AUDIENCE RESEARCH - OPENING SEQUENCE PITCH

QUESTIONNAIRE

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/XDHPYPJ

The responses that I have collected show many different points of view, the answers show variation of the people's responses showing their personal preferences and personalities.

                Firstly, the partakers are shown to be all around the same age (16+) living in the same sort of area and environment as seen in question 1&2. Due to this response, we will be filming partially within the city/urban scape, in order for the target audience to be able to relate to the film and its atmosphere, however escapism will be provided by filming the remainder of the opening sequence by the coast in 'Seven sisters country park" which provides its own, and different atmosphere/context which would contrast to the audiences experience of 'everyday' life and routine.

                Further on, we asked a question that doesn't seem to completely fit within the context of an opening sequence questionnaire, however this question provides insight into the audience's character and personality as we believe that the music one listens to - can give a clear idea of their lifestyle. The responses with this question came out to be extremely varied ranging from Alternative to Hip-Hop/Rap, with 3 people stating that Hip hop is their favoured music, and only 1 person choosing alternative. These results were expected, as Hip hop, R'n'B is very prominent within the mainstream media - which shows that the reason for only one person choosing indie/alternative is because that type of genre of music is regarded to be for the 'outcasts' and isn't seem as being a 'popular' genre, which actually corresponds with our opening sequence containing that genre music as the protagonist will be seen as an 'outcast'.

                Moreover, I was pleased to discover that 100% of participants selected the interrupted sequence as personally I too prefer those. Along with question 8 which shows the partakers preference for low key lighting, from this response we will be defiantly using desaturation during production.

                 The question that stood out to me was defiantly the one that required the participants to describe/name their place of safe haven, as all the answers were the same - "At home". This response made us eager to challenge that concept of the home being a place of comfort and make the audience show appreciation for what they have, and to treasure their comfort of home as not everyone may see it as a safe haven, providing a contrast to comfort of the home as the protagonist finds comfort elsewhere.

AUDIENCE PROFILE

the video used to analyse

The opening sequence of this movie is simple but effective as it shows what could be seen as a Point of view shot (POV) as the car is driving on a bridge and under a tunnel with raw handheld filming, followed by a dark shot of a young adolescent writing a letter in his room – during the shot there is a narration of what he is thinking.

The genre for this film is Drama, Romance featuring ‘the coming of age’. The conventions of a drama usually include having a realistic characters with typical characteristics of people their age, in this instance, the young teenage boy seems very typical of most teenage boys, which reveals that this drama falls under ‘coming of age’ as the boy is around 16/17. Another drama convention is the use of diegetic sound at the very beginning of the opening sequence, which also creates the idea of real life situations – as the sounds are instantaneously recognisable. In this example, the opening sequence contained sounds of a type writer as the names of the actors were being shown – followed by the opening scene of the teenage boy writing on a typewriter. From this, the audience can gather that the drama within the film is going to centre around a boy who isn’t completely regular as he is still into vintage techniques rather than the new age digital technologies – making it an alternative coming of age film. Further on, another convention is the use of dull, gritty lighting quite low saturation throughout unlike action movies. In ‘The perks of being a wallflower’ the opening scene is lowly lit, with partial lighting and low saturation.

The use of diegetic sounds at the beginning conveys to the audience that the film is in the genre of Drama. Throughout the opening sequence there is diegetic sound of a type writer being used. This sets a tone and atmosphere of the film for the audience - being an ‘alternative’ style film which can be seen as gritty and quite raw.

The use of a teenage average looking boy as a major character follows the conventions of all coming of age films. The main character “Charlie” is made to look young, somewhat vulnerable and relatable, due to the way he acts, is dressed – however the typewriter portrays suggestions of him being an outcast. This consequently allows the target audience of alternative teenagers that may be classed as outcasts to be able to fully relate to the character of Charlie as even from the opening scene there are suggestions on what type of person he is portraying.

The mise-en-scene allows the audience to predict the type of film that they are viewing. For example, throughout the opening scene the colour, lighting and camera language complement each other as the colour is desaturated, the lighting is low (night time) quite underexposed, and the camera is hand held and tilted following the movements of the moving car. All of those factors contribute into making the opening scene seem gritty, raw and quite vulnerable – unsteady which can be seen as reflecting on the way that the major characters within the film are as people through their adolescence in this coming of age film.


The editing used contained quite slow pace cuts throughout the opening scene. These slow cuts were successfully used when filming under the bridge with the handheld camera as the pace of the filming was quick due to the camera being handheld therefore if fast pace cuts were used it would have overwork the scene. These cuts transferred the shot from being a long shot into a mid-shot of areas such as the bridge ceiling.

TECHNICAL CODES

1. Use of both diegetic such as accents and ambient noises that represent reality.

2. As it’s a hybrid drama meets coming of age, there should also be non-diegetic music playing during certain scenes.

3. (Extreme) close ups throughout, in order to display emotions of the characters as it’s a drama.

4. There shouldn’t be any form of CFI or SFX within the film as that defeats the point – as it conveys fantasy instead of reality.

5. Use of establishing shots in order to introduce the character’s to convey their social status, and social class status.

6. Use of insert shots in order to break up scenes to avoid the film being mundane or being shot at angles that are too similar/repetitive.

7. As it’s a coming of age, typically scenes that are filmed in a school usually use low and high angles when representing the different social groups making some seem inferior and other superior.

8. Another technical code is the use of handheld cam in order to create the feel of rawness and grittiness of reality.

9. Usually in coming of age movies the protagonist who is throughout seen as inferior are involved in a fight, throughout there are many quick jump cuts involved.

10.Dramas usually contain voice overs in order to imply what is going on in their head/their thoughts.



thing we will change/alter to make our film opening sequence unique…

• The location, as most coming of age films contain scenes of school, however during my groups opening scene it will be set in the coast to provide metaphors of emotions within the characters.


SYMBOLIC CODES

1. Use of low key lighting (narrative) because need to keep film looking raw.

1. Use of social realism to relate to the current time also to the atmosphere of the location of where the film is going to be set.
2. coming of age therefore the set conventions state that the age of the characters is between 15-19 and the social class is more or less working class/students.
3. Ethnicity/race/sexuality is usually white female more than male also sexual orientation is straight.
4. Genre iconography - TV, branded clothing, school bag, bank account cards, school banks, CD's, DVDs, Magazines and Posters relating to the audience (young adults and teenagers)
5. Inter-textual references the interrelationship between texts, relating to Stuart Hall’s theory of audience reception.
6. Mode of address – relaxed, casual in order to relate to the audience, direct eye contact with the camera used often.

THINGS WE WILL CHANGE - USP

The symbolic code that we will be change in the film is the ethnicity/race/sexuality. Usually within coming of age film, there is usually white females rather than male, whose sexual orientation is straight. We’re going to juxtapose this convention to make the main character black or mixed or Asian also the sexuality of the character is questionable as this isn’t the main topic of the film but it does play a part. The reason for not ‘white’ female is the in the film is that it’s generic as in all films which are coming of age the protagonist is so we want to challenge that.

EVALUATION OF PRELIM

What techniques where used in ‘Final cut pro’?

Through the use of final cut pro I was able to create transitions between the shots as well as being able to control the length of the shot, the volume of the shot, the brightness and contrast and pace of the shot. These swift transitions were essential as they allow the audience to view the conversation without long pauses or interruptions etc.

How was every member involved in the filming and editing process, what went well and what could be improved?

Originally, the group was split into two pairs, however due to certain complications – there was a change in the original groups combining the group to form a group of 4 people. This includes myself, Jodian, Gabija, and Aimie. Due to the changes of the groups, there was also a change of narrative (conversation/theme). The script was decided upon by the four of us, then Aimie was nominated to write the script, then from the script we was able to create a storyboard, which was divided between Gabija and Aimie. When it came to filming, Jodian was behind the camera throughout as Gabija and I were acting in the piece. After the footage was shot, I edited most of the footage with the help of Jodian. I believe that team work is extremely important when working on any type of footage, in this case the prelim footage showing a conversation – as doing it alone would be completely impossible. The group that I was in worked well together despite the original set back due to the even distribution of work for each member. Overall, the only thing that could have improved would be getting actors/actresses from other groups, as Gabija and I missed out on being able to actually film.

How did you meet the brief – 180 degree rule & match on action?

The brief was met by shooting many of the same shots in different angles and distances which helped with creating smoother cuts between shots such as the match on action, which was done by placing the camera outside of the door/room and having a long shot of me walking through the door to enter the room where the conversation is set. After this shot there was another shooting, this time from the inside of the room with the camera still facing the door showing me entering the room through the door, this change between shots creates the natural effect on the audience as it seems normal – this shot is only perfected through the editing process as the transition has to be completely correct or the shot will be unsuccessful. The match-on-action is followed by the walk around the room that was stated in the brief, during this walk there was a pan to the left as I walked through the room to create ‘distance’ this was shot was a mid-shot. The brief also states that there must be a scene where the main character sits down in a chair, during this shot I sat down however the camera wasn’t facing me as it was facing Gabija (interviewer) this was because the shots seemed to transition smoother this way. The 180 degree rule was created by filming the whole narrative sequence twice, once facing me and another facing Gabija (interviewer) this ensures that the shots do not alter angles or change positions allowing the audience to understand the text/conversation without disruptions.

                                                       FINAL PRELIM VIDEO


cast : Justina Stasiunaite
         Gabija