Commission Unit: workshop

On the Thursday and Friday of last week we did a workshop which involved us shooting our own mini documentary which would involve a certain type of interview technique that can be used in a documentary. I was put into a group with Dan, Fran and Matt and the interview technique we were asked to use was of both the interviewer and interviewee with things such as noddies added in.
We decided to interview myself about my opinion on the UCA Broadcast Media course and my general view on student life. We had 2 days lasting around 6 hours each to complete this little project, and here is the final outcome:

I really enjoyed this project and it made me understand a lot more about what is involved in shooting a interview for a documentary. 

Direction Unit

So here it is, my final scene all edited and finished! Hope you like it!

Direction Unit- Deadline

OK, so today was D-day and by that I mean the dreaded deadline day! After a few extremely stressful hours of last minute tweaking to my 3 minute scene I finally gave my project in. I have a few problems with it, for example the major one being how long it is. But i also am very pleased with the final product especially the sound side of things. When i think back I have enjoyed this unit even though i knew from the beginning that being a director was not my favourite thing to do! But I put all my effort into getting the best outcome that i could and I am pleased with the final piece!

Direction unit- prep work for shoot.

So before i started shooting my 3 minute scene I did quite a lot of preparation work for it. This is so that i could have as many decisions made and almost everything planned out before the day and not leave it until the last minute.
Here is the shot list that i did for the shoot day:


Establishing shot of kitchen.
Long shot of all three characters playing out scene
M/S Jo playing out scene
C/U Jo playing out scene
M/S Maddie playing out scene
C/U Maddie playing out scene
M/S Hennie playing out scene
C/U Hennie playing out scene
Pick up’s:
C/U lime being thrown, camera following it
C/U Lime being thrown to the side
M/S Maddie and Hennie’s reaction to ‘yeah hes hot’

Here is my script break down which shows all the props, location, who the cast are and who the crew are:


Location: Westree Court

Props: dining table, candles, vodka bottles, glasses, lime, magazines

Costume: Lynette (Hennie Clough)- Jeans, loose fitting t shirt, black shows.
     Gabi (Maddie Ireland)- tight running leggings, tight vest top, trainers.
     Susan (Jo Coulson)- vest top, jeans, cardigan, boots.

Crew: Sound and camera: Dan
Camera assistant: Dean

I found that these things all helped to make the running of my shoot a lot smoother!

Direction unit- project update

So I had my shoot for my direction unit on Friday and i have to say even though I found it very stressful, I enjoyed it too! As i was expecting not everything went to plan, for example the kitchen I did my shoot in was not very well lit so i had to get some lights in to make it appear brighter then it was.
I found it useful that I had prepared things such as mu shot list and props all ready before the day of the shoot.
I am now getting ready to edit all of my footage!

Narrative and genre- idea development

Today we had a lecture that was about 'The Hero.'
Simon was explaining to us how there are different types of hero. The general idea of a hero is thought of as a character in a dramatic work, someone of exceptional courage. But not all heroes are super-heroes, they can be 'ordinary heroes.'
Heroes and heroines play a very important role in engaging their audience in a programme.
Today we learnt about several different types of hero. They are the following:

Traditional Hero-
This is what the British like their hero to be like. Usually a man who is firmly of the establishment, retaining a inward strength, who never complains or seeks reward. Examples of this are Superman, Wonderwoman and Spiderman.

Stiff Upper Lip Hero-
The hero who never lets anything get to them, or complains about circumstances that they have been put in. Not running away from anything that is put in front of him/her. An example of this type of hero is Hugh Grants character Charles in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Working Class Hero-
It wasn't until the 20th century that a working class hero was plausible on screen. Until this time leading working class characters were either seen as comic or sinister, or even that they were not even of working class standard and instead were higher up on the social scale. During the late 50's and early 60's there was a 'new wave' of British television dramas, which all started to portray working class heroes, and even more importantly these characters were being portrayed by working class actors. An example of a working class hero is Del Boy from only Fools and Horses.

The Outsider Hero-
This type of hero does not wish to be heroic in the classical sense of the word. They are almost forced into the role of the hero in the programme/film. For example Spiderman, who is clearly a hero, but is forced to be, he would prefer not to be.

The Loser Hero-
This hero succeeds but only thorough having failed first. Could be described as a heroic loser. It could be said that the Loser hero is failing on behalf of the audience. A good example of this type of hero is Bridget Jones.

The Anti Hero-
Still aiming to be heroic, but in order to get to the end heroic result they do everything contray to the archetypal hero. Could be said to be a 'bad hero.' For example Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, who saves the girl but in the process murders etc.

The Reality Hero-
Entertainment and reality based programmes involve this type of hero. the 'hero' is a 'real' person, which makes the audience feel like they can relate to them more. It could be YOU. Example of this hero is Cheryl Cole.

Villain to Hero-
This hero ends up realising the error of their was and becoming the hero of the story. For example The Terminator.

There is one type of hero that i will be focusing on for my essay about the documentary One Born Every Minute. This is the Stiff Upper Lip Hero. I will be focusing on this hero because I believe that the midwives who are in this programme can be seen as this type of hero. I think this because they have to get through all situations during a woman's labour without cracking under the pressure of showing that the pressure is getting to them in anyway. This is because they cannot show the parents that there is anything to stress about. I will look into this more so that I can have more information about it in my essay.

Direction Unit- project update

So for the past couple of days I have been trying to finalise all of my plans for my shoot.

Actors-Everything was going great until 2 of my actors dropped out. This posed a small problem as too what i was going to do, but I have now found some friends who will help me out.

Westree Court, Maidstone.

Location- I have been thinking about the location for my shoot and because i need somewhere that will be accessible for a car to enter and exit the shot I thought that my original idea of a beach setting would not be the best. Because of this I have had a re think and thought that i could use the place where i live- Westree Court. There is a small green which is located right next to a carpark/road. This means it would be easily accessbile for a car to drive in, turn around and drive back out.  I now need to get permission from the accomadation officer Michelle at Westree Court. 

Planning- I have now finished my shot list and almost finished my script break down. i have also done a story board for some of the more complex shots that i feel need more explanation then just what it says on my shot list for my crew.

I am really looking forward to this shoot, and hope the final outcome is as good as i hope it to be!

Commission Unit- Update

So I pitched my idea to Helen and Simon and to my surprise it got picked! I was not expecting that to happen and when i first found out was slightly scared of my idea being on of the chosen ones, but now i can say that I am really excited for my documentary idea to come to life! I am in a group with Maddie and it is up to us to do all the work from pre production, filming and post production as well as all of the re search etc.
Me and maddie have made another blog that will follow our progression of making this documentary.

Direction unit- project update

So I have been having a week or so of extremely hectic planning for my direction unit. I have been trying to get my actors, location, script, shoot schedule, shot list and props and wardrobe all into place and ready to go for when i film my short segment from my chosen drama Desperate Housewives. Here is how things are going so far:

Script- i handed a draft script into Simon and he said it was all fine except for the possibility it would go over my 3 minute time limit. So I have been trying to take lines out here and there from the script which i feel would not be missed if they were not there. This turned out to be tougher then i thought it would be!

Actors- I have 2 main actors and the walk on parts for my filming, but i still need to find one more person, this should not be too hard and hope to find someone in the next day or so.

Location- I have decided that I am going to have my scene set on the beach as it will give a new dimension to this scene but then not take away from what is happening on screen and confuse the audience too much.

Shot list and shooting schedule- I have started my shot list and gone into a lot of detail as to which shots I am wanting to use as i feel it is better to have more options of different shots then less options. My shooting schedule is over a full day.

I will still be doing some more planning so that I am as organised as I can be.

Narrative and genre- research

I have been researching the techniques used for One born Every Minute and have found out a few things.

• The type of documentary it is is called a fixed camera observational documentary. This means that cameras have been set up and fixed to various parts of the maternity ward, for example several labour rooms, the theatre room, reception desk and nurses area, and they are constantly filming. There are many positives to having a set up for filming like this, for example the cameras will be highly unlikely to miss anything important. Also it means that because the cameras are fixed there will not be unesscessary crew getting in the way of the nurses/drs/patients on the ward whilst filming. There are some downsides to choosing a filming technique such as a fixed camera observational documentary too though. For example, because there are so many cameras rolling constantly the editing team ends up with hundreds of hours of footage of which most is not likely to be used at all. This means that the edit team will have to go through the filmed material which could take longer then if you were just filming what you wanted when you wanted. 
• There are also a few portable cameras on the ward at various stages. This is so that the documentary does not feel static all the time and adds some movement to it. This is good because it means that the crew can choose what they want to film and do not have so much stuff to edit and cut down. But it could also cause a problem for the people who work on the ward incase the film crew were to get in the way. 

I will continue my research to see if i can find more filming techniques used by One Born Every Minute. 

Narrative and genre: Idea development

For my narrative and genre unit i have been thinking about what programme i would like to use for the essay. I have come to the final decision that i will use the documentary programme, One Born Every Minute.
One Born Every Minute is a factual series, based on the reality of what a woman goes through when giving birth. It is based in the maternity unit of a hospital and an average episode is following the birthing experience of 2-3 couples. The gripping thing about this programme is that cameras have been set up in every part of the maternity ward, making sure that the viewer gets to see everything, including the most intimate of moments, for example the first time a mother and father meet their new born.
I am really looking forward to researching this programme and how it is filmed.

Narrative and genre: Lecture notes

The story of narrative.


Every drama, documentary, entertainment, news and reality television series uses a story to communicate. To tell a story they all use narrative devices.
Christopher Booker argues that all stories can be broken down into 7 main plot lines:

• Tragedy- 
• Comedy
• Overcoming the monster
• Voyage and return
• Quest
• Rags to riches
• Rebirth

Tragedy- usually concerns a hero with a fatal floor which causes a tragic ending. Examples such as Achilles and Macbeth. The tragic hero gets 'committed to his course of action.'

Examples of television tragedy drama plot lines-

• Madmen
• Shadowline
• Eastenders
• Red Riding.

Comedy- always a happy ending, typically of romantic fulfillment. Usually involves a hero down on their luck, looking for love in some shape or form. The hero and heroine are destined to be together but a dark force is preventing them from doing so. The story conspires to make the dark force repent and then the hero and heroine are free to get together. 

Example of television comedy drama plot lines-

• Friends
• Scrubs
• Gavin and Stacey
• The Office

Overcoming the monster- the fight against a seemingly unbeatable monster at its core. Only will the hero prevail if they overcome the monster.  Examples of television overcoming the monster plot lines: 

• Dr who
• Supernatural
• The Big C
• Deal or No Deal

Voyage and return- follows archetypal structure of personal development through leaving and then returning. The hero usually enters a time/place/land that they don't understand and must overcome hurdles, villians, before succeeding and returning 'home'. About going on a journey of discovery.

Examples of television voyage and return plot lines:

• Secret Millionaire
• Supernanny
• Wife- Swap
• Undercover Boss

Quest- enables for a large sweeping story and great characters. It allows for you to on a journey to get something (have a focus.) Usually requires the hero to have team or companions with them to help. 

Examples of television quest plot lines: 

• Total wipe out
• The Cube

Rags to Riches- the riches can be either literal or metophorical. the hero will go from rags to riches which is mirrored by the protagonist who moves in the opposite direction. A coming of age version would have rags to riches replaced by immaturity and maturity. 

Examples of Rags to Riches plot lines: 

• Forrest Gump
• Pursuit of Happiness
• Only Fools and Horses
• Weakest Link
• Makeover Shows

Re-Birth- the central character finds a new reason for living and turns their life around. It can be seen as a more optimistic form of Tragedy in which the villian spirals into evil and then at the last minute raises their head and gets pulled out by a redeeming figure. 

Examples of Re-birth plot lines:

• Eastenders
• Trainspotting
• Secret Millionaire

Commission Unit- Draft Pitch

I was asked as part of this unit to make a pitch for my documentary idea. The basis of a pitch is to propose an idea to someone and make them want to use your idea.
The do's and donts when pitching your idea include:


Do's 

• Brave and surprising
• passionate and engaging
• challenge conventions- use new angles
• paragraph ideas together
• pitch top line
• know existing output/opportunities
• dialogue with commissioners
• pith the ideas and not the subject matter

Don'ts 

• Lots of ideas in one pitch
• patronise the editors with gimmicks
• water a idea down too soon
• flog a dead horse
• develop a 'off message' e.g not right time slot. 

This is the draft pitch for my documentary idea: 

Draft pitch

Title: Millennium Mum

Location: surrounding areas, which involve the families lives.

Subject: becoming a teen mum in the year 2000 and what peoples opinions on this are and how they have changed since that time.

Style: interviews, archive footage (videos and photographs) and observational.

Central characters: mother, child and the family and friends closest to them.

Conflict of characters: the difference of opinions people have about girls becoming mothers in their teens and how this has changed over the past 10 years.

Characters journey: this documentary will be based on one mother in her teens who had a baby in the year 2000 and how this has changed her life and the people around her lives. I will mostly be concentrating on the mothers point of view with interviews about how she thinks her life would be different and what things she would change if anything about her life now if she had the chance. I will be adding in archive footage of the mothers life before she had her baby and also archive footage from after she had her baby. More archive footage such as photographs and videos of the child growing up will be included with things such as his/her first Christmas, first day at nursery, all the way up to current day and his/her first day at secondary school. I will also be having interviews from the general public about what they think of teen pregnancies and if there opinion on it has changed in the past 10 years.

I will have information from newspapers and tabloids on screen as well showing how teen pregnancies have been covered in the press over the past 10 years. Also statics of teen pregnancies.   

I have been giving some advice as to what i could add to this draft pitch to make it better. I will do this and then re post my final draft.  

Direction Unit- Idea/research

For research i have been watching a lot of episodes of Desperate Housewives and have been thinking about how the show is so so glamourous. The thing that i thought i would be able to do is make it less glamourous. But not so much so that it ends up seeming like i have turned it into a comedy sketch.

Wisteria Lane

Bree Van Der Kamp

For example i wouldn't want to take it from the glossy and glamourous street of Wisteria lane (above) and then change it to the complete opposite which would be a run down, grimy council estate. Another example would be taking one of the many glamourous characters from Desperate Housewives, and replacing them with the complete opposite, which could be a unclean, dirty woman. 

So to stop this from happening I would just make simple changes that can be noticed but don't take it so far that you can't figure out what the programme i choose was in the first place. I had an idea that i would use the basis of a womens book club and that 4 or 5 women meet up to discuss books at a library or one of their houses and intend to talk about the book they have been reading but instead they end up bitching and gossiping. I will do more research into other ideas before i settle on this one for definate.  

Commission Unit- Idea

I have now made my decision on what subject i will be pitching to make a documentary for. I have settled on the idea of using the basis of a mother who gave birth in the year 2000. I will also be filming a mother who had her baby in her teens- a millennium teen mum. I will outline the basic vision i have for this project below:

Title- Teen millennium mum
Basic outline of documentary- this documentary will follow the story of one teenager mother who had her baby in the year 2000. I will want to be documenting how having a baby that was unplanned has changed her life, and if she would change anything. I will be using interviews of the mother herself and her close friends and family to see what all of their opinions are, also i will have interviews from the general public which will express how people felt about teen pregnancies 10 years ago and how they feel about them now, to see if opinion has changed in anyway.
i will then document the journey of both the mothers life before she had her baby and then the mother and baby's life from the year 2000 onwards, using archive footage such as videos and photographs. Other things i am looking to use is factors and figures about teen pregnancies from the last 10 years. Also press cutting and archive footage of media coverage to show the opinions of the media world.

Direction Unit- Research

I have been doing some more research into which scene i think would be good for my 3 minute drama piece. I have found this scene of three of the main characters getting drunk on the proch of one of their houses and thought it fitted well with what i wanted to show. This is because it shows just how nice the area in which the housewives live is. plus it had comical value and emotion all in one. I think i would be able to change it in certain ways.
I will have to cut this scene down slightly though in order to make it the 3 minutes that i have been given.

Direction Unit- Character description

In todays lecture we learnt about improv and how it is used by actors. One of the tasks set for us was to bring in a description of one of the characters in the drama series we have chosen and we were then given a scenario and had to act it out in the way we think i chosen character would. Here is my character description:Television programme: Desperate Housewives
Character: Gabriella Solis (played by Eva Longoria)
Description: Confident, strong minded, 40 something woman who knows what she wants and how she is going to get it. She knows how to handle herself. Physically small but mentally feels she can take on anyone. Only lets certain people in to see her emotions and more often then not regrets doing so.

Past experiences with women have made her grow strong but also stays weary of the same sex and only lets certain women close to her once they have proved they can be trusted. Gabriella would handle confrontation by going in full force, and not giving other people in that situation a chance to give their own opinion, unless that person knows her weak point, which not many do. She is only interested in her own opinion, and no one elses. A man eater on the surface but deep down all she wants is to settle down and find the right guy to do this with.
Has a good sense of humour but can get a bit too personal for some peoples tastes, even though she doesn't mean too. She sometimes hides behind her sense of humour and cracks jokes in situations which she finds uncomfortable, difficult and awkward.
Very spoilt as a child by her parents and has grown up thinking that she should always get what she wants when she wants it, no matter what it is, this also means that she is a very materialistic person, who is more interested in what a person has to offer her with their money rather then the person themselves. Decides who to be friends with by figuring out who can do what for her.

Direction Unit- Research

I have been putting in some research as to which scene i would like to use for my direction unit of the 3 minute drama of my choice. i have found this quite hard as i want to be able to get across which drama i have chosen to the audience but also change some things such as the locations so that i put my own twist on things. here are a few links of what i have looked at so far and thought would be possible with this:

From 8.05 on this clip- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvGNtZ4KGzQ

From 3.39- 5.30 on this clip- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSUwkjyorZU&feature=related

I have chosen these 2 clips because they both have the 4 main characters from Desperate Housewives in them. 

I will be doing some more research into scenes. 

Commission Unit- Research Commission Unit- Research

'Millennium Mum'
This is another idea i had. The basis is that i have someone i know who had a baby in the year 2000 and i want to show how her life has changed since she had her baby. This would include things such as:

• Archive footage: footage of the baby growing up and certain important events from his life so far. For example, first day at nursery, first christmas, first day at secondary school etc. This would be done using pictures and films. 
• Interviews: with people who have seen the child growing up and how both his and the mums life has changed.
• Future: what they think the future holds and how they feel about how they feel about events that have happened due to the baby being born. 

I will need to do a lot of research into the history of this story and make sure that i can get enough archive footage and people to interview so that it is interesting. 

Commision Unit- Reasearch

I have had another idea for my documentary. It is based around the invention of Big

Brother in 2000 and how it has become such a world wide phenomenon. I would also include things such as the amount of CCTV that is now in our day and age and how this has had a almost controlling effect on how society is today.

It would include things such as how we cannot go anywhere without being filmed, whether this is with us knowing or without us knowing, and how it has almost become a daily routine that we find ourselves being filmed for security purposes.

This would be linked to Big Brother by showing how people are now willing to be filmed in order to make a name for themselves and how other television programmes have followed in this direction.

I could then bring in YouTube to this arugment explaining how people have now started posting videos of themselves or friends in the hope they it will become a viral hit and make them famous.

I stilll have alot of research to do for this idea but once i have started i think i will be able to make something out of it which gives information but also shows the lengths people will go to, to become famous.  

Commission Unit- Research

For the commissioning unit of my uni course we have been asked to make a 10 minute documentary about a subject that happened in the years from 2000- 2009. I have had a few ideas for this and will explain them briefly below:

• The invention and introduction of Youtube-  in February 2005, YouTube launched. This meant that for the first time ever people could use one site to upload, share and watch other users videos. This made a instant viral impact on the internet and soon became a huge sensation all over the world with people becoming famous from videos they put up. When first launched it was disliked by entertainment corporations as they thought it would bring all sorts of copy right infringement with it. But since being brought by google it now has over a billion hits per day. 

• Opinions-  This idea would be to have several people talking about the main event in the noughties that meant the most to them, whether it would be a personal matter or something that hit headlines worldwide. 

• Becoming a teen mum in the 00's- I have some friends and relatives who became mum's in the noughties. But for this subject i would like to focus on the teens who became mums and how it changed there lives. 

Direction Unit: Research

I have been thinking about my chosen drama for this unit and how i am going to adapt it to fit my way of directing. I have decided that it may be a bit too much of a change to go from having a original scene in Desperate Houswives that involves a very glossy life style and very glamourous characters, to having a scene which is set in a dingy council estate with characters who are the complete opposite.
Because of this i have decided that i will need to re think what my scene will now involve and do some more re-search into this.

Direction Unit: Research

I have been thinking a lot into what drama television program I am going to use for my 3 minute shoot. Although many ideas came into my head about certain dramas i have watched previously, I have decided to settle on the American drama series, Desperate Housewives.
It is based around the seemingly beautiful, rich, wealthy and perfect neighborhood of Wisteria Lane. it follows the lives of 5 main female characters and the story of their lives is told through the eyes of their dead neighbor. It premiered on October 4th 2004. 

Because the whole idea of this project is to put your own twist on a program of your choice I came up with an idea to take this program from its glossy, glamourous setting and transferring it to a run down council estate. This would mean that i would keep all of the same dialogue but just changing the setting and characters to almost the complete opposite of what they are in the original scene.

I have been doing research into the Desperate Housewives series that have been aired and found that the scenes which portray the show the best are the ones of the main characters sitting around in one of their luxurious stately homes enjoying high priced wine/champagne, expensive foods and a bitchy gossip. I am hoping that very soon i will have narrowed my scene down to the one i think is the best for this unit. I am looking for a scene which can still be translated into a complete opposite of what it originally was but with still being able to understand which drama it was originally.

Direction Unit: Lighting practice.

This is the link to the project that i did with Hennie and Maddie today.

It focused on being able to use different types of lighting for different moods etc and how this can add to the story. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EzStBifl3Y&feature=channel_video_title

I enjoy this task as it gave us a chance to get to know how to use the lighting equipment for when it gets to our own filming.

Direction unit: Directors workshop

This is my attempt at being a director for 20 minutes!
The task was to film a scene which involved two strangers passing a note from one another.
I did enjoy some aspects such as bringing my idea to life and getting other people to see my idea.

Back to uni I go!

Today I had my first lecture back back at uni for my broadcast Media course since we split for summer almost 3 months ago! I have to say it was a lot to take in but I'm up for the challenge as always!
The project brief was based around this unit focusing on Direction. Simon my lecturer explained that we would be expected to make a 3 minute episode of a drama of our choice but making it our own. This meant that we would have to undergo all the jobs and tasks that a director would do. Such as the prep, which would include looking at and making decisions on all of the following:

• The script
• Cast and crew
• Context
• Design
• Sound design
• Schedule 
• The shoot
• Post production                                                                                                         

Simon also explained that directors are split into 2 different catergories:
The Author
A director who is very specific ad knows exactly what they want. Still colaborates on ideas but the vision is still very much the directors. Examples of Author directors are:

• Scorsase
• Cameron
• Coen
• Hitchcock
• Nolan

It is thought that an author directors work is more recognisable then a conductor directors work.

The Conductor
A director who trusts people to bring their own ideas to the table. The the conductor of a orchestra or choir. Examples of Conductor directors are:

• Doug Liman
• Jon Faureau
• Katheryn Bigalowe

Limitless film review.

Director- Neil Burger
Writers- Lesley Dixon (screenplay)
             Alan Glynn (novel)
Starring- Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Robert De Niro
Genre- Action thriller
Plot summary-
Limitless is based around a writer who decides to take a experimental drug that lets him use 100% of his mind. Being a out of work writer and having just been dumped by his girlfriend Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) resides to the decision that he has no future. This is until Eddie bumps into a old friend, who introduces him to an unlicensed drug called NZT. As Eddie takes the pill anything he has ever read or heard is instantly brought back to his mind and made avalible whenever needed. It also gives him more confidence then any other man in the world. As Eddie climbs further and further up the financial ladder due to his unstoppable mind he makes friends with bigger then big business mogul Carl Van Loom (Robert De Niro), who thinks that Eddie's mind is the key to make more money then either of them could imagine. But with Eddie's daily dosage of NZT rapidly running out the side effects of this pill come hurtling towards him with awful side affects.

Review-
This film was very enjoyable and kept me on the edge of my seat through out with its twists and turns to keep the audience hooked. I felt the ending lacked slightly with what seemed like a cliff hanger as to where Eddie went with his life next but nevertheless there was a clear storyline throughout. All acting was extremly good including the violence scenes.

New project!

So the new project is called 'THE JOURNEY' it is based on me taking several sill photographs and producing them into a 3 minute film in which i have produced my own background music for.
The title, 'The Journey' is quite a broad subject and so can be related to many things including the following:

• Personal
• Comical 
•  A mixture of many emotions. 

Over the past few weeks i have been thinking about what i could use for my 'journey.' The process took me in many different directions. Some thoughts i had included are:

• A literal journey, such as a car/train journey. 
• A mental journey, something that would show someone going from one mental state to another. 
• The journey of something happening, such as a task being performed. 

The idea i finally decided upon was a personal journey that I have had to do many times in my own life. This would be a journey from my house to the children's hospital. This will involve taking pictures of me going form my house (bedroom, downstairs and into the car) the journey whilst in the car, ( the views, different road signs, showing me getting closer to the hospital) and finally me arriving at the hospital, (the sign to the hospital, reception area, different hospital departments.)
When i took the photos of this journey i was quite dissapointed with the outcome.  Even though some of the pictures were good quality most were not what i was looking for. Also i did not think i had enough pictures to sustain a 3 minute film. Another reason that i was dissapointed was that i did not really think that the journey had a storyline at the beginning and part the way through the middle. It wasn't until the end shots of the hospital that the story/journey seemed to make sense! So in the end i decided that i would re think my idea.

An idea that i had come up with before i decided on the hospital journey, was the journey to the seaside. This idea came to me as i have lived by the sea my whole life. So i will now be trying out the journey from Maidstone to hastings and then all of the things that you can get up to at the seaside for example, arcades, fish and chips and ice cream!

Trailer progress!

So I've been working on my trailer for a week or so now and its coming along! I was thinking it looks a bit bland until i put my titles on to it which gave it a bit more bulk and body. The music gives it a extra dimension as well, which was needed i think! Anyways back to work for me!

Pitch!

I have been struggling so much with my pitch for The Meeting! I can't seem to pack all the information that i want into 25 words or less! I'm struggling to write one with less then 30 words at the moment! But i have got one, let me know what you think of it!

'A bully and her victims world unknowingly collide, in a rollercoaster of emotion, violence and torment.'

Characters

Here is a short description of my 2 main characters in 'the meeting'


Sam
• 16 years old
• Tall
• Bigger built then other girls
• Lonely
• Violent father
• Mother who is too scared to protect them
• Due to not being able to protect herself from her father and seeing that he gets his way by being violent, she thinks if she is violent then she will get what she wants.
• Wants to be one of the popular girls
• Wants to feel love
• Has no one to talk to
• Wants to escape her real life
• The person she shows at school is not the person she is really

Thomas
• 14 years old
• Medium height
• Small build
• A mother who is too protective of him
• A father who is always away on business trips
• Feels that his protective and over motherly mum is the reason he is so shy
• Not many friends at school
• Prefers to study then mix with his peers
• Wants to be part of the cool crowd but doesn’t feel confident
• Wants to come out of his shell
• Fed up of doing the same thing day in, day out
• Wants to stand up to his bully but wont because he is scared of the consequences
• Has such a different personality under all of his shyness that he cannot bring himself to show to his peers.

I feel like i have really got into what my 2 characters are like, not only with their physical appearance but also with how they feel mentally and what their personal lives are like.

The Meeting

So I have been working really hard on my project 'The meeting' Its been a tricky one thats for sure! I have to have a pitch synopsis and 10 page script ready to hand in for next week.

Here are is my synopsis...

The meeting is a social realistic drama about a bully and her victim meeting online unknowingly. Thomas the brain box of his high school knows the routine of his school day, and it doesn’t just consist of classes, lunch and then more classes. Instead it involves the tedious bullying by his biggest and toughest peer, Samantha, or Sam as she is known. The tomboy who intimidates even the toughest of school lads.
Thomas, a geeky 14 year old has ambition, and although underneath he craves to be apart of the ‘cool crowd’ at his school he chooses to stay focused on his studies. Feeling fed up he decides to use a teen chat site t talk to others of his age. He is desperate to stray away from his geeky persona and so makes a profile based on his cooler, older and more popular brother Theo.
Sam, a tall, larger framed girl, is renowned for being the school bully ever since joining later then everyone else. He home life in turmoil with an alcoholic and abusive father, and a mother too scared to protect them, she thought the only way to be in control of parts of her life was through violence, just like her dad does. Wanting to break out of her scary outer shell and show the true her, she joins a chat site under the name of Sarah, a sweet fun loving girl- the girl she feels she is underneath.
Sarah and Theo start chatting one evening. Realising they can be them true selves with one another and building up a strong connection they chat as much as possible over the commencing weeks. Finally feeling they can meet, they get the shock of finding out who they have really been talking to all this time.
With Sam trying to hide her tormented home life and Thomas giving it a go to fit in, the shock of seeing whom they have been talking to may well be too much to handle. The one person they thought understood them is not who they thought. They cant bring themselves to talk to each other face to face like they have been online, but with everything going on in one another’s head, will the pair become even more truthful then they have been already or give up completely and go their separate ways? This gripping, true to life film will not have a problem keeping your eyes on the screen. The emotional rollercoaster that these two teenagers go on is packed with emotion and the twists and turns are bound to keep you on your toes.

The synopsis really gave me the chance to make my characters real people and not just people in a 10 minute film that i was making. I now have a very clear idea of what my characters are like and how they have come to how they are, i think all of this helps in the run up to the 1-2 minute trailer that i am making . I think this because if you have a clear idea of something it helps the process of getting to the end product much smoother and quicker!

I'm back!

Haven't blogged in a while and I'm sorry about that, but I'm back and ready to blog until i cannot blog anymore!

Decision made!

Well, I've been debating over the two main ideas that i have had for 'the meeting' and its been a really hard decision! But after thinking it over I have decided on my idea of the bully and the victim. I have decided to go for this one because it is a more original idea then the one involving the predator and young girl. I believe that the idea with the bully and victim has potential to have a major twist.
I will add my more detailed plan fr this idea soon and would appreciate it if you could let me know what you think!

The chat room- you don't know me...

Ok so this is my second idea with the main basis being a chat room. This idea is based upon a bully and their victim unknowingly meeting on a internet chat site. Here is my story/idea in more detail...

The story/idea- a boy is being bullied on a daily basis by the girl school bully. Becoming fed up with his school life and not having anything else to him keep him positive in his home life, Thomas decides to join a chat site to see if he can meet any teenagers who he could be himself with and just chat to , like he is desperate to do in his school life. Deciding to make an account, Thomas decides that he wants to leave his life and so makes his name, 'Theo.' The name of his older, more athletic, more popular,  brother who he aspires to be like. After a few days of logging on and not really getting what he wants out of the chat site, Thomas almost gives up. Until one evening he recieves a message from 'Sarah' who asks of he would like to chat. He agrees and the pair start chatting and realise they have a lot in common, not knowing that in fact 'Theo' is Thomas and 'Sarah' is Sam the high school bully.
As they seem to grow a connection through their online chats and texting, the pair decide that they should meet up as they seem to have so much in common- all the while Sam still continues to make Thomas' life a living hell at school. 'Theo' and 'Sarah' arrange a date, time and place that they will meet and both get excited and nervous about what will happen as they have no clue what each others physical appearance will be like. All they know is they get on very well... a little too well some may say!
As another day of being bullied ends for Thomas, he sprints to the park where he said he would meet 'Sarah'. Sitting on the bench nervously, Thomas notices that there is someone sitting on the bench next to him... It's Sam the school bully. Sam sends a text to 'Theo' and when Thomas' phone goes off she looks shocked. She then rings the number and Thomas' phone starts ringing. Realising what has happened, Sam threatens Thomas, telling him if he tells anyone about this he will be dead and runs off.
Thomas crushed because the one good thing in his life has just been ruined, goes back home contemplating what will happen the next day at school, thinking it will be even worse then usual.
The next day at school Thomas expects the usual, lunch money to be stolen and endless horrible names being aimed directly at him by Sam, but instead he walks through the school front gates with no trouble, manages to get to the canteen at lunch with his lunch money still in his pocket for the first time in years and heads home at the end of the day without being called a single name... he had seen Sam numerous times that day and she hadn't said a single word to him, Thomas thought that Sam had finally realised that they were more alike then most.

If you could let me know what you think about this idea and the idea i have had in my previous post that would really help as i am stuck for which one to choose! Thank you!

The Chat Room- the young facing reality...

I have changed this idea from the man male lead being a killer and instead it is now based upon a young girl meeting a predator online. Here is the main points that i have come up with so far...

Genre- Social realistic drama

The idea/story- about a young girl who decides to go on a chat room site, to try and meet some people of her age (early teens). The girl meets a guy, who tells her he is in his late teens. Thinking that she was lucky that a guy of that age would take any interest in a girl like her she feels special and so over the next few months they get to know each other and seem to grow a connection, with the girl still unwittingly knowing that the supposed ‘19 year old guy’ she is talking to is in fact, a old man in his 50’s. The pair get to the point where they start to chat every night on the site, with the girl deceiving her mother the whole time but convincing her she is actually doing school work in her room. The pair swap photos and phone numbers, the guy finding a picture of a good-looking young man on a search engine. Soon after the photos are exchanged the man suggests that they meet up for some ice cream and could go for a spin in his car before that. The young girl thinking that sounds like such a cool thing to do, especially for a girl of her age agrees and they set up to meet in a small road behind a park in the outskirts of town after school on Friday. As the girl approaches the car that meets the exact description that the man told her she opens the door and looks inside. Is it too late for the girl to get away?

The plot- A girl who is having trouble with bullies at her school, comes home one evening and decides to go on a char room sight to see if she can meet some people of her own age to stop her feeling so lonely.

Detailed plot-

• As she logs on to her account, she immediately gets a pop up asking her if she wants to start a conversation with ‘Jack’. Seeing his profile picture is a nice looking boy who seems to be a little bit older then she. Thinking that she is lucky that this guy is wanting to speak to her, she doesn’t give it a second thought, clicks “accept” and says hi. Jack replies with a ‘Hey, how you doing babe? Loving your profile picture!’ The girl and ‘boy’ seem to hit it off as they talk about how they have the same hobbies and traits.
• Through out the next few weeks the only thing that Ella, could look forward to was getting home from another day of being bullied at school and going straight on the computer to talk to Jack. Feeling closer and closer to Jack, Ella feels like she is wanted by someone at last and feels like she has somewhere to escape to when talking to him.
• Ella is continuously deceiving her mother, but making her think that she is always holed up in her room doing homework, making sure that each time her mum walks in she has a word document ready to pop up and cover her conversations with Jack.
• After a few months of intimate conversations, Jack finally asks the question that all of this has been leading up too, ‘So when am I going to get to see your gorgeous face in person then babe?’ Ella feeling flattered that Jack still likes her after al this time, jumps at the chance of a meeting with him. They make plans to meet on the outskirts of town behind a park after school the next Friday, with Jack saying that its best if they meet there and then he can drive them both into town for ice cream afterwards. His give Ella a detailed description of his car and tells her he can’t wait to see her and give her a big hug.
• The pair continue to talk every night on the run up to their meeting, with Jack convincing Ella that it would be best for her to stay in her school uniform as he would easily recognize her that way. Ella questions Jack on how she will recognize him and he reassures her that as long as she knows what the car looks like she can just get straight in and he’ll be there.
• The Friday of their meet finally come and the girl is willing for the end of school. She goes through the day as normal with her bullies mercifully calling her names and slyly hitting her. As the clocks strikes 3 and the school bell rings, Ella runs straight through the school gated entrance and doesn’t stop until she is around the corner from her and Jacks meeting place. She quickly straightens herself out, takes her hair out its bun and lets it fall down, and puts some lip gloss on thinking it will make her look older.
• Just as she picks up her bag and is about to walk around the corner her phone goes off, its her mum calling, she takes a deep breath and answers, her mother questions where she is and why she isn’t home straight after school like usual. Ella explains that she has gone to a new friends house and won’t be back any later then 6 o clock. She tells her mum she loves her and puts the phone down.
• Ella walks around the corner, she sees the old, clapped out Citroen Saxo, which her apparent fellow teenager would be waiting in. As he said the windows were blacked, so Ella could not see in side the car.
• She takes the handle and opens the car door and leans inside. Looking directly at her is Eric, a 56-year-old balding man. Ella shocked and panicked that she has made a mistake with the car, goes to apologize and step back, but before she can do any of these things, Eric pulls her into his car by her school blazer jacket. Ella is too shocked to do anything.
• You see the car doors lock and the sound of Ella pounding at the windows trying to escape. You then see the car speed off down the road knowing that it is now too late for Ella to escape from the man she once thought was a teenage boy who liked her for who she was.

This is a more detailed idea for one of my 'the meetings' short story. I have done a much more detailed plan, including the whole plot line and i have introduced the characters and the locations some more. 

if you could let me know what you think that would really help me! 

Storytelling- The pre writing stage...

On monday Simon taught us about the pre writing stage. He explained that there were four main parts, the idea, the story, the theme and the characters. Simon also explained that a screen play creation is based upon, 65% pre writing, 5% actual writing and 30% re writing. Here is a short description of what each of these stages are:

• The idea-"The scripts that really work are those written straight from the heart, passionate pieces, with the energy of the writers voice"- Paul De Vos

The idea is the very begininng of your story telling journey. It is where you come up with what your story is going to be! You may come up with the idea in a series of ways, whether it is something from your own experiences, thoughts and feelings you have, stories in the news, or even if it just pops into your head on a journey somewhere!

• The story- this is the series of events in that you have developed from your idea (above), and form your screenplay.

• Plot- this is the part where you can make your story sound the most effective and interesting.

• Theme- this is what your idea is really about, what the story is trying to say and let people learn from it

• Characters- this is where you write in detail who will be in your story, where they are from, what their appearance is like etc.

Our task by Simon was to make up our own idea from the newspapers what had been out that day and use these 4 points to make a presentation, here is what my group came up with:

ESCAPE” – THE PRE-WRITING STAGE

Genre: Social realist drama.

The Idea/story: Escape is about domestic violence within a nuclear family set up. Aram is a young father on benefits, who is addicted to cannabis, consumed by paranoia, possessiveness and violent outbursts. His family suffers at the brunt of his split personality and his frustration at his loss of masculinity. Aram’s wife Joy, works hard to bring in food for her young family, and is desperate to change the life she is destined to have.  Yet, Joy out of fear, stands by and helplessly lets her husband beat her daily and mentally abuse their children, will she ever escape?

The Plot:  We enter the family’s life at breaking point.

Main Plot points:

1.       Opening scene, Aram is on the couch, all day smoking cannabis and watching daytime television. He is uninterested by his 2 and 4 year old sons, who are left to their own devices, with dirty clothes, raiding the kitchen for any scraps that they can find.

2.       Joy arrives home from work at the local Tescos, ten minutes later than normal, due to an unexpected delay. Aram, with irrational jealousy verbally attacks Joy. The situation escalates, and the audience is left watching the reaction of the children in the kitchen as they listen to the familiar sound of their mother being violently attacked, pleading for him to stop.

3.       Later we see, Joy, tenderly tucking her children into the cramped and cold beds, as she fights to hold back her tears.

4.       The next morning Joy awakes, and the full extent of the attack is shown on her swollen, bruised and battered body, including a black eye. Which she desperately tries to mask with make-up, before leaving the house.

5.       Whilst at work, Joy is confronted by her manager, who calls her into the office. The manager unsympathetically, explains to Joy that the unexplained bruises, that have appeared constantly since her employment three years ago, are not the kind of image that she wants portrayed to her customers any longer. If it continues then her contract will be terminated.

6.       Joy is in turmoil trying to muster up the courage to escape her violent life, not only for her, but also for the sake of her young children.

7.        Still undecided, Joy arrives home to the usual scene of Aram lying on the couch with a spliff in hand. She finds both children hysterical with cigarette burns all over their body. Her mind is finally made up. 

8.       Joy agonizingly waits until Aram is again unconscious for the night on the couch. She frantically collects her and her children’s necessities. Gently waking them, taking the youngest in her arms and the eldest by the hand she attempts her escape.

9.       Stepping through the front door her efforts are all in vain, as Aram suddenly grabs the eldest child pulling him back into the house.

10.    Joy and her children are tied to the kitchen chairs, as we see Aram’s descent into complete madness. The monster douses his family in petrol, as the Zippo lighter falls to floor, the front door closes, as the audience is left to imagine the horrific scene that follows. Has Joy finally escaped?

THEME:

1.       Loss of masculinity in an economy that is not longer dependent on manufacturing.

2.       Family and Relationships

3.       Lack of self-belief.

4.       Gender roles.

5.       Drugs

6.       Domestic Violence/child abuse

CHARACTERS:

ARAM:

1.       Is 23, unemployed former factory worker for Rover.

2.       Nobody, stoner, with working class family upbringing.

3.       Strong masculine values that he cannot meet due to him not being able to provide for his family, this brings immense frustration.

4.       Male dominant- only expresses his emotions through violence.

5.       Sever drug dependence, that only amplifies his paranoia, violent behavior and depression due to lack of male role and respect from peers.

6.       Aram is of average build,tall, strong and dominant. Poor personal hygiene, scruffy, dazed and confused.

7.       He only feels strong, when he exposes others weaknesses.

8.       He also lacks self worth and feels he has lost all control of his life. The only thing he can control is his weaker family.

JOY:

1.       21, employed Tesco’s worker.

2.       Quiet, shy, repressed and keeps herself to herself.

3.       Good at covering up her abusive life and has become submissive due to this.

4.       Joy was raised in an abusive household, in the same estate and doesn’t know any different.

5.       Joy became a mother at a very young age; she never enjoyed her childhood and never fulfilled her aspirations of getting out of the council estate.

6.       Emotionally scarred, trapped and extremely vulnerable

7.       She lacks the self-respect and courage to change the pattern in her life.

8.       Her appearance amplifies her situation; she is thin, weak, exhausted and immensely fragile.

9.       She takes on all the roles of a modern woman, juggling caring for her children, making sure her chores are carried out and working full time to support the whole family, including Aram’s drug habit.

SETTING:

1.       North of England

2.       Grotty council estate

3.       Cramped, dingy and dirty flat

4.       Present day

5.       Tesco’s supermarket

I really enjoyed this task and think that it has helped me to understand the story telling process of pre writing a lot more. 

"The Meeting"... ideas continued.

Here are some of the ideas from my post about the meeting that i did a few days ago, but i have added some detail into them this time;

Love Story-

• Boy meets girl- could be a variety of locations e.g on a date, bump into each other at the supermarket, work etc.
• Boy loses girl- she has to move away, change of circumstances etc
• Boy gets girl back- re united after a certain amount time.

As much as i think this could be a good idea for my short film, I also have in the back of my mind that a tale of 2 people falling in love has been done a fair few times before and so i may well run the risk of running along the same fine line as them and not doing anything original!

I would like to explore some of my other ideas that are a bit more different and edgy.

Chat room-

• A woman goes onto a chat room site looking to meet someone for friendship and possibly a relationship.
• After talking and getting to know a guy on there and via telephone conversations, the guy suggests they meet up and the woman agrees.
• When they meet they go for a walk and end up in a secluded location. This is when the male character takes a sinister turn. But is it too late for the woman to escape?

I think this idea is one of my best out of the ones i have thought of. Even though it relates to real life and could be quite harrowing to watch, it would give a message out to people. I think this idea is more original then the idea of the love story above. 

Bully meets victim-

• After years of abuse from his bully a bullied youngster decides to set up a meeting with his abusive peer to confront him about his reasoning for making his life such hell.
• Both meet in a room and get the chance to explain to each other what has made them how they are and how they feel.
• After the bully pours his heart out about his violent home life and how this links with him being violent, he has to make a decision, does he give up the life of violence or continue to make ruin his victims life?

This idea was the one that i really got into and have a lot more that i could add to this small description. I would aim to make this film quite hard hitting but not to the point that the viewer would find it too hard to watch.

These are my ideas that i think would work best for a short 10 minute film. I have kept to the theme of "the meeting" but all of these ideas show this in different ways. I would appreciate your thoughts on which you think sounds best or if you think i could use any improvements!  

"Witness" review

Well being a fan of films that are, how should i put it, a bit more up-to-date and modern (e.g needs to have quite a few special effects to keep me amused!) i wasn't too sure when told i was going to be watching a film released back in the 80's about a cop who ends up living with Amish people... i mean, it couldn't be that exciting and draw your attention in that much could it? But i was extremly surprised to say the least! With its gripping story lines, twists and turns and some humor thrown in every now and then, i had no trouble keeping my eyes on the screen and really enjoyed it! It just goes to show that a film doesn't need all the fast cuts and special effects in it to be appealing and watchable. As long as the story line is gripping and keeps the audience guessing all the way through there isn't a problem! 

"The Meeting"... my first ideas!

Well.... i've started to think about this whole "the meeting", and i won't lie.... I've found it a challenge to think of some ideas that stand out from the crowd!
Trying to think of an idea that is original, unique and can capture peoples imagination isn't an easy thing to do. I have come up with a list of draft ideas will be the basis for my ideas to be added to, here's my list so far...




I'll post some more detailed ideas once i've narrowed it down a bit, but until then... let me know what you think!

SPACED Synopsis

SPACED is a comedy drama based on a group of various aged quirky friends. A guy and girl in there twenties meet on the off chance and build a connection with one another. Realising they are both in the same position of needing somewhere to live. After finding a flat and meeting their neighbours, a series of amusing, emotional, witty and life changing events occur which makes each character grow.
Tim is the main male lead, a child-like, aspiring comic book artist who was recently dumped. wanting a fresh start he finds the chance meeting with Daisy, life changing.
Daisy, the main female lead, is a highly emotional, likeable, trippy, fantasist, wanting to get out of her current squat living quarters. The other characters, Mike, a idiotic, strange, random, unlucky, best friend of tim. Marsha, the self obsessed, emotionally scared alcoholic land- lady. Twist, the obsessive, ditzy liar and Brian, the weird, split personality, anguish artist tenant, all bring the roller coaster ride of a journey together with their different and some what clashing personalities.
Set in the urban location of North West London with the one main location of Tim and Daisy' shabby flat so that the audience can get to know where they are rather then being taken from one random place to another. With the multiple story arcs the audience will have a different narrative story line to watch every episode, with a start, middle and end, instead of one long running story line, this is so if a viewer misses a episode they can easily watch the next one and not feel confused.
with fast editing not normally seen in a comedy drama tv show, it will catch an audiences eye. Linking in with Tim's comic book life- style, we will have animation sequences throughout the series giving it that extra angle.
We also intend to add jump cuts, contemporary music and unusual camera angles for the audiences enjoyment.
With the mixing pot of emotions, enjoyment, drama and happiness that these characters will bring to the television screen, it will no doubt have a wide variety of audiences drawn in to watch it with not a hint of getting bored!

The Pitch!

When Simon first told us that for our lecture first thing on Monday morning we would have to watch a couple of episodes of the television show 'SPACED' I thought to myself 'not a bad task for a uni student. especially on a Monday!' So we sat down and watched 2 episodes, the very first one and the 5th from season 2. Both very good we were then set the task by Simon of coming up with a pitch for this programme. Never having done a pitch before myself I was slightly intimidated when thinking that i now had to plug the idea for this funny,quirky, comedy drama in 25 words or less! But luckily Simon gave us a little lee- way and aloud us up to 26, which for me was a life saver! After several attempts of writing this pitch out and all but a few ending up being over 30 words i finally wrote one I liked and thought captured the main parts of the show that needed to be brought to the attention of whoever I was trying to sell it to, and so here is my final draft for my version of a pitch for SPACED...
"Comedy drama about a twenty something couple sharing a flat. Relateable, funny, dysfunctional, this pair with their quirky friends do more then just share a flat!"


We were then set the task of making up a pitch for our favorite television programme. I found this a lot harder then the pitch I made for SPACED because the programme I had chosen was a big American young persons drama and so making up a pitch that doesn't make the show I've chosen seem like all the others that are like that in America was very hard. You aren't aloud to use the big names that are in the show, since if it was a real pitch you wouldnt know if you would be able to get these people. So i thought hard about what sticks out for this show and came up with this...
"a young persons American TV drama, revolving around the lives of a group of teenagers. Love, hate, relationships, trust and rivalry, from their teens to twenties."
See if you can guess it!