BSR Camera and editing.

In this scene camera techniques such as close up shots are used to imply a certain point such as separation between characters. Denoted in the frames above is a moment of dialogue occurring within a scene in which a man and a woman that he loves are arguing about the current dilemmas revolving each of their lives such as the male character not being allowed to contact his son. The camerawork denoted in this moment of the dialogue are two close-ups of the male and female character in the scene. The close-ups connote that they are discussing a very concerning and painful matter to which the camera compliments on by denoting the reactions and facial expressions of the characters as they are doing so. The use of close-ups denote only these two characters and not much of their surroundings which connotes that the situations that are being discovered are exclusively meant to be known by the characters in the scene as they do not wish for others to worry and/or get involved. Close-ups are a very distinct way of denoting facial expressions which is why it is used in a lot of BSR films including this one, ‘Nil By Mouth’

The camerawork in this scene has also been used to show the mental position of the characters in the scene. The denoted frames above are of dialogue being exchanged between the characters, mainly the female character, yet only one over the shoulder shot is denoted which is the shot over the shoulder of the female character. During dialogue scenes the typical way of shooting in a BSR film or in any film would be to shoot over the shoulder of both of the characters exchanging the dialogue. However, the woman is denoted in a close up whilst the man is denoted in an over the shoulder shot. The woman is denoted in the centre of the frame as she is opens up about her feelings as well as her opinion on the relationship between the two of them. Her being denoted in a close-up gives the audience detail of her facial expression which are very upset. Furthermore, the female character owning the whole frame connotes that she is dominant in the conversation and is open in terms of releasing her feelings and emotions. In contrast, the camera is positioned to denote the male character in an over the shoulder shot. Parallel to the woman, the male character is denoted with less space around him. This connotes the sense that he has been narrow minded and that is being closed off by the woman which can be denoted as she cuts him off whenever he feels the need to say something. This also represents the fact that the man is less dominant at that moment in time.

The characters are also denoted in individual shots: a shot that’s frame is only occupied by the female character and a shot with only the male character. The scene at this moment of the conversation is edited to shows these characters in their own occupied shots.  This goes on for the duration of the dialogue I which the man is talking about his son. For this brief moment in the scene the characters are not denoted in the frame together. This connotes a sense of separation between the characters and that they are both living their individual lives rather than the life they had together in the past. Editing techniques here denote simple cuts to shows the direct disconnection between the characters along with the direct and minimal dragging of dialogue in the scene. The connotation of distance further leads on to the connotation that they have to rely on their own actions with no support to get through their issues. This is supported by the fact that the male character is suffering the dilemma of not being able to see his own son. This scene is edited to only show the shots of both characters in their own space rather than editing to an over the shoulder shot or a two-shot. This would have portrayed a subtle link between the characters during the conversation of concerning matters. This is a technique used to show the emotional state, life struggle and disconnect that occurs for these characters which are themes that are usually portrayed in other BSR films. This effect created through the camerawork has been well executed in this segment of the scene.

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Opening sequence conventions

Whats in the News

The article above is a story about a young girl kidnapped on her way home from school for when she was 10. She was held in a cellar with by her kidnapper and after 8 years, she finally escaped. This could be an interesting idea for our BSR movie. Kidnap is not a theme that is often explored in British Social Realism which would make it unique and exciting as well as deep and emotional. It would be sensitive as well as harsh which could develop into an interesting story.

This article is based on the killing of a young girl. She was murdered by her parents, cousin and older brother because she fell in love with a Afghan boy and turned down suitors waiting for her parent's in Pakistan. We could use an 'honor killing' theme in our BSR film. A 'honor killing' is a murder orchestrated by the victim's family or members of their community to protect the perceived status of the family, to mark their disapproval. We could explore this by having a main character who behaves in a way that the family disapproves of or is in a relationship that the family do not agree with. As a result of this they could suffer severe consequences or try to escape.

This article is about a death of a woman after being in a abusive relationship, she was suffocated by her partner and attacked with an iron board in front of her four year old daughter, and later died from her injuries. We could use a domestic abuse storyline in our BSR film to show the lives and show the reality of those who live day by day with violent individuals.

Evidence of Audience Research

 

Meet my Audience Slide

 

We used a vox pops to find out if people agreed with our ideas and find out if they would watch it. It is below:

Qualitative data analysis:


-Initially we were very stuck about the title and could not think of a title that was new, original and well thought. When conducting the vox pop questionnaires we explained the storyline and asked people to give ideas on what we should call the film. One good suggestion that was given to us was "White Light", which has polysomic meanings and contrasts to the mood of the film. We thought this was a good idea because it hasn't been used before and it is a unique name that hasn't been used before. This helped us narrow down potential titles and is also a title we are strongly considering.
   When planning our movie we were very unsure about the amount of violence we should include, this is because we thought it would put our target audience off and they may not like it. During our research we found out that many do not mind a mild amount of violence and some even encouraged the use of more violence because it makes the film more vivid and interesting. This gave us a different insight and helped us make more decisions regarding violence.
    We also asked people about the movie 'Taken' as our film is similar to this film but we didn't want it to be the same. However we did draw a conclusion that people who had enjoyed this film may also enjoy our film as it follows a similar storyline. Many who had watched Taken said they enjoyed it, and it was an excellent film. Some had never watched it, and some had suggested our film may be too similar. This challenged our idea in terms of originality and encouraged us to think further outside the box to make the film unique and unlike an other film that exists currently.
   We also found out what people would change about our ideas, most people gave minor suggestions or did not want to change anything at all. This was helpful for us and it means the only developments we need to make to our film concept are minor and can be done more quickly which would help in terms of reducing production time. This is also positive for us because it shows people agree with our idea and it is something they would like to see.

ResponseQualitative data analysis What do you think is the most suitable name for the story that we wish to depict? •The title should be ‘White Light’ because our idea consists of a young person being abducted which is a dark topic. When the child gets taken he sees the white light of the vehicle. The white light juxtaposes this as a white light is seen as innocent and angelic-like and when the boy is in the basement of the kidnapper, all he sees is the white light from the window. •A suitable name would be ‘Kidnap’. This is because the story is basically about a kid that gets kidnapped. •Give it a really happy name, the name of the street, maybe call it ‘Sunny Side’. Something happy because the name of the street in which the boy gets abducted is a happy name which contrasts with the theme of our story. •Call it ‘Abducted’ because it is a good storylineabout someone suffering after a bad cause. What do you think of our idea and what would you change? •They like the idea because it is different. Most films based on abduction are similar, however this is unique. There is nothing generally that they would change, but if they had to change something specifically then it would be changing the abductor. They would make the abductor a person that the abductee knows and not just a random stranger. This would some suspense. •The idea is good, but instead of involving only one kid in the abduction, we should have the other child involved by trying to find his friend or something like that which involves the other child •They like the idea that the idea is emotional as it allows us to get in-depth in those areas. But the story does come across as vague and it seems very similar to Taken. It could be changed by having a different motive for why the kidnapper wants the child rather than just it being because he likes the child. It should be something like the kidnapper is the child’s dad. Something impactful. This almost goes back to the white light title as the darkness of the kidnapper storyline is not actually dark as it may just be the father of the child. •They would give it a twist in the children part and the part of the creep that watches them. Give it an M.Night Shyamalan effect to it. Does violence impact your views and feelings towards the characters? •Violence does not have an impact, but if the violence is shot properly cinematography-wise and if it looks beautiful it will turn out beautiful. •It depends. Maybe the abductor had a bad parenting background which made him the violent person that he is currently. But if the kidnapper is violent solely because he wants to be then it is definitely a bad thing •Personally not. Because the violence makes the scene look better. •The violence makes them sad and emotional when it is portrayed •Adding violence makes the film seem more real and shows what may happen in real life, so it can make people more aware of these situations.

Narrative

Narrative

Exposition.
The two boys Christopher and Derek are two normal young schoolboys who are best friends and spend the majority of their afternoons playing football outside and aspire to become footballers when they are older and hope to escape the life of struggle and poverty. They both have working class parents and although financially stable, they cannot afford luxuries.

Agents of Change
The kidnapper. A sad, mentally unstable, middle-aged man. Isn't evil but enjoys the company of kids since he does not have his own, hence the reason he abducts a young boy. Doesn't seem to see anything wrong with his actions and in fact thinks he can provide the abducted child with things his parents could not have given him.

Conflict
Christopher and Derek are playing outside, on the grass nearby their houses one afternoon as they usually would most days after school. They kick around a ball whilst talking, laughing, joking and messing around behaving like typical young schoolboys. It is evident that they are very close and share a strong bond. Derek kicks the ball to hard and it rolls out of sight into a bush not that far away. They argue but eventually Derek goes to fetch the ball whilst Christopher waits around for him. Seconds pass and a man who's face is unseen has been watching the two boys play ball, as soon as he spots Christopher is alone, he drives his car to near where he is standing. Violently, he grabs Christopher and aggressively throws him into the backseat of his car, shuts the door and drives away in a hurry. Derek returns with their lost football and realizing Christopher is no longer there, he begins to search for him. Hours pass, and as Christopher is no where to be seen, Derek informs his parents who later inform the police.

Elaboration:
Days and weeks pass and Christopher's whereabouts are still unclear. His parents are distraught. They already are struggling financially and they are now finding it impossible to cope without their little boy. Christopher's mother desperately tries to hide her feelings in order to keep her family together but soon finds herself falling into depression as a result of her devastation. Christopher's father begins to become increasingly aggressive and easily angered and spends most of his time outside home still struggling to come to terms with reality.
Derek lives his days filled with regret. He tries to continue playing football but is clearly traumatized and doesn't find joy in playing ball if he cannot do it with his close friend. He begins to feel desperate and completely lonely, he doesn't spend as much time with anyone else anymore is heartbroken. In his own time, he does continue to conduct his own private search, playing detective hoping and praying that Christopher makes a return but it all seems hopeless. He desperately tries to recall those last moments with him, wondering what would've happened if he didn't run to fetch the ball or how and why he disappeared in such a short space of time.

As for Christopher, he lives in a basement with his kidnapper. He is upset, distraught and confused and more than anything wants to return back home to his family and friends. However, his kidnapper refuses and Christopher has a great amount of hatred for him. However as time passes, he begins to feel sorry for him, realizing his kidnapper has numerous underlying issues from his childhood and although he abuses Christopher and has deprived him of his family, Christopher pities him because he is completely alone and misunderstood.

Climax and Resolution:
Things start to look better for Christopher's family, they begin to attend family counseling sessions and his mother finds herself a new job. But somehow, all their efforts are wasted as the hole in their lives cannot seemed to be filled. Until one day, they get a phone call from the police telling them that Christopher has been found. The family are amazed and overjoyed, and Derek feels relieved.

Coda:
However upon his return home, they realize that Christopher is nowhere near the same young boy he was before. He has lost his sense of vulnerability, spends less days with Derek and isolates himself more. He is no longer bright and bubbly but timid and quiet and rarely ever speaks of what happened to him whilst he was abducted.

Treatment

Title

We are thinking of naming our film ‘Abducted’. We may possibly use this title as it gives the audience a direct explanation of what the film will be based on. The title is also short which follows the usual way in which BSR films are named. Something different about this title is that it is very direct whereas other BSR film titles have several meanings to them. Our straight forward title is impactful as the sensitive topic of abduction is clearly put forward as the basis of our film and it is likely the first element that an audience find out about a film. Although this title is good in some ways, we wish to develop it in certain ways like creating a title that is original and has a polysemic meaning like other BSR films as this is an aspect that a lot of BSR films use. The title is also very much like the film ‘Taken’ which clearly has the same purpose and meaning. Further primary research in later stages will help us point out ways in which we can develop this title or create a new and meaningful title.

Target Audience

We are targeting our film to middle class men and woman from the ages 18-50. Our target audience age bracket is also the age range of the characters that are in our film. This can enable our target audience to relate to the characters in our film in some way through the uses and gratifications of personal identity. We have started with the age of 18 which we feel is suitable as this audience is mature and understanding enough to view the issues that will be portrayed in our film: child abduction. We have also chosen to begin our targeted age range at the age of 18 due to the fact that our work can enable and make those at that age aware of these concerning problems that occur in our society. We are aiming our film to both men and women as our film represents both genders throughout the film. The interests of our target audience are mainly anything drama related as this is a major elements that is denoted in our storyline. 
The themes that our target audience are interested in are parenthood, sexual abuse and violence. This is because these are the key themes that are portrayed in our film. Although these are the themes that our target audience like to see in films, we ultimately wish to make our film available to anyone in our target audience no matter their interests or favourite displayed themes. This is so that we can shed light upon the sensitive topic of child abduction and in its most realistic form.
The class of our target audience will be middle class men and women. This is because our storyline consists of only middle class men and women. Our film is targeted at middle class working men and women as our film follows the story of how a working mother deals with the loss of her son. We hope elements in our  narrative that show story arcs such as the mother’s and the son’s will help to appeal to our target audience.
Films that our target audience may be interested in and enjoy include ‘Taken’ and ‘3096 Days’. The basis of these films are similar to our storyline; abduction. 3096 Days specifically denotes the storyline of child abduction which is its only explored topic whereas the Taken storyline portrays the abduction of a female youngster in her late teenage years as well as the depicting the topic of human trafficking. Although that these films differ from each other in this way, both of the mentioned films revolve mainly around the abduction side of the storyline which is what our story line is also mainly based on. This is why we think that our film may appeal to audiences that enjoy those films. The original Taken film mostly denotes the way in which the girl’s father reacts to the whole situation and tries to put and end to her suffering after the abduction. We have implemented this part of the story in our idea as we denote the way in which the mother of the boy who gets abducted reacts, suffers the loss and wishes that she had been there to prevent the terrible cause. We are targetting this aspect of the film to the older portion of our target audience as they are most likely to be parents and would understand the theme of parenthood in a way that our younger audiences may not be able to percieve. The film 3096 Days is a film that a lot of our story shares common ideas with such as the element of a young child being abducted by a grown man and put into a vehicle which then leads to the child being put into the basement of the abductor. All of these features have been inspired by the films ‘Taken’ and ‘3096 Days’ and altered in a way that it is not similar and that it brings a new level of realism which we are trying to make our target audience aware of.

 

Technology

In terms of technology, I wish to use certain equipment that I feel will increase the sense of production value for my BSR film. For instance I wish to use a DSLR camera with at least a decent lens which can give good depth of field in my shots. I want to have this element in my film to connote the disconnection between my characters (in focus) and society (out of focus) along with the rest of the world. The camera supplied to us by the school department are very good cameras in areas such as quality and audio. However, I wish to lower the depth of field as the kidnapping occurs in our opening sequence to connote the progression of disconnection between the young boy the open areas. The DSLR camera will enable me to pull focus much quicker and with much more ease than it would with the cameras supplied to us by the school department. The DSLR camera also offers better audio and video quality which is a huge beneficial factor for us. The DSLR camera also has the option of stabilizing the video if it is required in certain shots. We would like to shoot our footage on a 16GB Memory SD Card which will be supplied by the school media department. The 16 GB card stores our footage and because it is an external component it can be inserted into the computer which allows us to work in the post production stage. In the post production stage we can view our footage and decide weather we want to reshoot any parts of our opening sequence. A 16GB should be enough storage to hold all of our filmed footage, but if it not then we will either use a second memory card or delete any footage that has been reshot or is unnecessary. Our narrative does not specify what time during the day that the abduction takes place. This is because we wish to show audiences that abductions can occur anywhere at anytime people are not aware. This led us to deciding that the time of day that we begin to shoot is the time of day it will be in our film. Furthermore, this may mean that the sun has set and it is very dark out which is why I wish to use portable lighting equipment if this turns out to be the case. The locations that we are setting our opening sequence are mainly based on roads and streets. The only source of lighting that we would have without any supplied lighting gear would be the street lights. Through the portable lighting equipment we would like to improve the quality of shots by lighting up the environment enough to get rid of the noise in the footage whilst maintaining a dark and gritty image to portray the theme and tone of my film and most existing BSR films. Preferably I will have to use lights that are portable in order to make it more accessible to the locations that we will shoot in. This will enable us to get a level of ease when filming our opening. We are also using a tripod which we intend to use to create smooth pan and tilt shots if we were to include that in our opening. We would also like to use a stabilising rig of some sort that will allow us to film footage that looks smooth with a hint of shakiness when high intensity moments occur. A stabiliser will enable us to move around freely according to the shots we will plan. If we want to accomplish this without a stabiliser, we will have to do it by closing all of the tripod legs and holding the legs to get footage that will be more stable than handheld footage.

 

Representations

The main characters in our film are the antagonist and protagonist alongside the protagonist’s family. The protagonist a young child called Christopher who is abducted by the Antagonist who is a grown man called Wilson. The protagonist is a young black boy and he belongs to a family which is made of a loving mother and father. There is also Christopher’s best friend called Derek who was present a mere few seconds before the abduction happened. The protagonist and the antagonist play roles that are as significant as the family and friend of Christopher. The protagonist being a black male that is abducted challenges the typical way in which an abduction story is seen. Kidnapping films that include young abductees usually consist of white females whereas we have chosen to change this to portray the different and distorted mind of the antagonist as well as to bring and original take on the abducting story. Evidence for typical abduction characters can be denoted in films such as Taken and 3096 Days. We have decided to use a boy as this portrays the reality that males can also be victims of abductions, sexual abuse and other terrible happenings. One factor that all kidnapping films include in terms of characters that we have not subverted n our film is the element of the kidnapper being a grown adult. We have used this aspect as we feel that a male abductor is represented as more violent and ruthless. We have purposely done this to create this negative representation of the antagonist in our film which in turn can enable to the audience to feel more sympathy towards Christopher and his family. We have named the antagonist Wilson. Inspiration for this name came from the Marvel villain Wilson Fisk. This character is one that suffered a horrible and abusive childhood. This character then led his life on to becoming a notorious and violent criminal that was solely caused by his bad childhood. This can relate to our antagonist as his abusive and demented personality may have originated from a bad past with parents and abuse. This is something that we implemented into our character’s backstory although it is not explored in our film.

Narrative:
Our film is about a kidnapping. Ultimately a modern adaptation of the movie, Mystic River. The story begins with two young boys who are best friends. On one unfortunate afternoon, one of the boys is taken and his disappearance goes viral. The story then unfolds around his family; how will his family cope with the disappearance of their beloved little boy ? Especially his mother who finds it difficult to get through her daily life and her efforts to make life normal again for her and her family are not enough. As for his friend, how will he survive not knowing the whereabouts of his bestfriend? The film shows as he lives with each day filled with flashbacks and regret, what if he didn't leave him alone for that split second ? Would things have worked out differently ?

Our opening sequence will form around the kidnap, which shapes the rest of the story. The two minutes will revolve around the two boys showing them as they happily quick around a football one cloudy Wednesday evening afterschool. This short clip will showing them playing and laughing suggesting their lives are relatively happy before everything is destroyed. The strong bond between them will also be made evident. Following this, M kicks the ball too hard and it flies out of sight. Y offers to go and looks for it and runs off camera to do so. M waits around for him patiently and soon we see a black car pull up. In a flash, M is gone and Y returns realizing his friend has disappeared. To create enigma and excitement for the audience we will not show the full kidnap scene and instead we will cut between several shots, making it evident that a kidnap has taken place but not giving too much away. After searching for M for several hours on his own, Y then informs his parents that he has disappeared and we see the search continue and the opening closes. The rest of the story will revolve around M's family and how his close ones desperately struggle to piece their life back together without him, and how Y finds it impossible to function without having any information about M's wellbeing and location. We will include themes such as poverty, depression and aspiration and escape. The whole story is shown over 6 months and near the end of the film, M is found.
It will be set in an urban location in East London.

We took some ideas from the story of Natascha Kampusch, a real kidnap story later developed into a film titled 3,096 days. We found this very resourceful during our planning.

Conventions
We will use real locations as this a typical convention of BSR films. This is because it adds to the realism as BSR films are filmed in everyday locations instead of expensive sets. A few locations we considered for the opening where the boys could be playing football were road sides. Somewhere relatively near houses but pretty quiet an empty.

Another possible location could be a park but this might be a unlikely place for a child to get kidnapped and also there would be no way we could have a car in a park. We will also use a dull color pallet with colors such as brown, grey, black, green and blue. These are all harsh yet dull colors which reflect the roughness and dullness of the everyday lives of the characters as well as reflecting the harsh mood of the entirety of the film. We will also use untrained actors. This is because of budget and because it is a typical convention of BSR films. We will use actors whose lives and personalities are similar to the character's, this means they will not necessarily be 'acting' as the characters they will be playing will closely resemble themselves. Also we will not give them specific scripts. Instead they will just be given guidelines of what to say, not being restricted to a script means they have space to improvise meaning their performance will appear more natural.

Style and Icongraphy

For the opening we could use the camera to create a pan of the area. This would be an establishing shot which would show the audience the area which the movie is set, giving them some detail about regional identity. The shot would show the place where the two boys are playing football which is on the side of the road nearby to some ordinary houses. Most of the houses will look the same and won't be big and luxurious but instead pretty basic, connoting the residents aren't very well off and are just typical working class.

When editing the actual kidnap scene we will cut several clips and merge them together into a dramatic montage instead of just showing the full scene. The antagonist (kidnapper) will not be shown on camera either, this will help to create suspense and get the audience asking questions which will draw them in further and encourage them to carry on watching the film past the opening to find out what happens.
When originally planning, we considered using filming flashbacks and using them in the opening sequence to make the narrative more clear. However we soon discarded this idea as it is not typically seen in BSR Openings and may make the whole narrative too obvious.
For costumes, the two boys would be dressed in ways typical of young boys. One option we could consider is showing them playing in their uniform. This would connote that they attend school which would be expected of boys at such age. Instead of just using regular uniform, we could them tamper with their uniform a little which would give clues as to their class and background.

For example, like in Waterloo road instead of dressing smartly the majority of students have tampered with their uniform, adding chains and accessories, wearing large coats, and having scuffled ties, which gives them a poor appearance and suggests they may be rebellious. It conveys that this may be a comprehensive school in a deprived area.

Another option could be casual jeans and plain t shirts.

There won't be much use of props, the main prop would be the football. This could be a basic football, torn and obviously heavily used. This would show how the lack of funds causes a deprivation of luxuries for the boys and they have to make good use of the things they have, even if they are not necessarily of good quality.

For sound, the main sound will be diegetic; dialogue. As the boys converse and play around we could have them say certain slang words which would be typical of the East London area. This could mean they abbreviate certain words and use words that aren't  specifically in the english dictionairy.
Concerning music, we could maybe use music from an grime artist such as Stormzy or Skepta. Or instead we could go for a different approach and use hip-hop or an r&b track, maybe this would be less gritty and more upbeat demonstrating that their life before the kidnap may not have been perfect but their was still some sense of happiness and hope.

Institition

The production company in our brief is Film 4 Productions. Film 4 is owned by the Channel Four Television Co-operation, they produce, distribute and exhibit films.Film 4 contribute to the development of British Social Realism films by producing films that deal with controversial and relevant themes and portray the lives of working class Britons as realistically as possible. Looking at Film 4's previous successes, we have come to the realization that they have produced and exhibited films with similar themes and target audiences to our film.  For example a popular film funded by Film4;This is England.
This is England is a overtly political film which deals with themes such as youth culture, racism and immigration. We think this would be an excellent production company for our film because Film4 has also produced other BSR Films. Furthermore, Film 4's Ethos is to offer a platform for British and independent cinema on terrestrial television by comitting to show each one of Film Four's production films on Channel Four and Film Four. Also, to develop new British Talent and be a leader of innovation in the British Film Industry.
We think our film would be exhibited on platforms on such as Netflix, Now TV, Amazon Prime and Blinkbox. This is because the film would reach a wider audience if we exhibit it on multiple platforms. Especially for those that are not regular tv watchers and prefer to watch films online or on a phone or tablet via a subscription. Sites like Netflix and amazon prime are also becoming increasingly popular and our film could easily become popular on sites like these.