And now the end is near....

And so I've reached, my final blog postttttt.

I'd like to congratulate my good friend Mitchell on us both reaching the end of this brilliant task.


Sing it Frank....

Evaluation: Part 8; Preliminary Task

Looking back at our preliminary task, it's hard to believe that it was done so long ago.




This is my evaluation of the preliminary task

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The preliminary task was invaluable. We learnt a lot of rules that we applied in our final production.

The 180 degree rule: We needed this in our first scene between Jamie and the teacher. At one point we had shot some footage over the shoulder, we then went to film the two shot but crossed the 180 degree line, we noticed this after reviewing the footage on the camcorder on set. We then re-filmed with the 180 degree rule in mind. This is something we also did in our preliminary task for a two shot, where we had to completely rearrange the set in order to observe the 180 degree rule and maintain continuity and therefore verisimilitude.

The rule of thirds: We observed the rule of thirds mainly in the scene between Jamie and his teacher, though it was observed throughout the opening sequence as you can see in the two screenshots below. This basic composition rule helped our overall finish, giving it professional qualities.

Screenshot from our evaluation

It was good to use the HD camcorder in a test run before the real production, as this was our time for finding out how to get around the device and test how well it captured different lighting and sound. I think our task was successful creative wise, it had a strong simple theme of humour and general high jinx. Post production was a big part of the task too, it's amazing how different the first draft is to the final.




Looking at the differences between the initial draft and final the main improved is the audio. From seeing this I made sure that special attention was paid to the audio in our BSR production. The song used underneath the voiceover is a track a friend of mine, Reece Alexander, produced, he goes by the name of "ReeceA". When we wrote out our treatment I instantly thought of this track as it fits the pace and feel of the themes and the voiceover fits well over it. With the massive bonus that I have full permission to use it as he's completely independent.




The weak point of our preliminary task was the missing footage, which we replaced with this clip:

This ruined the continuity of our task. We remembered this mishap when we were recording our BSR production and was sure to not only film each shot at least three times but to check the footage on set and tick off each shot on the list.





We kept the same flare and creativity that we put in to our preliminary task, maintaining the pace and excitement. I believe that as much as the pieces are completely different they do reflect similar styles and moods.

Evaluation: Task 7; Technologies

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Evaluation: Task 6; Attracting/Addressing our audience

Our YouTube video for audience feedback

Evaluation: Task 5; Representation of social groups

Representation of groups was something we spent a lot of time planning in Pre-production.

Also the body language and composition of this shot enforces the subversion of stereotypical authority. 

We wanted to both use and subvert stereotypes. In the first scene between the teacher and Jamie we explore the theme of authority, the points that the teacher is making are valid to the insinuated life choices Jamie is making, however with jamie arguing back to the teacher we subvert the stereotype that this authority figure is in fact in power and control. The voiceover furthers this subversion as Jamie challenges the stereotype of the typical "9to5" routined lifestyle. And then the title is brought in to focus at the end "Who are the real wasters here?" to again subvert the social ideology that people who take drugs and live to party are of the worst social group.

Apart from the teacher at the start of the opening sequence this stage dancer is the only other female shown in the production. We chose to conform to Laura Mulvey's theory of "The Male Gaze" which states that women are shown in media products as something for males to look at. Her provocative dancing and minimal costume anchors this connotation.

The meeting scenes show Jamie and his friends as a gang, the graffiti behind them and iconic connotations of stairwells anchor the connotation of these friends being a "gang", conforming to the stereotype of gang culture within urban youth groups. However this initial representation isn't carried on as there is no violence shown, or any other stereotypical "gang" behaviour. In fact the representation we wanted to created for the raving group is that they were just young boys who were only in the pursuit of a good time.

However, this shot at 1:45 of a raver in a bunny mask is quite menacing and could be seen as intimidating to the viewer, signifying that some members of the society are pursuing different things. Although this could be read by the target audience as fun and it could be viewed as a guy just having a laugh and means no harm. This second reading is the one we were going for which was successful from feedback we received from our target audience.

The editing in the first scene between the teacher and Jamie is slow and basic continuity editing, we did this gives the scene verisimilitude. The slow cuts, basic straight on angles, over the shoulder and two shots signify the mundane, boring mood of school life from the perspective of Jamie. This then changes when we meets his friends, the cuts are fast, with jump cuts to insinuate the fast paced, thrill with no fill lifestyle of Jamie and his friends. There is a jump cut (shown above) where Jamie takes a pill, we see the pill go in, this jumps to him drinking, then jumps to shaky footage of a rave. These fast cuts again signify the fast pace of the ravers life and connote the action of the drugs he's taking.

Evaluation: Part 4; Textural Analysis

Our YouTube video with textural analysis commentary
 

Evaluation: Part 3; Film4

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Evaluation: Part 2; Target Audience

This is our YouTube video for the evaluation of our target audience

Evaluation: Task 1; Overview of the brief

For this coursework we had to make a two minute opening sequence to a fictional British social realism film with titles for Film4, aimed at a British Audience of 16-24 year olds.

       The title we chose was "Wasters". We decided this would be the most appropriate and fitting title as it connotes a waste of life, youth and potential, however this title is ironic and provocative as at the end Jamie asks the audience the question to think "Who are the real wasters here?" as in the stereotypical 9to5 workers against the squatting, care free ravers. The 9to5 workers view is signified in the opening sequence with Jamie's teacher saying Jamie's throwing his school career away when he then justifies this with the voiceover picking out aspects of the teachers life "worrying about bills and what colour you're gonna paint the kitchen, dreaming your dreams" and then saying that he's living his dreams.

Like we stated in our treatment, our opening sequence explores gritty rave culture- shown in the fast paced cuts of real rave footage

 Drug abuse - shown in the meeting scene where drugs are handled, speed is racked up and a pill is taken.

and Anti-authority where Jamie is arguing with his teacher

These themes are common to the BSR genre. These themes are all true to life, with no high concept, they just explore everyday working class life with no glamour.

Evaluation: Permission for use of the song

The E-Mail from ReeceA giving us full permission to use "Censorsh*t"

Our final Production "Wasters"

The end product!

Production: Call Sheet 4

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Production: Call sheet 3

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Production: Call sheet 2

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Production: Call sheet 1

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Pre-Production: Storyboard

The storyboard for the rest of our sequence, following on from the shooting script.

Production: Shooting Script for first scene.

This is our shooting script for the first scene of our opening sequence. After this is a montage of shots and titles which we have storyboarded.

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Production: Production Log Week 6 + Recci

This week we were focusing on the shooting script and production schedule. We've pretty much got every mapped out now. Fairly confident with all the decisions made but we're leaving room for change in certain places, depending on some limitations on shots, such as lighting, noise etc.

We had a look at some possible shooting locations too, such as this stairway. The lighting was really good here. As apposed to the alley we were initially going to film in, but the lighting was too bad.

Getiing everyone together at the same time is going to be a pain as everyone has college/work commitments and most of them are just plain lazy!

This is a picture we found online of a rave that happened in Holborn. The thing I like about this picture is the levels everyones at. There are people literally covering the walls and it really communicates the anti-authority aspect and feel of raving.

Pre-Production: Production Log Week 5

This week we have been focusing on the monologue that will run throughout our opening sequence. Sorting out the direction of the monologue has been the key problem... Deciding whether to have Jamie walking through his life or a night out but then to have him focused on talking about his life or pointing out the flaws in the teachers and the general 9to5 routine.

One scene we looked at was the monologue from Made In Britain.

In this monologue Trevor directs his speech at authority.

                                                             Another we looked at was in Kes.

In this speech that Billy delivers to the class, he talks about his ambitions and hopes, that he won't have to go into mining later on in life. And talks passionately about his falcon, which has been his hobby.

We're taking aspects of these two monologues and merging them with the inspiration we had prior from watching the opening to trainspotting.  

Pre-Production: Production Log 4

Really looked in to target audiences this week and got some really good research down in the form of Vox Pox. Luckily our results matched up with what we'd planned so far, after analysing our Vox Pox we were happy to write up our treatment in confidence that we were targeting the right audience.

The institutions that are involved in making BSR films are all targeted to roughly the same audience. So our production company being Film4, we'll be sticking to their ethos and ideologies.

This week we also picked a soundtrack to play underneath our main monologue. It's going to be a track by my friend Reece (ReeceA) who makes his own deep house modestep music. He's started a label with a friend called HLFPIN and they've given me full permission to use their track on our production.

It could possibly be this track called "Censorsh*it"

"Censorsh*t" by -Ree¢e∆ -

Pre-Production: Production Log 3

 This week we focused on Titles... Knowing that a big chunk of the marks are for titles we knew we'd have to do something special. The titles we'd seen in previous productions weren't great, a lot of them just used standard fonts in white against black backgrounds... We saw this as a massive waste. Huge! So we started thinking about it and quickly got the idea of writing the titles in a graffiti typography.

We were happy with that but it needed a little more so we decided to surround the titles with drug paraphernalia. Things like bunches of pills, crushed up sugar in little bags, cigarettes etc. 

Rocks of MDMA. We will use either rock salt of pop rocks (candy).

Little baggy of MDMA powder. Again salt or pop rocks but crushed up.






Cocaine and a rolled £20 note. We will use icing sugar.

Cigarettes. We will use cigarettes, simply.

By using graffiti we are communicating the themes of squatting and raving. By using drug images we're also communicating the main theme of drugs, which also goes with squatting and raving. 

I'm going to try animating these images on the titles. I've got a pretty good idea of how to do it, by creating layers on Final Cut Express but I'll do some preliminary tests on this to check it's possible. 

Also this week we concreted the conventions of an opening sequence and learnt exactly what needs to be put in them and what should be kept out. We're going to set down the main themes in our opening sequence, not giving too much plot away but letting the audience know the tone and style of the film from the very start. A little enigma would be quite good also, we'll think more on that later.

Pre-Production: Production Log (Week 2)

This week we learnt about what makes a British social realist film.


Mise-en-scene.

So basically it uses average "everyday" looking people. Not stunning "Hollywood" looking people.
Theres a lot of on location shooting, as for the real life, gritty feel; as apprised to expensive man made sets all filmed in film studios.
Another thing that stood out was the detailed costumes. It was really convicting that the people shown were part of a certain group/era... Like in "This is England" where the skinheads wear check, Ben Sherman shirts, braces and Dr Martens.

Camera Work

Very minimal, there isn't budget for huge expensive camera rigs for excessive movement. This is good for BSR because its more true to life, the raw, rough and ready footage feel.

There's a lot of "arty" angles. Creating shots that if made in to stills would look like art. This is similar of the composition and framing of these shots which add to this artistic effect.

Editing

Again, very basic. A lot of continuity editing. Keeps it realistic and steers it away from any high concept.





I'll take from this the detailed costume and basic style of editing and camera movement. And will look to create some interesting shot compositions.

Pre-Production: 5 Part Narrative Structure

This is our 5 Part Narrative following McKee's theory

Pre-Production: Daily Call Sheet

This is our call sheet for the 13th of March

Pre-Production: Titles

Titles

For our titles we have commissioned a friend to write all of them out in a typical graffiti style, such as the one shown below. However ours will be much clearer. To show these we will be scattering drug paraphernalia around them and taking photos. These are two main themes of our film and we're very happy that out titles will be communicating them strongly.

List of Titles:

1. HalfOunce Presents 
2. A MainFilm Production 
3. Directed by David Salisbury
4. Starring James McRoy
5. Elliot Saunders
6. Harry O'Connor
7. And introducing Ross Garside
8. Music By ReecaA
9. "Title Of The Film" TBC

Pre-Production: Recci Shots

Recci Shots

This is a typical location of an abandoned building in Crystal Palace where a squat rave would take place. This is somewhere we may record.

This is what a rave would look like inside. This rave is quite a big one and therefore has a lot of expensive decor and lighting. Such as the big arch on the main stage and big flame lights.

Pre-Production: Production Schedule

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This is our production schedule. Changes will be made if there are any problems or editing with the schedule.

Pre-Production: Post Secret Inspiration (Beachcombing)

"I started to use drugs to be closer to some of my friends. Now I use to drugs because no one is close anymore."

Our idea has this story entwined in it. The idea that this person got involved with drugs to fit in to a social group but then fell to far in to it that he ended up falling out of it again. Just like our protagonist who is brought in to the scene by a friend and agrees not necessarily because of pressure but just for the casual want to fit in. But then loses his friends as he loses control of his habit.

Seeing this real life confession adds an empathetic tone to our production, however I'm glad that our idea is realistic and is something that genuinely happens in real life as this fits the ethos of the BSR genre and Film4.

Pre-Production: Analysis For Our Vox Pox audience research

What age do you think our protagonist should be?


People said around the age of 16-24. The majority going for the lower band. A lot of people said 18 because this is the legal age to drink and get in to clubs etc but our focus is on illegal waves of which you don't need I.D and one of the main themes of our film is coming of age so we're going to go with the age of 17 for our protagonist. 


What gender do you think our protagonist should be?


90% of the people asked said our protagonist should be male. We were happy this response as we were pretty set on it being a male. The main reason being that this is just more realistic as the majority of ravers are male and we wanted to subvert the stereotype of females being vulnerable. So we're showing a young male getting pulled into drugs and the culture. 


What do you think of our idea?


Everyone we asked gave positive feedback for our idea. We were told a lot that it was "original" and "realistic", which is exactly what we wanted, this is in keeping with the ethos of the BSR genre, along with Film4. We were given props as we were told it would raise awareness for these issues that are becoming more and more common within the target audience. We were also pleased with this as it meant our idea wasn't mainstream.




What are your views on drugs being included in films?


People understood that for our film to be realistic we would have to include and show drugs in it. Only one person said to leave them out, saying that it would be promoting them and going against the message we were trying to communicate with the audience. However we're showing the negatives of drugs, putting them in a bad light so we're definitely going to show drugs in our film. A lot of people said it was good because it was happening and film companies try to keep this out of films usually as people don't want to see the truth, what's actually going on in todays society. 




What controversial issues would you like to see?


This was the most vaguely answered question, with people not being able to answer down to the fact they didn't really know what controversial issues were. With a little information we found that people wanted to see racism and violence with most just agreeing that the illegal rave and drug issues were quite enough! 




What are your favourite BSR films?


Most people said Kidulthood/Adulthood. Two people said Four Lions and one person said each of these: Happy Go Lucky, Trainspotting, Attack the Block, Made in Britain, Football Factory, This is England, Greenstreet. We were happy with this as our film would be most similar to Adulthood/Kidulthood and so gives us a green light for our target audience. 

Pre-Production: Secondary Research on London Squat Parties

After scrolling through a vigorous amount of reviews, forums and websites I found an article of 'The Evening Standard' which tells the story of a reporters first hand expeirence at one of London’s more rough Squat parties from an outsiders point of view.

-London squat party Article.

From reading through this we have gathered an idea some of the more important themes with in a realistic squat party. For example, taking drugs is obviously a theme, consequently, this means drugs dealers are also a huge part of the scene.
     Another crucial theme of the concept is to feel free from society and feel as one when everyone is partying together. A squat party is the young person’s form of escapism from society’s restrictions and norms.
      One of the other reasons that we can see from this article is that legal clubs are restricting the way that parties are run. The laws and rules prevent these type of people from fulfilling there idea of a good night - anything a normal person enjoys such as socialising, drinking and dancing, with the addition of factors such as cannabis, class A, informal dress codes, grafting and obviously the main difference in music.
     Which leads us on to the most important difference in the two cultures - taste in music. Squat parties revolve around music genres such as DNB, Jungle, Dubstep and various forms of Trance (pretty much anything which a massive bass line and fast pace). However, the more commercial form of clubber may listen to 'popular culture' music such as RNB, Dance, Commercial Dubstep, and pretty much anything you hear on Capital FM.

These factors are all helping us to shape the form of our opening sequence by including these vital themes and making the opening sequence seem and feel more realistic to portray a solid message about the culture of raving and squat parties.

Pre-Production: Treatment

"Troubled teenager finds a new world in the UK rave scene. Falls too far in to get back up, but would he even want to?"

Title

TBC

Target Audience

Age: 16-24.

Gender: 80% Male. 20% Female.

Interests: Raving, Electronic dance music, Partying, Fashion, Graffiti/Street art, MC-ing, DJ-ing.

Other Media Consumption: Films, Social networking sites, Blogs, YouTube, Magazines (Dazed&Confused, Wonderland, VICE).

Class: Working & Middle.

The themes and representations of our film will appeal to our target audience (TA) through Uses & Gratifications (U&G) theory of Personal Identity, by seeing the rave culture and how it's represented on screen one would be able to relate it to their own life and their representations of the people involved, therefore setting up comparisons of a fairly controversial lifestyle. The film could also relate to personal, second hand experiences they might of had (friends taking the same route of our protagonist). This then links to U&G theory of Social Relationships as one might watch the film to imitate relationships they don't, but would like to have in real life and also as a conversation matter between their peers. 

      The narrative of the film will appeal to our target audience

      The main USP of our film is that it provides an insight into a controversial culture that isn't commonly explored. Our film therefore appeals to our TA through U&G theory Surveillance/Information as one could watch the film to weigh up the risks of getting in to the raving lifestyle, or to simply gain an insight in to what it's like.

Technology

For our production we will be using a HD camcorder for the majority of the filming and an iPhone 4 for the POV rave footage. The HD camcorders will better the finish and overall style of our production, however they are devices that only one of us has used and so our experience is limited and so learning how to use these to a proficient standard will be time consuming 

     For our post production we will be using Final Cut Express® as our primary editing software, this will give us the tools necessary to advance our style of editing as we feel that we would be limited using iMovie. The limitations of this is that neither of us can use the software to a proficient standard as of yet and so will be learning as we go along, which therefore will again be quite time consuming. 

Representations

Our Protagonist, Jamie Petch, is a 17 year old male from the suburbs of London. He is introduced to the scene through an older friend, Jack Adams who used to live local.

We feel that Propp's character types aren't applicable to our storyline. This is a theory mainly explored in high concept, mainstream, Hollywood films. However we will use Goffman's character theory theory:

1. The bit player (minor character whose specific background the audience is not aware of) - This will be Jack Adam's older brother who warms Jamie about getting out of the rave scene, we don't even learn his name but he is key to the turn of the film.
2. The fool (a character that uses humor to convey messages) - This will be Barry McDermot. He just never seems to be down, portraying a positive image on drugs. It seems like nothing effects him in a negative way, always cracking jokes and making people laugh
3. The deuteragonist (secondary character) - We feel that Jack Adams best suits this character type rather than Propp's "antagonist" label, because Jack doesn't intentionally drag Jamie down. He doesn't purposely clash or obscure Jamies goals and in his death motivates Jamie to turn his life around.

Our film will intially subvert the typical representations of squatter/raver community as the first half of the film shows the highs and positives of this lifestyle and the people involved. However this representation changes around mid way in the film where Jamie, after Jacks death, want's to get out but receives no help from his supposed 'friends'. This shows the stereotypical representation of the afore said group being selfish and detached.


Narrative

Our film follows a teenage boy from the outskirts of London as he falls into the squat party/rave lifestyle and goes off the rails. He thinks everything's going great but doesn't realise that all the securities of his old life are slipping through his fingers. When he loses one of his best mates to a drug overdose, reality kicks back in and he realises he wants his old life back, but it's too late. 

Our opening sequence starts off with Jamie's teacher confronting him about his recent slant in effort, attendace and overall wellbeing/appearance. This sparks a speech from a seemingly quiet Jamie, this monolgue then continues as a voiceover for the rest of the sequence, the things he talks about are shown in seperate footage through crosscutting. For example when talking about the raves themself, real footage shot using 'free camera' technique is shown.

The camera movement will be minimal to connote the lack of funds for a typical BSR film and this will add to the realistic representation of the subjects and topics explored. Our rave footage will be shaky, this is an idea we got from the opening sequence of 'Cathy Come Home' (1964, Ken Loach) where a similiar technique is used when Cathy and her friend are walking down the street.

     Our opening sequence will use real life, urban, locations, which will signify the gritty, true to life, working class environments. This is a major convention of the BSR genre. Used also for budget restrictions.

    We will be introducing the themes instead of the plot of the film. Also we will be including titles for instiutional comapanys, actors and key crew. There will be use of super imposed graphics and engaging music.

Conventions

There will be a big focus on costume; One, because this will be a realistic representation of the raving culture and Two, because these costumes are ones we have to hand and therefore will keep the budget low.
Our main themes are drugs, niche music and coming of age. These are key themes of the BSR genre, therefore we are conforming to the BSR conventions through the inclusion of said themes. The first half of our film could be seen as slightly high concept (showing the high points of the culture, this is only done to create a more shocking contrast when everything falls apart in the second half of the film. This then conforms to the grity tone of BSR films. This could be seen as a hybrid element, which we take on as part of our USP.


Style & Iconography

We will use minimal camerawork when showing Jamie in his normal day to day life. We will be communicating the mundane, slow pace of his life with stationary shots and abstract/canted angles. But when showing the rave scenes we will use the 'shaky/free camera' technique. This will connote how busy and hectic this scene is and excite the audience, leaving them waiting for the weekend in the film, along side jamie.
    
Again with editing we will use very simple editing techniques through Jamie's school week, lots of continuity editing to connote the realistic movements of his day to day life. Long takes will be included in these sections too along with long shot reverse shots. However at the rave scenes lots of jump cuts will be used to connote the intoxication and we will experiment with the effects of 'seeing double' to further this too.

We will be using typical raving costume, this is available to us through friends. Props will be drugs (not real) to signify that the main theme of drugs in the film. There will also be alcohol and possibly condoms to connote the underage sex which was asked for in our Vox Pox.

The main sound will be a monologue from Jamie over the top of a fairly calm but upbeat electronic track made by a friend of mine, who's given be full permission to use it. The monologue will walk the audience through the positive aspects of the culture, slating anything that goes against it. We also may use some sound from footage we have from real raves, depending on what we can get permission for.



Institution

The production company being Film4, means that we will have to abide by certain ideologies to maintain the company's ethos. Given this we will be producing a gritty, true to life BSR film. Which is based around working class people in urban areas dealing with everyday struggles which on a wider scale aren't really that significant.

We would go with 'Dogwoof Indie' as the distributors of our film. They are a London based company who we believe would be interested in our film for the themes and ideologies explored. Whereas a bigger, more mainstream company would be solely focused on making a profit.

We would enter our film in to festivals: Sundance, Cannes, Raindance... Hopefully we would then pick up a contract for a string of art houses. As for home exhibition we would have it put up on LoveFilm, Apple, YouTube Rentals and Film4OD. These are easily accessible and cheap for each party, reaching a wide audience for a little budget. These New Media Technology mediums of home exhibitionwould appeal to our 16-24 year old target audience as computers are part of their everyday lives.

Pre-Production: Our Vox Pox. Audience Research

Pre-Production: 25 Word Pitch

"Troubled teenager finds a new world in the UK rave scene. Falls too far in to get back up, but would he even want to?"

Pre-Production: Sound Analysis for AdULTHOOD opening sequence

Sound is a big part of the opening sequence for AdULTHOOD. The first 55 seconds is a flash back to fill the audience in on what happened in the first film, Kidulthood.
      We then hear a beat to a grime song with the sound of traffic in the background, the traffic uses sound perspective to show the cars getting closer, then the whole beat comes in with 'Ghetts' rapping, a popular grime artist in London, this is at first non-diagetic but there is a sound bridge to where we see the sound system playing the song. The lyrics are about how Ghetts likes to party and drink alcohol this is synchronous sound as the film is showing people dancing who are probably drunk. There is also a shot of two black male youths rolling up and sparking a zoot of weed which we hear them breathe in and out. Through this whole scene there is the diegetic sound of people dancing and shouting which is also synchronous sound as we can see them doing this, all of these circumstances connote they are at a rave, which will most definitely be illegal, which goes with all the things Ghetts and the other rappers are talking about in the song. All of these aspects, the drink, drugs and busy party life appeals to the niche British, working class, audience as they can relate to the things said and the issues dealt with.
      The accent that the young characters speak with connotes that they are from London and their dialogue is filled with colloquialisms which would connote that they are working class. This would appeal to someone from a working class background who is familiar with the dialect and language used.
     Other key sounds are the smashing of a car window, the struggle of a fight and a gun shot. This is all foley sound, created in pre-production. This sound connotes the rougher side of the lifestyle, this would appeal to people who are currently involved in this lifestyle, to gain an insight from a different perspective or someone who is familiar with it, lives around it.
    The sound in the opening sequence to AdULTHOOD sets up many of the key themes for the film, drugs, grime music and violence. It's a big part in the representation of the key group of characters. I like that the song has a lot to do with what's being seen on screen. I also think like the way the sound bridge ties in the busy motorway with the rave, establishing that the area is urban and full of life, the themes of the song suggesting why the area is so busy and full of life! I will look to make a similar connection in my production.

Pre-Production: Audience research questions for vox pops

What are some BSR films you like?

Age of protagonist?

Gender of protagonist?

What do you think of our idea?

What controversial issues would you like to see in a BSR?

What are your views on illicit drugs being shown in films?

Pre-Production: Conventions of Opening Sequences (Blue Valentine)

Director

Quite obviously the directors name is shown to tell the audience who directed the film, how ever this could be a selling point for the film if the director is known or acclaimed. The font is quite stylish, quite modern and the colour is off white, almost a faded beige, this connotes that the film will be quite stylish, with a nice finish and that it will be soft, as beige is a less contrasting colour than white on a black background.

Introducing Characters

Quite a few characters are shown in this opening sequence, the main ones are these two, played by Ryan Goslin and Michelle Williams. They have the majority of the screen time this connotes that they will be the main characters in the film and the chosen pictures of them are all either hugs, kisses or lifts. All are quite intimate and emotional, this symbolises to the audience that the film will be about their relationship. And so allows them to set their expectations.

Actors

The main actors names are mentioned, Ryan Gosling is the key selling cast in this film as he was also an executive producer for it as well. The actors names are used to inform the audience who's in the film, this may even be one of the main reasons someone might go to see the film, this makes naming the actors quite an important convention to include. The audience would set up expectations for the film due to type casting, for example, if you see that Jason Statham is in a film, there's a good chance there won't be a lot of romance but you would expect a lot of action and fighting. Ryan Gosling is known for quite serious films, usually dramas mixed with romance.

Film Title

The title of the film is shown for obvious reasons, to tell the audience the title of the film. This title allows the audience to set expectations for the film. Valentine is linked with love, so there will almost certainly be a love story however Blue isn't the colour we would usually link with love, we'd usually use red and so this connotes that this might not be a happy love story but one with a sad underlying tone. Again set in off white to create a softer effect and written in what looks to be Helvetica, typical stylish font, typically hip, connotes style and trendiness.  

Producers

This is to let the audience know who the producers were for the film, this again can be used as a selling point if not purely informational or for credibility. If a producer is fairly well known then he or she will most probably have a genre that they are known for and so the audience will set up an expectation of the film based on the usual work of a certain producer. 

Introduce Themes/Ideology

The dancing position along with the eye contact, smile and red roses connote that a main theme in this film will be love and romance. This establishes the genre as it hints quite loudly that the main theme is love, the audience would pick up on this genre and then create expectations from it. The colour palette is a lovely golden orange/yellow, it's all very low lit romanticism and really quite stylish.

Super Imposed Graphics

This title and the majority of the others are super imposed on to images in the background, these images are then masked cleverly by the sparks of CGI fireworks. The images on the back ground is a still image with a very light ken burns effect applied to it, the super imposed titles are also still however by the movement of the 'fireworks' the whole shot becomes very alive whilst maintaining a calm, slow build. Again conforming to the pace and style of the romantic genre.

Intrigue/Enigma

There are many different images of different people hugging each other, kissing, embracing and crashed out on the floor. With no words intrigue is created and our brains start to work out who loves who and what caused this relationship to happen or to fall apart. The masking fireworks effect is a big help in creating this intrigue too as you never see the full image only parts and so are left trying to work out the rest of the image. Already the audience is trying to piece together a puzzle, this creates the expectation that this film will be a bit of a puzzle itself.

Engaging Music

The song played is called Alligator by a band called Grizzly Bear. Jim Elton, the Editor, said  "Everything about this song was right, from the tone to the lyrics to the cinematic quality it lends to the sequence." And he's right, it's a strange piece of music, it has almost a dream like quality, like something you would hear as you were falling in to a deep sleep. It's unnatural but has many major lifts and beautiful romantic chords. However it's not all beautiful and straight which is why it works so well. The audience would feel both unnerved by the music whilst finding it quite pleasant, I would think.