Prop List

Prop list

Front of house:

• House front lawn
• Wall in front on the house
• Gate in-between
• Walk through…
• Plants and pots
• On the right is another wall.
• Directly opposite the front gate is the door. Above it on the right is a window. On the left is another window were the characters bedroom is.

Bedroom:.

• Table,
• Alarm clock,
• Picture of woman (characters mother)
• Books,
• Sweet rappers,
• Table lamp
• Glass.
• Bed
• Clutter of cloths on the floor
• Wardrobe
• Hangers
• Jacket

Bed:

• One pillow
• White duvet
• Nikki is in awkward position because she is sleeping bad on the tip of the bed (black)

She then looks under bed. Gun, cloths a top, old books, rubbish

Staircase:

Shoes at the bottom, and there is a picture of the girl and her family on the wall at the bottom of the staircase there is coats hanging on the knob of the staircase.

Kitchen:

 Fridge milk, alphabet fridge magnet in different colours.

 

Table:

• Fruit,
• Newspaper,
• Cup,
• Chairs 4 around the table
• Bin
• Cooker
• Microwave
• Oven
• Calendar
• Toaster,
• Counter beside the sink
• Dish Rack
• Washing Bowl
• Cupboard
• Blender
• Kettle

Bathroom:

• Toothbrush,
• Toothbrush holder,
• Tooth paste,
• Sink,
• Mirror,
• Towel,

Character Clothing:

Wakes up in the morning:

 

Trousers, T-Shirt, Bed Socks

Wears black hoodie,

Character Profile

A Lonely girl, who doesn’t know what she doing.

Living her life for her parent but isn’t happy herself.

Music expresses her feelings.

Her family doesn’t care much about what she going through.

                               

Nikki is a lonely girl in her own world she doesn’t like anyone in her family and her neighbourhood is a down looking society. She only finds trust in one girl called Samantha (Sam) but she doesn’t fully puts all her trust into her.

Everyday for Nikki it’s the same routine of going school bunking a few lessons them come home and stay in her bedroom and listen to music.

She is very intelligent but depression and loneliness has brought her down the drain, she was a scientist to be but her own life has destroyed it.

Only at the age of 15 she has been through too much for her life to handle

From abusive moments, break-ups happening in the family.

Because of all the violence she has experienced she had there fore bought a fire arm weapon to protect her from any attack from her Dad or Uncle whom she doesn’t live with anymore.

She doesn’t tell anyone about what happens at home neither does her friend Sam know about it.

All her anger builds up inside.

She doesn’t see that life is worth living at the moment, even at school she gets bullied by girls that just don’t like the look of her but she can’t physically defend herself.

She’s was in foster care once at the age of 12 but then the social services brought her back to her family.

Everyday all she thinks of is ending her life but she hasn’t got the will to do it.

She hasn’t even lived most of her life but she just can’t take it.

She loves listening to hiphop/rock/slow jams & classic. Nikki isn’t much of a food lover she keeps it down with her fizzy drinks and sweets through the day.

Question 7

Evaluation – Question 7
7. Looking back at our preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The Preliminary Task
We was told to film and edit a few shots of a character walking through a door towards another character, sitting down facing them and having the characters engage in conversation. The conversation had to be relevant and create a short narrative that was easy for the audience to understand with such little dialogue. The characters sat faced to face which allowed us as amateur film makers to experiment with the shot, reverse shot technique and also allowing us to experiment with the 180 degree rule.
Main Task
Create a two minute opening sequence of a new fictional film with the genre of your choice. The opening sequence would involve the opening credits, copy right free music and to be produced by other pupils’ production companies.
I believe that since filming the Prelim Task, I have adapted many more skills, techniques and talents and have achieved what I wanted to achieved as director of the opening sequence, Fragmental.
Both tasks where kept simple and wasn't too complicated due to our lack of time, dialogue and camera and other technology skills. We also had to focus on sound and continuity and involving shot, reverse shot and applying the 180 degreee rule within the Prelim task.
On the other hand the main task was far more detailed. I knew this due to the other techniques we had used which we had to apply to the main task, and the change in certain factors such as the length in time. With a different group it was far more exciting as it was much more professional and it was a fantastic oppitunity to apply our new skills to.
　
Withing pre production of the prelim task we had very little time compared to the main task so we had to plan fairly quickly. We then had to shoot and edit and finish the production within a week or so. However this experience was fantastic as it helped me with preparing, shooting and editing our main task.
A list of things we had to produce before creating our prelim and main task and their importance during pre production.
Elected roles and position
Storyboard
Picture storyboard
Location reece
Shooting Schedule
Script
Sound checks
Lighting
Time management

During the prelim task with the lack of time we struggled however we managed to suceed and the final product was of a good quality taking into consideration that we had very little experience and lacked technical skills. Comparing this to the main task i believe that the prelim ran more smoothly. This was because there was a debate between some crew members which created tension on set, also some of the crew suffered from nerves on the day. Als o with the main task we had a few technical difficulties, such as the battery running out and the tripod was damaged, however we worked around these faults and i was extremely happy with the final project.
My role asthe director, i just wanted to create something i and the rest of the crew could be proud of. As the director i had to make many decisions and i believe that my decisions where good and the film was created to the best of it's ability.
While filming we made sure we had a several good shots of each shots, and made sure we had plenty of choice. Also what was a problem during our prelim, we made sure in the main task to keep checking the spirit level after altering, moving or adapting the camera and tripod to fit the shots. Also within shots to give the actor or actress enough space to room and that the shots we used where suitible to the mood of the shot and it relates to the narrative.
Post Production
Continuity was the main factor in the prelim task and camera work and other techniques wasn't really a factor and it was kept extremely basic compared to the main task due to our lack of knowledge and experience in film making. Editing was just our basic knowledge of digitising, we did need help during editing because of the new technology we had to familierise ourselves with in order to create and edit our prelim. Although continuity was a huge factor, it was not the only factor we had to worry about, making sure all the shots flowed well and was in a good order.
Feedback

Both task and it was incredibly helpful and it really help me understand how to create a piece of film sucessfully. It also helped because we was constantly reminded of whaat we should be aimig for and how to present things for our target audience. However for the prelim task we didn't have a target audience, it was more a learning experience and a stepping stone, allowing us to become one step closer towards our main task. Overall, i believe that both tasks have helped me and that once you make a piece of film it is important you learn from your mistakes and when creating a new piece of film you learn and adapt to the industry and your target audience.

Question Six

Joshua Liam Whincup

Evaluation – Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt an incredible amount of information on technology by experiencing with working with the equipment on set. However before shooting we had to complete a equipment check to assure we had everything we needed to portray our narrative to the best of our ability.

The equipment used within shooting:

Camera bag

My Canon XHAI camera

Battery

Tripod

Tape

Clapperboard

Chalk

Lens cap

Luckily our set was not far from where we picked up our equipment, so after packing everything away and making one hundred percent sure we had everything and several batteries and tapes we carried all equipment to our shooting location. Our cast and crew was assigned roles to assure we could focus on every aspect of our film, Jesse Anim was in charge of camera, Abigal Fajobi was in charge of continuity and I was assigned as director of the project and film. We only needed one character for the opening sequence and that was our main character, ‘Nikki’ who was played by Deborah Oyelade. When arriving on set Jesse set up everything involving camera, Abigal did the same with continuity and Deborah set up sound and I as the role of director just went through everything making sure everything was set up correctly.  

Making sure equipment was safe and set up properly.

Libec S322 Tripod

Using the tripod we firstly had to unzip the bag and remove everything needed to set up the tripod from the bag and lay it out in front of us. Holding the tripod in a upright stance we unclipped the hock connecting all the bottom legs. After making sure that was taken of correctly and hocked onto one of the legs so after shooting it would be easy to put the tripod away, we pulled the tripod in the three directions of its legs. We made sure all legs were touching the floor before unlocking each lower leg and pulling upwards to the top. After doing this the tripod was standing on its own and was spread out as far as possible. Then we unlocked the higher part of the legs and adapted the tripods height to fit perfectly with our camera man’s eye line.

Canon XHAI Camera

We unzipped the camera bag and unclipped the clip that was holding the camera in place within the bag. After that I took the camera, holding it tightly with my right hand in the correct way. I placed the camera onto the floor and removed the lens cap. After doing this two of us put the camera onto the tripod, sliding it into position and securing it correctly. However we had a problem, the tripod had suffered some vandalism of some kind and lacked the correct button to properly secure the camera properly to the tripod. Due to all the tripods being used on the day it was impossible to receive another one within time to shoot successfully. So we contacted our teacher and they assisted us in securing the camera to the tripod with several layers of duck tape to assure it doesn’t move.

 Then we needed to check the spirit level, we needed to sort the sprit level so the camera would be level meaning the shots would be correctly upright and in position with the frame. The handle just right of the tripod had to be unscrewed and then adapted to be level and fit the camera’s eye line, after completing this we just simply tightened the handle.

 I removed the battery from the camera bag and put it into the back end of the camera, I then put the tape into the side of the camera, and making sure it was it was in perfectly so we could record all our shots without any problems. I released the view finder and turned the camera setting to [A] which is the best setting for shooting time of this calibre because it automatically focuses. 

Sound checks

• LDR lead was in the correct socket.
• Camera – Correct setting.
• Boom was set up correctly and the sound was being picked up from the microphone attached to it and not the microphone attached to the camera.

Question Five

Joshua Liam Whincup

Evaluation - Question Five

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Unfortunately we didn’t design posters for our project however if we did her is a list of places where they may have been placed:

Cinema

Bus Stops

Buses

Train Stations

Trains

Cabs

Magazines – Certain magazines such as magazines relating to films, such as Empire and Total Film and magazines relating to youth and students.

Newspapers

Internet – Blogs, FaceBook, MySpace.

Shopping Stores

High Streets

Our film is set to a rang of audiences and so due to this the film, ‘Fragmental’ could be promoted everywhere and anywhere. However preferable in London due to the huge amount of people up London every day, this allows the huge variety of different people seeing our posters, this will allow us to promote our film to the majority of target and secondary audience we intended our film to be aimed at.

As soon as we was put into our groups for the AS Final Product, we sat down and began immediately deciding what genre we was going to presents and began pitching narratives. We decided to create a opening sequence with the youth drama genre so w could relate to the majority of audiences and we new we had first hand seen some crimes linked to youth due to the area we live in. Focusing on the drama genre we decided to follow the codes and conventions however challenge them in such things as casting. We decided to keep the majority of codes and conventions so our audience would automatically link the film, ‘Fragmental’ to the youth crime drama genre. We did this by involving knife crime and gang crime and the use of a ‘hoodie’ which is linked to teenagers committing crimes. However we decided to challenge the codes and conventions so the film we created would be recognised for being a youth crime drama however would be in some ways different from the rest which use typical story lines and sometimes can be quite predictable and cliché. We did this by casting a female as the main role, by doing this we are challenging the codes and conventions of this genre.

Having a female leading role we decided to research many other films within this genre and look at the females within these films and use them to inspire our own character, ‘Nikki’. We looked at the film Kidulthood which had a female character name ‘Katie’ who was affected by knife and gang crime instead of being involved in it and due to her bullying issues at school by gang members and trouble makers she decided to commit suicide. The way the character ‘Katie’ was portrayed was quite frankly fantastic and we wanted certain aspects of ‘Katie’s’ character to be similar to our character ‘Nikki’. While analysing our own opening sequence we used the majority of themes and codes and conventions of a typical youth crime drama. We did this firstly by involving camera angles seen within typical youth crime drama and other crime films. Such camera angles where used as close ups and extreme close ups of the main character ‘Nikki’, we did this so the identity of the main character is not revealed, we did this because it gave the atmosphere of a typical crime youth drama that character involved in gangs and crime try to hide their identity so they are not seen by other rival gang members or the police. However we also involved these shots because ‘Nikki’ believed she did not have a identity because of what has happened to her. These shots we used I believe was effective and w have received nothing but good feedback relating to the camera work. We used these so the audience would be left thinking who is this character, what are they doing and why are they doing these things. We researched the audience’s reactions from films of the same genre to our own film and what they want and expected from these films. We found that the majority of the audience members wanted to see a change within films of this genre because it can become cliché so we decided to challenge the codes and conventions of the genre. The panning shots of the house where so the audience could see the area and the setting of the film and get a feel for what sort of environment these characters live in. Also the zooming shots, such as the shot where was zoomed into the wine bottles as ‘Nikki’ walked in the shot and then walked off screen. By doing this the audience can tell someone within the film has a serious drinking problem and then allows the audience to get a feel for what may happen within the up and coming scenes. 

However the majority of shots we used are close ups which allowed us to portray our character in such a way. By doing these shots we received good feedback from several teachers in early post production due to them feeling very anxious to find out who ‘Nikki’ was and several other questions relating to the camera work. Shots used within our opening sequence are similar to the shots used in such films as Shank, Adulthood, Kidulthood and Bullet Boy. The colours within the film are very dark to express the emotions of our main character ‘Nikki. By doing this we didn’t have to reveal her facial expressions and much of her body language, by using these colours it allowed us to create that mysterious atmosphere.

The soundtrack and the use of sound effectives are incredible vital within our genre because the majority of films within the crime youth drama genre the music carries the narrative. For example the film ‘1Day’ Is seen as a musical due to the amount of rap used within the film, certain films inspired us to create music similar to theres. Such movies as:

• Bullet Boy
• Kidulthood
• Adulthood
• Shank
• Freedom Writers
• 1Day
• Stomp the Yard
• Friday

Props used within our project were effective and help the narrative from becoming cliché however we wanted to involve certain props that would follow the codes and conventions of a typical crime youth drama film. Certain props support this such as the hoodie, knife and use of alcoholic empty bottles. By involving such props it allowed the audience to instinctively recognise that the film, ‘Fragmental’ was of that genre. Using these props it would attract the audience that enjoy films of the crime youth drama genre and would also attract other audiences through involving aspects that challenge the codes and conventions. When we arrived at the location where we would begin shooting, ‘Nikki’s’ room, we scattered girls clothing all over the room and made the room more girly because originally it was a boy’s bedroom. By doing this we believed it would allow the audience to believe it was everyday life, for a girl to wake up, get dressed, brush her teeth, prepare to leave and eventually leave her house however by involving the knife within this daily routine it showed that gang and knife crime was a huge problem where our main character was living and it was some what normal and expectable to carry a knife. 

In conclusion overall our film successfully attracted the target audience it was aimed at and several other secondary audiences. It portrayed the typical codes and conventions of the youth crime drama genre very well and also challenged it successfully and effectively.

Question Four

Joshua Liam Whincup

Evaluation - Question 4

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Target Audience:

Teenage boys and young men.

Target of age ranging from fifteen to twenty five.

Occupation - Student.

People who have experienced what the film features.

Any ethnic background.

Lifestyle preferable of the stereotypical student and teenager.

Those who enjoyed such films as, Kidulthood, Adulthood, Freedom Writers, Bullet Boy and Shank.

We decided to specifically aim our film, ‘Fragmental’ towards people of this calibre because we decided to make out target audience the typical target audience that other films within the same genre aimed their film at. We wanted to have our primary target audience to be the usual target audience to other films with the same genre of our film so we would be keeping the same codes and convention and would fit perfectly into the genre we wanted our film to be within. After we had the codes and conventions of a youth crime, drama we could then focus on changing the codes and conventions and attract other audiences.

Secondary Target Audience:

Girls and Women – Due to the love and romance between Sam and Nikki and due to having a female as the leading character.

Target of age ranging from fifteen to twenty five.

Also again aiming at students.

Of any ethnic background.

We also are trying to come at this film at a different angle and introduce a campaign, and also target adults to watch our film so they can get a extremely realistic view of what goes on within youth crime in today’s society.

Films that our target audience may have watched recently and enjoyed that links to the film we created, ‘Fragmental’.

Kidulthood - The film follows two days in the lives of a group of fifteen-year old teenagers from a rough area of London. The story focusses mainly upon Trevor and Alisa. An older student, Sam, is the main antagonist in the film because of his violent behaviour, his harassment of others as well as his rough demeanour. Sam also brags to Trevor that he has been sleeping with Alisa. It also transpires that a student, Katie, is being badly beaten by a group of girls. She is approached after school by Sam, who threatens to kill her if she tells anyone. Katie's parents pay little attention to her and ignore the extent of the bullying. A distraught Katie flees to her bedroom, writes a note and hangs herself. After Katie’s death the story begins to unfold and life for the students will change forever.

Misfits - Misfits is a British comedy-drama series about a group of young offenders forced to work in a community service programme, where they attain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm.

Bullet Boy - The film is about a family in crime ridden east London, the eldest son's involvement in gun crime, and the effects of this on his younger brother. Upon being released from prison, Ricky is collected by Wisdom, an eccentric and naive friend who is desperate to establish himself within their neighbourhood. Immediately after arriving back, Wisdom accidentally breaks a wing mirror off a car belonging to a local gang member. The following confrontation leads Ricky pulling away Wisdom in an attempt to keep peace. Wisdom later returns a gun to Ricky, who stores it within his bedroom, which is shared with his younger brother Curtis.Curtis finds the weapon and hides it away for his brother himself.

Skins - Skins is a British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of sixth form. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness (including eating disorders), sexual orientation identity, substance abuse and death.

Question Three

Joshua Liam Whincup

Evaluation - Question 3

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The film that we created has an extremely low budget and it is not of fantastic quality, as we did not use the top of the range equipment that blockbuster films would use the majority of the time, due to these reason it wouldn’t be shown in any cinemas. Therefore our film was always going to be edited and distribution on a much smaller scale than say for example, a blockbuster film. Although the best we can hope for is to become critically acclaimed and achieve a cult following, however this is unlikely due to the budget and the cast and crew experience.

Such companies as Dogwoof, a UK film distribution company that is known for is supporting approach to independent films and allowing them to become critically acclaimed, could help us distribute our film, Fragmental, on a hybrid scale. Such companies as Dogwoof help film makers by directly allowing them distribution services and the majority of the time offers the rights to films, such as controlling payments and costs and allowing them to see profits. I have also been informed that another likely distributor for the film Fragmental is Guerilla Films. They have constantly help distribute independent British films and films from the Republic of Ireland. They are extremely willing to discuss and to review any completed independent films created within the UK and Ireland.

Distributors play an extremely important role within the film industry and have a huge amount of responsibility. Distributors give films hype and exposure to gain larger audiences and to improve its success. Once a film is completed and the distributor is selected, the distribution companies with determine the release dates for the film, to get the most success. The distributor will the present the piece of film to an exhibitor and begin to agree and discuss a marketing campaign and negotiations, for example, if the film will be shown up the cinema, how long for and how many cinemas will it be shown in and in how many countries. A distributor will also release film posters and advertisements to attract their target audience and create hype for the film. The film we created, Fragmental, could be shown in certain cinemas, such as independent cinemas across the UK. By showing out film it may attract fans of independent films, other students interested in film and or are involved in film making and it may even attract talent scouts. From this our film, Fragmental, may become more critically acclaimed and future interest and success.

Also our film could enter a film festival and competitions within the UK. These festival help to promote and young film makers and their material. These festivals involve screening and many competitions, workshops and they some time involves speeches from people involved with the film industry. This is an easier way of helping our film being distributed. Also there are certain competitions you can enter such as Film 4’s competitions for young film makers, which may help distribute our film. 

The internet is also another extremely helpful place to distribute film. This is a lot cheaper and releasing your film onto such websites as you tube, you are releasing your film to millions of viewers around the world.

Production Company – JJAD Production

However as it is an independent British film it would not make sense to try and distribute it on an international scale that is why we decided to distribute our film through the internet.