Potential Music

Song choice 1 : Reeko Squeeze Ft Donaeo - Diablo

I think this song would work as the tone of the music is quite happy and the start of the film starts off quite happy, also the lyrics are are quite relatable to what we are trying to produce. The song also has themes of drugs and violence which is included within our film.

Song choice 2 :  Jhus - Guns and Butter 

Talks about the struggle of living in the worst of conditions, it talks about from a young age people are introduced to things such as gun violence, he also talks about racism and how there is that struggle , but it may not match the tone of the start of the movie as it is quite slow and seems quite sad, but it could be good to introduce themes that will later occur, and the music will foreshadow later events.

Song Choice 3 : Yxng Bane - Never Change Me

This song talks about how the money won't change someone and how at the start of the movie they don't really have a lot of money and as the film progresses they begin to gain money and it changes one of the brothers but one of them stays the same. This could be confusing as money does change one of the brothers so it might not make sense so early on in the film as it is the opening sequence.

Production Log 12

What decisions did you make about your graphics this week?

This week we made graphics on final cut, we used a plain white text with the 'Gaz' font, it is quite bold and has cracks in it to make it seem less formal and relate to BSR films, also for the main title graphic 'Remedy' we filled the letters that may relate to BSR such as money, drugs and council flats and houses, the title is also very bold. Also the production company has the name trap in it (Trap Productions) connoting that it is to do with British themes, as a trap is somewhere where drugs are packaged.


How did your research into BSR and title conventions help shape these decisions?
The research we did on BSR and title conventions helped us the shaped these decisions as we used conventions that could be seen in reality within British society. Also as the movies are not really action packed we decided to make the font quite plain and basic but the cracks make it seem damaged connoting what the film could include. Also usual BSR films have quite plain titles. Films such as Kidulthood include the same kind of titles as it is just white and plain and kept very basic. Also as it is basic it could connote that it is cheap relating to other themes in BSR such as poverty. The only place we decided to make quite colorful is the main title as the start of the film is quite fun and upbeat so we wanted to create that emotion in  the audiences mind right from the start of the film. Although it is colorful the images inside still connote typical places and objects within British society for working class or Precariat, so even though there is a happy feeling the title creates the emotion of happiness and brings across a sense of concern, it creates enigma codes, for example "What do the characters have to go through as the movie progresses?

Production Log 11

What have been your key issues for planning this week?

This week we have finished off out treatment we found it quite difficult to decide on certain things in the treatment and there were disagreements about what was to put in our production, as we had different ideas it was hard to find something in the middle which we could compromise on.

What decisions have you made about the issues this week ?
We decided to compromise and put our ideas together to make our production the ideas were quite hard to put together but things such as the mise-en-scene were an easy choice but other things such as the main concept of the film were quite hard so the ideas were combined to make the main plot of the production.

After this week we are ready to record and will begin our production next week.

Production Log 10

What decisions did we make about our content of the BSR treatment?

• Well we made the decision of including everything that we will use in the production of our opening sequence, also we included the whole narrative of the film so we don't get confused when making it, it gave us a better idea of how long the opening sequence can be and the maximum amount we can include without giving away the whole plot. Also we decided to show regular conventions that would be seen in a BSR film.

What did I learn from my primary research?

• From the primary research we learnt that the idea of the Hangover was good most people said that we should implement these ideas in to our production, they also thought overall our name was good but some thought it could be changed to give more meaning. Overall people enjoyed the main concept and some of the boys found it relatable and one girl said that the boys suit the production as boys in the UK stereo typically get involved with the situations.

How did it influence our planning?

• It influenced our planning as it gave us better ideas on what we could do and also we saw what was good about are planning pre-interview it also influenced our planning as we saw how the plot could be improved and how we could entice the audience by using something like a plot twist or a flashback to not only entice the audience but create a sense of mystery.

Production Log 9

What did you learn about narrative last week?

• I have learnt that there are different types of narrative, such as linear and non-linear. Linear meaning if the story of the film goes in order, from start, middle and end. Non-Linear meaning the story is not in chronological order. I also learnt about the McKee’s classic narrative structure, which gives a better insight of how the story of a film is structured instead of the simple, start, middle and end.

How did you use it this week?

• I used what i learnt last week about the McKee’s classic narrative structure to help develop on our BSR film story, then made my own diagram for our film story using the trmplate. I also used what I learnt about what narratives BSR films usually use to develop our story. So the film was more realistic and so it could fit the criteria of an average BSR film.

What decisions did you make about the content of your BSR treatment?

• We decided to talk about some equipment we could have used instead of the ordinary camera and tripod, such as microphone that are attached to each characters clothes. We also gave a summary of some of the locations which we was thinking about recording at and also added images of the locations for a better view and understanding. We only gave a summary of the locations as we will make a whole blog post about the locations.

Production Log 8

This week we have created a concept for what our opening sequence will be about we have decided to take inspiration from another movie and input parts of the film in to our opening sequence, as most ideas can not be completely original.

How did we develop the concept of our BSR film?

We developed the concept of our BSR film by using another movie we decided to look at American movies which have good reviews and in their films they themselves implement themes which we could include in this BSR film. We used these films to see how the characters were portrayed, we also tried to use normal everyday people as in BSR films they are usually working class.

What were your key influences of our BSR idea?

We decided to use The Hangover as inspiration for our idea as they use features throughout the movie that could be used to make a BSR film mas they have themes such as drug abuse and violence, even though they are adults we have decided to change it and make them teen to be more unique and we want to show how hard life can be for some teens dealing with situations such as the ones present in The Hangover.

 How did we decide the group you're working in?

Well at first we created the encounter together and realised that we worked quite well together also, we are both friends and we thought it would be quite interesting to put our ideas together and see if we could create a good opening sequence together.

Do we foresee any issues with our partnership?

We don't think that there will be many problems as we have worked quite well in a previous task together and we did not have any problems then.

Production Log 7

What have been the key issues for your research this week?

• The issues of my research was figuring out the narrative of the opening sequence. This took us a while as we was trying to think outside the box away from the Kidulthood and Adulthood stereotypes.

What decision did you make about the issue and why?

• We researched some films with an iconic narrative so we could use it as inspiration and put our own twist on it to make it into a BSR film. After a while we came up with Hangover, because it was different and had not been done before. 

Production Log 6

This week we have been looking at opening sequence devices for example sound, it can be used in a smart way to create a effects. Also the shots used should be effective as this is the part that builds up the whole movie and entices the audience.

What have you learnt about opening sequence devices?

• Well we have learnt that sound can be use in a way to create tension and allow the audience to pay more attention to the screen, if there is silence it takes away the detail from the sound and adds it to the screen so it helps the audience establish other things such as location of social class from what the characters are wearing. Also sound can be used as the faster the music it could create tension in the opening sequence which could be combined with shaky hand movements to make the opening sequence seem less professional, meaning it is most likely working class.

How will this impact your production?

• This will impact our production as we could as it has given us ideas on how to change it so the audience can pay more attention to certain themes. We will have to be very smart in using these techniques so that we can carry out what we want to do properly.

What methods might you use in your opening and why?

• In our opening we will  implement it in to our opening sequence as silence could be used to could be used to allow them to pay attention to clothing and location. The music we are going to use will be quite fast to build tension and match some themes that feature throughout the film such as violence and drug abuse.

Production Week 5

What have been the key issues for your research this week?

• The key issues of my research has been analyzing the editing in BSR films as there is a minimal amount of editing in most BSR films other than cuts. But I found it easy analyzing the camera work and editing for most BSR films, such as Bullet Boy and Kidulthood as these films use a lot of camera techniques such as match on action, pans and tilts.

What decisions did you make about the issues and why?

• I made the decision that there isn't a lot of edits in BSR films as realism is a significant part of BSR films so there isn't much editing such as CGI. This would spoil the realism of the film, which would not be a BSR film.

Production Log 4

In this week we went through title devices, we learnt how they can be used to establish certain things such as themes and ideology or even the actors. We also learnt how effective credits can be because they can reveal parts of the story without revealing too much.

What we have learnt about title devices?

• We have learnt that we can input super imposed graphics, they are good as they allow you to show the audience the credits without wasting any time with a black screen in the background. It also helps to establish actors who play characters in the movie as they might know the actors/ directors and they would know if they have been in good movies before. It also allows us to introduce location and settings in the first few moments of the film.

How will this impact our production?

• This will impact out production as we will implement these graphics in to our work as they waste less time also as the audience can focus on both the title and the shot in the background it gives them detail in to our story. We will use location and settings in few of the shots as we want the audience to understand what type of places are in the film without actually seeing too much. The audience can gain this detail without giving away too much, so for example we will put alleyways in the background of the credits to introduce some of the places that will be seen in the film.

What methods might you use in the opening and why?

• In our opening sequence we will use methods such as super imposed graphics to give detail and we will introduce themes through the clothing that the characters wear through the opening sequence. We may also use a flashback shot as it will give away what happened before we can skip to the main part of the plot.

Production Log 3

Production Log 2

Production Log 1

Calling Sheets

Location List

Cast List

Production Schedule

Production Schedule Month 1

Production Schedule Month 2

Location Recces

Remedy Shooting Script

Qualitative Data Analysis

Evidence of Audience Research

Q1. What do you think about the plot of The Hangover and why?

• Most people found the plot of the Hangover amusing and entertaining whereas a few people had not seen it or found the plot quite repetitive. Some found the plot quite interesting and it included a lot of detail.

Q2. How do you feel that the main characters in the film are male and throughout the film there are few female characters?

• There seem to be a pattern of all the males who was answered this seemed to not really care if there was no female characters in the film, whereas the females who answered this said that there should be more of an oppitunity for a female character. One female said that the male characters match the stereotypical situations and said that they are mainly for boys.

Q3. Do you think 'Remedy' is a suitable title if not what would be a better title, and why?

• Most people thought the title was very suitable for the film after hearing the plot. They thought it was very short and to the point which was positive. Only a few people thought that the title could give more of a hint to the plot of the story. Also some thought it could be changed to the name of the drug for example to give away a bit more of the story.

Q4. What do you think could be improved about our plot and why do you think this would be better?

• Most poeple liked the plot and couldn't think of how it would be changed but some thought that we could either add a plot twist or maybe even some flashbacks to give the audience a better idea on the story of the film before they go back to London.

Q5. If the characters are meant to be working class how would you portray them in terms of clothing, where they are located and how they behave?

• Everyone said the characters in the film should wear casual clothing and not anything like designer, which fit our descriptions of the characters. They also said the location should be somewhere like a council esatate and not anywhere rich.

My Audience

BSR Treatment

Narrative

For our production we gained inspiration from 'The Hangover' this deals with various themes that we have decided to emulate some of these themes, a way in which we changed this is by dealing with teenagers instead of adults, also as the movie 'Hangover' is quite comical we would like to change the plot and make it more serious and hard-hitting as it is within the genre of BSR. Our film deals with themes such as drug abuse, corruption of youth and violence. The two brothers, Jerome (Romeo) and Kayden (Kay) who live in Liverpool, but used to live in London. They come down to London for a weekend to go to a party where they will meet their childhood friends, the lifestyle in Liverpool for them is much more different compared to the lifestyle in London for those within the same age range. On their first day back they explore different drugs e.g Marijuana, this leaves them hungover till the next morning where they wake up with no money and no way of getting home. The two brothers end up stranded in the worst parts of London where they are forced to make money, they end up trying to rob shops and people during the night, they do not make much money as at the same time they are trying to survive. They meet new people who help them make money illegally by selling drugs, they get caught up in the lifestyle and eventually one of the brother dies, the brother that dies wanted to stay in London because he got addicted to the money and gets killed by another drug gang. The other brother goes back to Liverpool after his brother has died. The narrative is linear as it follows the story of the two boys who go from London to Liverpool then back to London.

In the opening sequence it will start with the two boys walking out the train station as they tap their oyster cards, they then look at an invite of the party which they are going to later that day, whilst walking back to their friends house they are offered drugs and they eventually end up buying them even though they were weary of them at first, all the audience sees is the transaction, they then knock on the door of their friend who opens the door, then they begin to get ready for the party later that night, they keep looking in the mirror whilst getting ready there are switching shots between both brothers. They are then in the car and one brother does a line on the dashboard which is an extreme closeup and then the other takes a pill which is also an extreme close up, they then knock on the door of the party, whilst they are high then the music changes and it just blacks out. Between each shot it pans then fades out with a black screen, then the next shot fades in with the black then going in to the shot. We also have decided that we won't include much dialogue as the music and the on screen super impose graphics will create detail for the audience to understand what is going on.

Target Audience

Our target audience is from the age group 16-25 as the characters throughout the film are within the same age range so people would be able to relate to the characters who are the same age as them, even though the themes may not be relatable. The main gender represented in the film is male as most of the characters are male so the female audience may not be able to relate as well as male viewers. The interests that the characters will have are things such as social media, drugs and partying, these interests are important as it shows that they are within the older teen bracket, this also gives the target audience an idea of how dangerous all these 3 things could be. A few locations which will be implemented in to the film are the school, houses, parties and drug residence, these are some places which would be familiar for the target audience.There will be more than one main ethnicity as there will be a range of white, Asian and black people throughout the film this will mainly target these ethnic backgrounds for the audience.

The themes that will be relatable for some of the target audience are, violence, school life, drug abuse, friendship, sexual abuse and revenge these themes are good as they do not only relate to the target audience but they help to create the story as the themes show how each point such as drug abuse has changed the characters it is effective as it shows the consequences of each of these themes.

Title

The title 'Remedy' is short like other BSR films it also has a meaning behind it and it relates to situations within the film, a remedy is a medicine or a treatment, this relates to the idea as the movie progresses there is a lot of drug abuse and they use it to drown their problems and the characters believe that their problems are being fixed with the drugs. The title has a strong link with the film does not really give away too much but it introduces the idea that there is a problem that need to be fixed with a 'remedy'. Remedy could also mean to remove something evil, connoting that there is a sense of evilness in the film and there is not much morality as the films progresses, it shows that a remedy is needed to get rid of the evil.

Technology

The technology we are going to use is the camera and the tripod, the tripod will be useful as it allows us to get rid of the shaky movements and make the shots seem more realistic, if we wanted to make the scene filled with a sense of panic we could remove the tripod, but this will allow the shots to look better also the tripod will allow us to pan, tilt and overall just create smoother shots. We could improve our production by each character having their own individual microphone so they could be heard better and the wind would not really effect the sound quality when recording, this is why we have decided to not use much dialogue. That equipment is not accessible so therefore we will have to figure out a way in which wind will not effect the production, but as there is not much dialogue this will not really be a big problem.

Representations

A typical representation in most BSR films is that women are usually oppressed and not really treated fairly, but we have decided to use a counter-type for most of the female characters as they are more equal to men and they have an impact with what they say, although they are not superior to males throughout the film they are not inferior and they share an equal role. There are not really many women in the film as it is targeted mainly towards the male audience, so males could relate but there is still a portion of females.

Another representation is where the young teens work for the older leader, this representation is shown later on in the film as when they have to start selling drugs they have to work for an older teen to survive, they begin to not only work to survive but they work to impress him so they begin to change their ways from how they were before, this is how it typically is in BSR films, for example in Kidulthood the boy Trevor has to impress his uncle by cutting a mans face. This connotes that the teens will go to extremes to impress their older influences, this convention is also brought in to our production as the boys are forced in to the lifestyle and end up being trapped and one of them never really gets a chance to escape as he dies this shows the audience the consequences of these type of lifestyles.

The locations used are also quite gritty and unpleasant as they do not really have much money to start with and then it gets even worse when they lose all their stuff, they live in a council house which connotes that the characters are quite poor. This brings in the theme of poverty and also as they are living in a council house to begin with it connotes that they are most likely within the working class or maybe even underclass as some situations throughout the film deal with extreme cases of poverty. Usually in most films which include council houses they use and establishing shot to connote that the area is not very nice, if the area is not very nice it also connotes the type of people that are going to be living there, the people would most likely not be very nice and most of the people deal with similar themes of violence, drug abuse and poverty. In our opening sequence we hope to achieve a clear understanding from the audience of what type of people are living in these areas, also we want to portray these character in the first two minutes of the film. Overall the location helps to connote the quality of life in these areas.

Style and Iconography

The camera work throughout BSR is very important as it can create the mood for a certain scene, if a tripod is removed from the camera it can be used to make panicky scenes as the hand movement on the camera is more shaky and it makes the whole situation seem more realistic to the audience this would be used to connote personal identity of what type of person they are.Also the locations are very important for example recording in alleyways, train stations and around council houses it seems regular in terms of a BSR film connoting that the people are just everyday people who can't escape the lifestyle and they are just doing things that (in our perspective) an average person would do. Places such as a train station can connote that they do not have enough money for  a car or maybe they are not old enough so it connotes how young they are. Also the alleyways could be seen as quite scary and intimidating so this could have a connection to what type of people are living there and it would have relevance to the local people. The shots used also help to create the tension in certain places, for example a high angle shot could remove the power from any character and gives the audience a sense of power over the character, this also makes the characters seem vulnerable and powerless. Also when they are taking drugs there is a close-up of their eyes showing the effect that the drugs have had on them, and it is followed by a high angle shot to take away the characters power.

Conventions

The conventions of a BSR mise-en-scene we will use to make our opening sequence are common, working class locations, a dark and dull colour palate and also real lighting such as street lights to give it that orange tint. This is so we can make our opening sequence successfully look like a real BSR film and also create a real atmosphere for the audience when they are watching. If we was to set the house party scene in a big expensive house this would take away the realness of the film as the characters in the film are in a working class part of London so a more suitable place to set a house party might be a block of flats of maybe a common working class house. Some locations which we have thought of already but not yet confirmed are Goodmayes station and a local alleyway. We would use Goodmayes station to record the two boys arriving at the station in London from Liverpool. This scene will show the two boys walking up the stairs of the station and tapping their tickets and going through the barrier. To make these shots successful we will have to record at the station at a suitable time so it is not very busy and when there is minimal sound so the camera does not pick up any unwanted sound. This could be hard as if we was to retake any shots we would have to get the lighting exactly the same from the previous shots and there is also a lot of background noise from trains and people. We would use a local alleyway to record the scene of the two boys buying drugs. This is a good location as it gives the audience a sense  that something bad is going to happen or taking place, it also gives out mysterious tone. Normally in BSR films when a scene is set in a alleyway, something bad takes place so by using an alleyway in our scene this will fit with the realness. To make the shots successful we will have to get the lighting right so it gives off a scary sort of mood, we will also have to make sure there is not to much people around and minimal background noise. 

Institution

The production company is Film 4. Throughout the research we have done on Film 4 we have seen that they have a regular pattern when they are producing BSR films. We have found that the actors/actresses that they use are untrained, as they are untrained this makes the production seem more genuine as the characters may have come from a similar background as the character that they are playing, they give actors/actresses a chance to become bigger and this is a big acting opportunity for example John Boyega played in 'Attack the Block' he then later was given an opportunity to play in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' this shows the opportunities that Film 4 can create for an actor/actress. As Film 4 deals with similar films in the BSR films that they make such as violence and drug abuse these are some of the themes which we wish to implement in to our production as it will match and keep the consistency of other Film 4 films. Also as one of the main themes is the addiction to drugs/drug abuse it will make the audience think about these topics in reality and think about the consequences of drug addiction/drug abuse. Also this film is different as it has taken inspiration from 'The Hangover' which is a big movie and by Film 4 producing and distributing this film it could show the reality of the situations. Also the film could be distributed by Netflix which teenagers tend to use a lot, so they would be able to watch the film on there as not many people watch television as much as there are things such as Netflix. Netflix would also reach a wider audience as it allows people to watch it on different technology such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops and even on TVs.