Music

After getting my nearly finished cut of my opening two minutes, i have noticed that there are quite a few long gaps, where there is no dialogue. Therefore i have changed my mind and decided to add music ito my video. To do this i went onto Jamendo, a music site, full of free music that you can download for free and have the copyright as long as you credit the artist. ( The song is Autumn Prelude by Zero-project).  I have found the perfect piece of music for my piece and added it, under the voice over and in the gaps. I feel this makes my video alot better as it really portrays the message i am trying to get across and the audience become a lot more emotionally attached and fills the gaps to make it alot more interesting when there is no dialogue. I then added the name of the artist to my opening credits.  Other class members have watched my opening and have given me really good feedback, especially mentioning the music working well! 

Story board

Release forms

I will use the following release forms when conducting my short film production and research

Location Release Form
I hereby give consent for the following property Long Stratton High school to be used in the filming of (Michael)  by Lauren Knights During the period of (dates) 21^st March 2011

Signed...........

Print...........

Image Release Form
I hereby give consent for my image to be used as an on screen performer in the filming of (Michael) by Lauren Knights. During the period of 21^st March 2011

Signed...........

Print……….

Props

This is a letter i have made for the younger boy to hold when he is sitting ont he swing, revealing his results of the Leaukemia test.

ideal actors

These are two examples of ideal actors, they are the right age range and it is believable that they are the same person but different ages, this is what i am looking for with my actors, i want it to be beliveable that they could be the same person as other wise the audience will not take not follow the story and feel the emotion of the characters.

Therefore, i have chosen my actors.
This is a picture of the actor i will be using for the younger boy and the older boy.

Location Research

I have searched on google earth, lots of parks around my local area and around norfolk. After my research i have decided that this is the best park,these are some pictures of the park location  i will use for my opening two minutes. I think this will be a good location as it's a nice open space with good facilities, The equiptment is in good condition so will make my film look more proffessional and of high quality. This park inparticular is good as it is not often busy so i will have my own freedom and will not be preventing anybody from using the swings.

Mood board

To do ..                                                     Date 

Audience Research                                      4th March

Voiceover recording                                   12th March

Filming in the park                                     12th March

Filming the results pick up                           8th March

Editing                                                  12-25th March

Music                                                           8th March

Research and Planning                                 5th March

New plan

Plot

(starts at the end)
Michael scott (20) sitting on a swing in a recreational park thinking and remenising. He will be the main character and voice over for the rest of the film. The next shot will be off him ased 16 picking up his GCSE certificates talking about that day in his life and the effect it had on him as a person now as the was told that he has Leukemia, he had a bone marrow transplant but his Leukemia has now returned. (as in original idea, this is when he meet the girl and she saves his life ext..  in the rest of the story)

In Detail 

Begins with the man sitting on the swing, holding a piece of paper (although we dont see what it is)  - music over the top. (voice over begins) Fades to the floor and brings it up onto the younger Michael walking towards a lady sitting at a desk. He will then say 'Michael Scott' and she will hand him the paper, he will then show his GCSE certificates which is change into the letter from the doctors, then the boy will start walking (camera from his point of view) going to sit on the swing and then a weather shot, before the credits appear.



Script 

(Certificate giver) "Michael Scott"

(Voice over) " It's amazing how naive you are as a child, that moment i thought was the worst in my life and could potentially be the most life destroying news. How wrong i was,  the 20th of August did turn out to be the worst in my life. My GCSE'S were actually suprising good, my teachers all told me that i had a promising and successful life ahead of me. Ironically the doctor said the same thing but not the way i expected . I had just found out that i had Leukemia and it needed to be treated straight away. As a sixteen year old boy how are you suppose to react, go off the rales, start taking drugs and alcahol or  be brave and work through it. My life was never the same after that day from being a bully i turned into the bullied, every step i took somebody would be staring, giggling or laughing but i soldiered on and beat it and them . So here i am still alive, but back to square one. 20th august 2011 the doctor says those words that nobody wants to hear.. im so sorry to tell you that the Leukemia has returned, we have no other choice but to perform a bone marrow translant but we need to find a donar. So today is the beginning of my new life, a new Micheal and a man.

What do i need to think about?

Location - The location that i will be using will be Long stratton recreational park, i will also be using a school, either Longstratton high or Wymondham high.

Actors - I will be using a man aged 28 and a boy aged 15 (My brother)
I will also need a group of people to act as other students picking up thier gcse results and a lady to give out the certificate. 


I also need to find a deep 'manly' voice to use as my voice over

props -  Table, box, folders, paper and pen 

Production company

My production name is going to be Knight Productions
As it is relevent to my name, works well and sounds good.

On publisher i have been creating my logo,
as the word night has two different meanings, i want to make it relevant to both. Therefore the K i have made stand out and be different so that you can read it as Knight or night.
I have created the K out of a sword (relevant to a Knight)  and a moon (relevant to night) and then have written night productions next to it, following the grey colour theme. I have then added three stars at the bottom to break the colour up.

Logo

Research into Leukemia

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/youngpeople/page5


Definition of leukemia: Cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue such as the bone marrow and causes large numbers of blood cells to be produced and enter the bloodstream


In 2000, approximately 256,000 children and adults around the world developed some form of leukemia, and 209,000 died from it. About 90% of all leukemias are diagnosed in adults.

Treatments include: Most are treated with pharmaceutical medications,  Some are also treated with radiation therapy. In some cases, a bone marrow transplant.

Symptoms:  feeling sick, having fevers, chills, night sweats and other flu-like symptoms, fatigued. Some  nausea or a feeling of fullness due to an enlarged liver and spleen; weight loss and headaches can occur.

Approximately 10.9% were diagnosed under age 20
Five-year relative survival by race and sex was: 54.6% for white men

More children than ever are surviving childhood cancer. Over the last 30 years, survival into adulthood increased from 30 percent to 80 percent.
Today, about 85 percent of children with ALL live five years or more.

children 1 to 9 years old have higher survival rates than do infants or older children. However, factors such as age and white blood cell count at diagnosis are, at best, crude predictors of outcome.

Scientists know that ALL in children occurs slightly more often in boys than in girls and in white children more often than in black children.

Why would they need bone marrow?
The first is when the cancer itself has injured the bone marrow. BMT and PBSCT are commonly used in the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma. The second circumstance is when a treatment requires such large doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy that the child's bone marrow is damaged during treatment.

I have also been on NCI information Specialist live help  chat site and have asked questions

Evaluation of my presentation

I think my presentation had its strong and weak  points, my presentation seemed to work well, with the main points on the board and myself talking to expand on these, as the 'senior proffessionals' could look at the points and listen to me explain them.  I did feel like i was repeating myself ab it and maybe didn't explain so me points as well as i possible could have done. They were very slip in what they thought about my idea and how successfully they thought it would be. The main issue that arises was that i hadn't thought through my idea and researched Leukemia well enough, as it is unlikely that the boy would have it when he was a little boy and still have it at the age of twenty eight. Although they did like the idea of my opening, they thought it needed slightly changing. We had a little discussion and thought about possible changes; such as: instead of having little children playing a park, i could have a teenager picking up his GCSE results after recently being diagnosed and still have the narration over the top talking about how people treat him differently ext.. This could work well as it will appeal more to my target audience as it  is based around a boy of the particular age.  Another idea was to possible focus on the bullying aspect and make the boy be a bully, until he becomes diagnosed and then changes the way he treats people and show him being bullied. To focus on the message that everyone is the same and should be treated the same, also to focus on the issue of bullying. I agreed with them on this and am currently thinking about which way will work best to change my film.  Another issue that arised was that it was still quite similar to My sisters keeper, so i should think about what makes it different? and how i could emphasis the difference? The only answer i could reply was that in my film it will be based around the romance aspect and love, although on reflection i think i could make it different by focusssing on the bullying aspect. I think this exercise was very usefull and worthwhile in doing as it has made me open my eyes to the fine detail and to realise that i need to do more specific research to improve my film, make it more unique and different so that my target audience would want to go and see it and has given me good experience at doing a media presentation.

Preperation for my presentation

My preparation consisted of, looking at my audience research and making some conclusions from my results. I then produced a PowerPoint presentation, taking into consideration all of the questions that i was going to be asked. On my PowerPoint i make brief notes on the main points i was going to talk and below made speakers notes for myself.  I then practiced my presentation to a friend and got them to ask me the questions. I also went onto the internet and researched how much gross my inspirational films will make. (love actually - £152,231,308 and my sisters keeper - £58,974,486)

synopsis

MICHAEL SCOTT (28) is sitting on a swing, reminiscing on his life. A flashback to Michael as a child shows him playing happily in the park, laughing without a care in the world. Over the top is Michael as a man as a voice over.  He talks about when he was little, he was a popular happy go lucky child, although he had Leukemia. Flash backing we see him aged five, in hospital.  At high school, we see Michael being  severely lonely and being bullied by all the other boys at school. We are then shown Michael aged around 13, in hospital. Michael is seen applying for university and being declined due to his illness, the universities do not think it is the best route for him, as they don't feel they can support him and they don't feel that he will cope with the pressures of uni. He is then in hospital aged 16. Michael is seen in a sequences of different shots of Michael applying for multiple jobs and being declined for all of them, although he is actually very intelligent. Michael is then seen at the hospital aged 19. Michael is sitting on his bed, curled up in ball crying, with the voice over explaining his feelings at this time, how miserable he was and was on the verge of ending his life. Michael is then in hospital again, aged 27, he is in for his usual check up but on his way out bumps into a nurse that he has never met before, causing the content of her bag to go flying, he quickly reacts by apologising and throwing her objects back into her bag before helping her up off the floor. As they catch eye, Sarah recognises Michael, by exclaiming his name and reminding him of who she is. He then remembers and there is a flash back to when they were 16 and she helped him to wipe the eggs off him that the bullies had chucked at him. She then exclaims that she has to be at work, but gives him her number. Stephen and Sarah go on a first date at a classy restaurant, eating, chatting and laughing; just like when he a child, the last time he was can remember being this truly happy. Michael and Sarah go on several more dates and start to have a relationship, this is shown through a quick sequence of clips form these dates. Michael and Sarah get married and are living happily until we see Michael at the hospital getting devastating news that he will only live if he gets immediate bone marrow. Sarah and Michael are both laying in hospital beds, with the voice over talking about how Sarah had saved his life by giving him the bone marrow.

Initial ideas

This is a picture of my spider diagram. This was the first plan i made to think and compare my ideas, to select the best .

My initial thought and ideas

Inspirational films

One of my all time favourite films and one of the most iconic openings ever made is love actually, therefore i want my opening to be loosely based around that and also my idea has been inspired by the film My sisters keeper.


Target audience

My target audience are 14-24 year old, as from my research i have found this to the biggest cinema audience and this age group are the most likely to watch my film. Also as the genre of my film is a romantic comedy, from my research i found women watch these type of films more.

Brief synopsis of my idea

I am going to begin my film at the end, with a man (aged mid 20's) sitting on a swing in a park. I will focus on him for a couple of seconds, before he begins to talk/reminisce. (He will be the voice over for the rest of my film).  It will then move to a group of children playing happily at a park,smiley but focusing on one little boy (the man). Throughout this the voice over will still be talking about how when he was little nobody treated him any different, just like he normal and introducing his illness (Leukemia) and talking about how he has got to this point ext...

I have thought about the rest of my film, so i have an idea about what the rest of my film will hold and where it is going; although i will not be filming it.

Rest of my film

The man has been treated badly all of his life, e.g not getting jobs, girls or friends. Then he meets a girl, who understands him and they fall in love. They are together for a year before the man gets incredibly ill and needs bone marrow, which later the women will give him to save his life.

The actors

I will be using a group of young children, approximately aged between 4 and 10. I will also need a mid 20 year old man, if possible good looking, so my 'film' would appeal to my target audience.

Where and When?

It will be set in a recreational park or playing field, preferably on a sunny, bright day and during the daytime.

writing a story from a sentence

In the lesson today we were given the opening sentence and had to think of a story out of this, i found this to be a use full exercise as it helped to think about our openings of films and how we can change them, to make them less predictable. Also to give us ideas for our own openings. This was my idea;

This scene will be silent, with no music; so it can focus on the women's heavy breathing, to increase the drama and suspense. The shots will also be fast pasted to emphasis the urgency.

A women is desperately dialling a number in a public phone box, she looks panicked as the call goes to voicemail... She quickly looks around, chucks the phone down and takes her heels off. She slowly walks out of the phone box and shouts help as loud as she can; but there is nobody there. She suddenly falls to the floor, still breathing heavily. Suddenly we hear her scream extremely loudly. The camera moves down and to reveal to the audience that the women is heavily pregnant and in the process of giving birth.

Research for opening two minutes of my film

After sitting and watching several openings of films from other films, it has given me a insight into want and dont want my opening to be like. The common themes that kept occuring were horror, gangs and abduction. Therefore i have decided that i want my openign to be more light hearted, happy and not of these genres. I have also learnt that the actors are important and need to be realistic and give a good and convincing performance. As i attend out of school drama classes locally, i will proberly use some actors from there or another option would be actors from drama in school. Also most of the opening i watched used sixth form students as all of the charcacters, which i found did not work, as they were playing successful adults with families but were actually aged 16, therefore i want to use appropriate and if possible varied age ranges. The location is also a key feature and has to be appropriate to what is happening e.g having a shooting outside your house , is not very effective and to look at what is happening in the background, e.g not having people in the background.

 I also looked at well known films such as Ferris Buellers day off and Waynes world, to look at examples of breaking the fourth wall, Breaking the Fourth wall was also another technique used in films such as Wayne's world, where the actor talks down the camera to the audience. Although in some examples i watched it worked i feel it is a tricky technique that has to be used in the right way for it to be successful and work. In my film i dont believe it is appropriate and would not work.With this people can also easily get confused and not understand or it can totally not work and decredits the film. 

I also looked at narration and thought it was an interesting and different way to open a film and can work very well as long as the voice is right. Such as Don Luffontene the voice over of many horror films. I really liked the use of narration and voice over and am very keen to use this in my opening as i feel it works well and gives a completly different feel to what you watch. Also i think that when narration is used the audience is drew in more to the film as they have to listen and follow what it happening to understand. 

The credits were also another main point i picked up on, i think it is neccessary to have them at the beggining to make it look less like a trailor and more an opening, also not to use the same name, as it looks unproffessional and repetitive. This is the main point that occurred with my watching that most of them tended to be trailers than opening's, so i want to make sure this doesnt happen. This picture is a good use of credits for the introduction of a film.

Narrative was also used in films such as the Hangover, where the film may begin at the ending or at the middle, this can work really well as it makes the audience ask questions and want to watch the rest of the film,although on the other hand it can confuse the audience and they maynot be able to follow the film, I like this technique as long as it is used correctly and made clear where it fits into the film. Flashbacks can also be used to change the narrative, this can also work well, in the same way, As i keeps the audience interested and keeps them taking notice of the film as to what is happening and what relevence it has to the film as a whole. Mean Girls is an example of using Flashbacks to her as a child living in africa.

Soundtracks and music can also be vital and 'make' a fil;m, such as music from films such as Jaws, A team or Fame, the soundtracks have become iconic and make people remember the film. This doesn't only work with film, television programmes such as x-factor or Eastenders can be recognised for there soundtracks / theme tunes. Therefore i music is a very effective and interesting thing to use. Although i cannot use this in my film as it will drown the narration out.

In conclusion i want my opening to be better than the ones i have watched today by improving the points i have mentioned. :)

After looking at several  films of different genres and at other pupils works i have seen the genre's that occur often (as stated above) i want my film to be completly different and of a different genre so my idea is not 'typical' or expected. Therefore i have chosen to use a drana genre as it is completly different and an interesting genre with wide guidelines to fit this genre. Two drama films that i really liked and feel i could base my ideas around are Love actually and My Sisters Keeper. I Like the opening of Love actually as i feel is a really iconic opening that sticks in people's minds. I think it works as it pulls on the heart strings and sets you up with the basis of what the film is about to doesn't reveal too much to the audience. I think its very good at portraying the emotion and that is how i want my opening to be. Another film that has inspired me is my sisters keeper, i love the openign with the voice over talking, although it is from a different persons point of view and in mine i am using the man himself.