. 

Sam - Sam is also in the same year as Rachael but is already 18 due to his birthday being a lot earlier in the year than Rachael's. He is second in command in the group of people bullying Rebecca because of our next character, Angel, his girlfriend who is in the same group as Sam and Rachael. He doesn't bully Rebecca as much when Angel is around because of the fact that Angel sympathises with Rebecca because they all used to be friends. Sam does bully Rebecca harshly with words but because of his gender he cannot physically harm Rebecca like Rachael can. Sam is a big character with a hard face and strong sense of humour, he thinks bullying is funny and a joke and is more naive about the consequences than anyone else.

We have chosen William Moseley to play Sam. This is because of his great performance in the Narnia film series, as a lead role character and a cameo in the 3rd instalment of the film series. This shows his acting flexibility and that he is easy to work with. He isn't greatly known since the Narnia film series and has featured in short films such as Don Cheadle Is Captain Planet since then. This means he will be affordable as our independent film industry can only afford minimally known actors. However he has won awards for his acting, for example, his Saturn Award for Best Performance By A Younger Actor. He fits the role perfectly because he is the correct build for our role and would perform the role well.

 Angel - Angel isn't a lead role in the film but still a strong character. She is the girlfriend of Sam and is the person who doesn't participate in bullying Rebecca, she ends up falling out with Sam because of their differences and tries to protect Rebecca from Rachael. She tacky dress sense is a juxtaposition with her kind character and caring behaviour. She is also an attractive girl in the year about Rebecca but she realises that bullying someone who used to be your best friend is wrong.

Chelsee Healey suits the role of Angel perfectly by playing Janeece Bryant in Waterloo Road, a very tacky yet heartwarming character. Healey hasn't had a big role in a film before and our film could be the film break she needs. Because of this she would be cheaper to employ as Angel and would play the role brilliantly as she did as Janeece Bryant.



By Jack Jolly and George Martin