Animatic

I have finished producing my animatic. I am not completely happy with it because I feel that it was slightly rushed. 

I am not the best at drawing and so animatics have never been my favourite thing to do but I did the best I could and I am fairly pleased with the way the pictures look as I think that they represent the shots quite well. Whilst thinking of what shots to show I tried to think about different editing techniques. I have tried to use lots of continuity editing within my animatic as this is what I will be using in my opening sequence. 

The first editing technique I had used is match-on-action:

I have also used match-on-action a bit further into my animatic as Grace opens the fridge door. This enables me to show the same thing happening without it having to last too long as one shot making it boring for the viewer. 

I would also like to use jump cuts as Bethany's tablets are shown. This will make the shot of her tablets less boring and it will be changing quite quickly but it will also still be the same shot!

I have decided not to use music in my opening sequence as I think it will be more effective if I use diegetic sound. I am using the sound of Grace scrubbing the door over the titles too as I think this will be effective and I think that it adds more tension to them. The rest of the sound I have will also be diegetic sound. The sounds will be things like the toaster, the fridge door and the sound of Grace pouring the milk. These everyday sounds and shots will allow the audience to connect to the characters life and so will make the story more hard hitting.

This is the final animatic. I'm not as pleased with it as I would have liked but I know when I'm filming how I want everything to look and I know what I do and don't like about my animatic so when it comes to editing my opening sequence I can refer to this and it will still help me.

Location

I am using three locations for my opening sequence. The first location is at the front of my house. I am using this because I need a front door which can have spastic sprayed across it. Also, social realist films do not need to be shot in really nice locations. In fact, they need the opposite. The front of my house can be made to look quite grotty and so this will work for the genre. 


Another scene will show a young girls room. This room is girly and so show's that it is a girls room. The room is not run down and grubby like a conventional room for a social realist film however I have decided that because my story line can effect anyone and isn't quite so stereotypical my locations don't need to be too conventional. 


There will also be some shots in the kitchen. The kitchen also isn't too conventional however I am going to make it look more conventional by having different dirty dishes and things around. This will also show that the mother doesn't really have much time to do anything because Bethany takes up a lot of her time. 

Props

I will need various props in my opening sequence. 

The first two props that will be seen will be a scrubbing brush and a bucket. These props are simple yet very important as they are needed so that Grace can scrub spastic off of her front door. 

I will also need a board to place over the windows on my front door so they look like they have been smashed and then I can spray spastic over the board on my front door. 

I will also need lots of different tablets. I am showing these to show that Bethany has to take many tablets every day, this would also raise questions within the audiences minds as they will wonder who's tablets they are and why they have to take them.

Costume

In my opening sequence I am only showing one character. Because of this I will only need one costume. The character shown is Grace. She is a young 12 year old girl so I would like her clothes to show this. Obviously as this is a social realist film her clothes cannot be top of the range and branded as expensive. I would like Grace to be wearing dark jeans. This is a simple item of clothing and so it cannot make Grace look rich or poor. 
For her shoes I would like her to wear simple welly boots. These are also an item that cannot make her look rich or poor and they are fairly common so they will not stand out too much. She will also be wearing a sweatshirt which has stripes on. This sweatshirt is girly and quite pretty so Grace will look feminine and her clothing will not make her look rich or extremely poor. 

Back to the original idea

I went to see Mrs Young again today with a letter to give to Brendan's parents. She had spoken to Brendan and unfortunately he does not like talking about his disability. Obviously I understand and it's absolutely fine. My original idea is fine and hopefully will work well I just think that my opening sequence would be far more effective if Brendan had been able to be in my opening sequence.

A change in my idea. Again.

Yet again I have changed my idea...

After speaking to my teacher about my idea we both felt it would be far more effective if I could actually show someone in my opening sequence who has Cerebral Palsy.

Mr Gower and I discussed some possibilities and we thought that I could either study Cerebral Palsy very carefully and have someone act as Bethany or I could find someone with Cerebral Palsy who would be willing to be in my opening sequence. 

We decided that to have someone act as Bethany would be very difficult. I do not want my opening sequence to be insensitive and I don not want any confusion over what the aim of my opening is. So, I do not think that using an actor would be suitable. 

There is a young boy in year 9 who has Cerebral Palsy. This could be a possibility but obviously I will need to speak to him and his parents to ask for their permission. 

I have been into one of Brendan's lessons just so that I can see the way he behaves and I will be writing a letter to his parents tomorrow. 

Storyboarding

Finally I have decided on, what I hope is the beginning of my final idea.

Shots

Obviously the first few shots will be distribution logo's because my film is a British film and so would need lots of funding. Next I will have a medium close-up of Gracie scrubbing the front door. This shot wont last too long but it will be shown for long enough for the audience to see that the word spastic is written on the door. This shot will be cut up and in between the shot there will be the opening titles displayed on a black background. I would then like three shots to be shown of Gracie putting her brush into the bucket. Match-on-action could be used. After this the title of the film could be shown. I am unsure as to how I would like the rest of my opening sequence to look like however I am sure that as I get further into the storyboarding process I will think of new things.

Sound

The sound throughout the majority of these shots will be the scrubbing of the door and the sound of Gracie putting her hand into the bucket of water. I think I would also like to use a voice over. Although I don't want to give too much away I do want the audience to know that Bethany, Gracie's older sister, has Cerebral Palsy.

Editing

At this moment in time I haven't thought much about editing. I think that many of my edits will be straight cuts as I feel that my story needs to be clear and clean which I think will be made better by straight cuts.

Opening sequence ideas continued...

After having a big think about how I want to do my opening sequence I am still not 100% and there are a few things I need to finalise but I think I have narrowed it down to two ideas. 

This is the basic outline that both of my ideas will follow:

• Grace is the younger sister of Bethany. Bethany has Cerebral Palsy and because of this she is bullied as is Grace. The family are tormented in their own home. 

A few things I am unsure about:

• The title of the film... Originally I wanted the title of my film to be 'gracie'. I wanted this to be the title because I think it has a ring to it and also it is a sweet young girls name. I wanted this to come up in child's hand writing and I have also used a lower case 'g' on purpose. I think this also shows how young she is and so will make the audience feel emotion. After speaking with my teacher I am unsure on whether to call it 'gracie' or 'Grace'. Grace would be a suitable title because the definitions for the word grace are very appropriate. Grace can mean elegance, beauty and good will. The young girl, Grace will show these characteristics, especially good will. 
• The word on the door... My original thoughts on this were that 'retard' should be sprayed on the front door because it is a horrible word which is commonly used out of context. However after researching into Cerebral Palsy I found out that there are 3 types. One of which is Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Now I think the word could possibly be 'spastic' because it then shows that the people being nasty don't understand anything about Bethany's condition. 
• Dialogue... I had first wanted there to be a voice over explaining the situation they are in but without giving away too much detail. I am now unsure as lots of people have done it before and I don't think they worked as well as hoped. 

Idea number 1:

Initially I wanted the opening sequence to start with a note from Grace's mother telling her that she has gone out. This note would have been read aloud by the mother. I then wanted the shot to change to a shot of Bethany in bed which would be covered by Grace talking about Bethany's condition. Then a shot of all of Bethany's pills would be shown as Grace described how Bethany hates taking them. Then a shot of Grace opening the curtains from 3 angles will be shown and as she is shown head on the title of the film will appear. I am unsure from here as to what would happen next.

Idea number 2:

Today I came up with a second idea whilst talking to a classmate. We felt that it would be really effective if the first shot was a brush being dipped into a bucket of water. This would then lead onto a series of shots of Grace scrubbing either the word 'retard' or 'spastic' off of her front door. This idea isn't a thought out at this moment in time but I think at the moment this is my favourite idea as I think it will be harder hitting and far more gritty as soon as the film starts.

Character profile

Now I have my main idea I am going to start thinking about who could play the character and just generally a but more information about her. 


Annie Rose is a young girl who will be playing the character of Grace in my opening sequence. 


Annie Rose is my younger sister and so she will be very reliable and we will be able to organise things very easily. She is 12 years old and so she is old enough to understand what I am doing and she enjoys acting, whether she is very good or not we'll have to see!


Grace is 12 years old and she is the younger sister of Bethany. Bethany has a disability which has caused her family to be the target of much abuse. Although Grace is the younger sister she has to do a lot for Bethany and so she doesn't really get to be a young 12 year old girl because she has to make sure Bethany is OK. Their father is no where to be seen. Their mother, Jane, does a lot for Bethany and she does try very hard for Grace but unfortunately Bethany needs a lot more attention than Grace does. Grace finds herself bullied at school because of her sisters disability and at her the whole family suffer abuse from different people in their neighbourhood. Grace has red hair and is quite innocent looking. I think these characteristics will help to make the audience feel more emotion for the situation that Grace is in. 


I would like my narrative to focus more on Grace than Bethany or Jane because I would like to get across to the audience how Grace feels because not only has she had to grow up a lot faster and she has to do a lot more than any other 12 year old girl she also has to put up with bullying everyday. Although I do want to get across the fact that she has had to grow up a lot faster I would also like to subtly show how young she still is. Maybe she could have two cute little pig tails or something which reminds the audience that Grace still really is only a 12 year old girl.

Audience profiles

After looking at my questionnaires and the results they have given me I have produced two audience profiles. One for a female and one for a male. 

Questionnaire data

I have put the data from my questionnaire into different charts and tables which have made it a lot easier for me to read it and analyse it. 

I asked the same amount of women as I did men because I think that it gives me a wider representation of my audience. 

I have tried to balance out the age groups which has also given me a better representation of my audience.

I am pleased with the data I have collected from this question because my opening sequence is targeted at middle class women.

I am also pleased with the data I have received from this question because although British Drama films aren't peoples favourite genre of film I am hoping to get people more into this genre through my opening sequence. 

I can create a more accurate audience profile from this data which will allow me to target my audience more specifically.

This data has also helped me to create an accurate audience profile which I can refer back to to help me create an opening sequence which can be relevant to my target audience. 

From this data I can create an accurate audience profile for me to refer back to when I am creating my opening sequence in order for it to be as relevant to my target audience as possible.

I asked this question for two reasons. I wanted to learn a bit more about my audience but also, I am pleased that I now know that if I use music in my opening sequence it is best for me to use more modern music.

This question was also to find out a bit more about my audience. This has helped me to create audience profiles in more detail and with more accuracy.

Other answers that were said were theatrical music and music in the charts.

This data has also helped me to create an accurate audience profile which I can refer back to to help me create an opening sequence which can be relevant to my target audience. 

This data allows me to see which films have been most popular and so I can study these films in more detail and so making my opening sequence similar to them.

Other films that were mentioned in the question were 'Train spotting' and 'Billy Elliot'.

The data from this question is the most useful to me as it lets me know which social issue I should focus my opening sequence on. Although two answers have come up equally only one of them was part of my original idea anyway and so I will be using that.

Another answer which was said for me to focus my social issue on was drinking.

Questionnaire

So, I have created a questionnaire to hand out to some people in order to gain a bit more knowledge of what my target audience want and so I can create some audience profiles. 

Here is my final questionnaire and my reasons for asking each question. 

Question number 1 asks the gender of the person filling in the questionnaire. Obviously I asked this question to find out whether the person is male or female. This will help as i can then break down my results into male and female. My target audience is mainly female however I am obviously not ignoring the male opinion!

Question number 2 asks the age of the person filling in the questionnaire. This question was obviously asked to find out the persons age. By finding this out I can target my opening sequence to suitable age groups.

Question 3 asks which social class the person belongs to. Social realist films normally follow the lives of those in the working class bracket and so this would be the obvious class to aim the opening sequence at however I think that the people in the middle class bracket would also enjoy this film.

Question 4 asks which genre you prefer to watch. I am asking this so that I can build up my character profiles and also to see how popular social realisms are.

Question 5 asks where you like to shop for your clothes. This also helps me to build up my audience profiles but it could also reinforce which social class this persons comes from. This could help me get an idea of what my characters could wear and what sort of style they could have.

Question 6 asks what you enjoy doing in your spare time and question 7 asks why. These questions are also to help with my character profiles but it could also give me some ideas for the general hobbies for me to focus my characters lives around. 

Questions 8, 9 and 10 are asking you which type of music and bands you like and how old you like the music to be. This will give me an idea of which types of music to use, if I decide to use music within my opening sequence. These questions will also help me to produce my audience profiles. 

Question 11 asks which social realist films you have seen. This will give me an idea of who watches social realist films and whether they watch the ones which are more heard of or whether they have watched a range of them.

And finally, question 12 asks you which social issue you would prefer to see in a social realist film. Although I have already chosen my main idea, if it becomes clear through this questionnaire that something else is considered more important to the people I have asked then I can add it in as a smaller issue or I may even have time to change my idea.

The conventions of a social realism

These are the conventions of a social realist film. I am going to stick to these conventions when producing my opening sequence as I know that it will make my work more effective.


When watching the opening sequences of 3 different social realist films I noticed that shot types and the way you use your camera is very important. Social realisms use a range of shots. They can also be quite slow or fast depending on the mood of your opening sequence and also your music. The camera can also be used free hand, in a sense that it makes your opening sequence look more gritty and could also been seen as a point of view shot. This is England uses a range of camera angles which really helps the story to be told. 
Also, during the opening sequence of many social realist films not much of the story is given away. This leaves the audience open to ask questions within their minds which keeps them hooked and wanting to watch on to find out how the story evolves.
Many if not all of the characters in social realism films come from working class backgrounds. This convention is very, very important as it really allows you to get across some of the 'rough' lifestyles some of these people may lead. Kidulthood uses this convention very well. Immediately we know that a lot of these children come from 'rougher' areas. This makes us feel more emotion for them.
Throughout the opening sequences there is a lot of speech. This allows the audience to know exactly what the characters within the film know. This also lets the audience find out quite a lot of information about the characters if you, the producer, want them too!
One of the most important conventions of a social realist film is definitely location. The area in which you film needs to be quite 'run down' or 'rough' which unfortunately is going to be difficult here in Bury St Edmunds. All social realist films do this well as it is such an important convention however, I think that Kidulthood is also a perfect example for this. 
Editing is also used very carefully in the opening sequences. Not always are the audience presented with straight cuts. Sometimes yes, but only when it is effective. Otherwise we see cross dissolves or fades and the camera also uses zooms. Kidulthood, again, is a really good example of this, the camera techniques make it look like we are surveying the children which is appropriate for the story as there is a lot of crime involved. 

Decision time!

Although I like all the ideas I have had I think I am going to base my opening sequence on the idea of bullying and intimidation towards families because they have a disability. 

Although I don't have someone with a disability to use I think the best way around this would be to not show the disabled person. I decided against the divorce idea because I don't think it is quite 'gritty' enough. I decided against the gang culture, and social group violence because I think it's a more obvious social issue and so i'm worried my ideas wont seem original. 

To start I was thinking I could have a shot of someone cleaning a word off of someones front door. Maybe the audience could then be taken back in time to different events happening which would make the viewer feel uncomfortable but it would also make them feel emotion for the characters being targeted. I know this is only a rough outline and it doesn't contain much detail but I am going to conduct a questionnaire to find out a bit more of more target audiences feelings towards this issue etc. My target audience is in fact, women aged between 25 and 40. The women I am targeting are white women, of a middle class background.

Research into disability...

I just found this article and felt it was appropriate to one of the story lines I am thinking about for my opening sequence. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/8263027.stm 

Research into divorce...

I have just found this article which I think fits with one of my possible ideas of a farther killing his children because he reacted badly to he divorce his wife asked for. This is not the original news story I had thought about however this is very similar.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7650163.stm

Research into social class bullying and gang culture...

I have just found another article which I think is appropriate to my second idea. This is the news story of the radio interview I had previously heard and where my idea came from.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7316601.stm

Horror, social realism, horror, social realism, horror, social realism?!?!?

I originally felt that I wanted to use the horror genre for my opening sequence because I thought that it would be easier to a find location etc however after looking at the opening sequences of horror movies I remembered how much I hate horror films! I also noticed that they were all very similar to each other and so I think that it would be hard to get across originality. 
So, I have made a decision to go with a social realist opening sequence. 
I am still not sure on my final storyline however I have had a few ideas. 


I was trying to think of some issues in today's society which I could focus my opening sequence around. I tried to remember issues I had heard on the news and this is what I remember. 
I recall hearing of mothers who take their own lives and their disabled child's life because of severe bullying in their neighbourhood. I thought this would be a really good issue to focus on because it hasn't been focused on before but also because it's something, I think, people need to be more aware of. I don't think many people understand how the mother is feeling and how low she must have got in order for her to take her own child's life and so these are some of the feelings I would like to get across if I decide to use this idea. 






My next idea came to me whilst I was listening to the radio. A mother was talking a few years after the death of her child. Her daughter was killed by a group of 5 youths as she walked home with her boyfriend. She was killed because she was a goth. I think that this would be a good issue to focus on because many people will see gang culture crimes and social class bullying happen every day in different extremities. 

As I was speaking to my mum about this earlier she gave me another idea. Divorce and it's effects. We thought about that man who jumped off of a balcony with his children because his wife had filed for divorce. We think that this would be a good issue for a social realist opening sequence because it is also something that people experience all of the time but also because It's something that doesn't have to become very clear within the first few minutes.






All of these ideas, I think, are suitable for an opening sequence under the genre of social realism. 

Pros and cons of the social realist genre...

As I have done the pro's and con's of the horror genre I also need to look at them for the social realist genre in order to help me make my final decision.

The pro's

• Lighting doesn't matter so much in this genre and so you do not need to worry about the time of day or the weather.
• The conventions are clear but you can also play on them to make your opening sequence more original. 
• Can be achieved on a low budget.

The con's

• Bury St Edmunds is quite a wealthy town and so the location of a social realist film could be hard to find.
• This could be a tricky genre to use as some of the issues you may choose to focus on may be quite sensitive to some people. 
• Dialogue is a big part of social realist films and so confident actors and actors of a certain standard would be needed. 

Pros and cons of the horror genre...

Before I make my final decision of which genre I would like to use for my own opening sequence. 


The pro's

• The location for a horror film, I think would be easier to find. As you could use a very typical location, e.g. a forest.
• Something as simple as lighting can make your opening sequence very effective as it's such a big convention in a horror film.
• You can achieve the desired effect on a low budget.

The con's

• Although the location would be easy to find it would be very typical and therefore slightly more boring and less original. 
• The lighting may be effective however it is more than likely to look different on the camera and the computer. 
• It would also be quite easy to fall into the trap of making your opening sequence look like a trailer. 

A Room for Romeo Brass (1999)

Director:

Shane Meadows

Writers:

Paul Fraser, Shane Meadows

Storyline

A Room for Romeo Brass is also a social realist film. There are two twelve-year-old boys, Romeo and Gavin.Their friendship is tested when a dangerous stranger comes between them.  Morell befriends with the two boys and later asks them to help him pursue Romeo's elder sister. He gradually becomes more and more violent as she doesn't feel the same and turns him down.

Enigma codes

In the opening sequence for A Room for Romeo Brass very few questions are raised. At the very beginning, the boys are walking through a field. The viewer may find themselves asking why are the boys are walking around in the middle of nowhere on their own?

Mise-en-scene

We are almost immediately introduced to quite a run down area, this looks as though it is the local shops and so we can tell that the boys homes are likely to also be in this run down area. We can see that they are run down as we can see that some of the shops are boarded up and it just generally doesn't look like the nicest place to be!

This establishing shot of the shops allows the audience to see where the boys are and what kind of place that they are at. 

Lighting

The lighting throughout A Room for Romeo Brass is quite dull and grey. This doesn't give much away to the audience however it does set the mood for the film. The grey lighting gives the audience the impression that it isn't a very nice day. This could be confused in the opening sequence by the boys emotions because they seem to be happy and not too worried however as the film progresses the audience can then understand why the lighting is so dull. The use of such dull lighting also makes the location of these boys seem worse. The shops look even more dull and run down and there is a gloomy atmosphere. 

Characters

During the opening sequence we only meet three characters. It becomes immediately clear who the two, main characters are. They are the first people we see and the camera follows their movement all the way through the opening sequence. The characters I'm talking about are Romeo and Gavin. Whilst the boys are on the open field we don't learn much about their personality's. Gavin says to Romeo that he "would like to build a house out here". This gives me the impression that he is quite an ambitious boy whereas Romeo seems far more 'down to earth'. 

The next and last character we meet during the opening sequence is the man from the chippy! I don't think that this man is of any importance in terms of the story however he does bring out more personality from the two boys. Romeo appears to be quite greedy and harsh towards Gavin. Gavin comes across as quite hard done by and we get the impression that his parents are quite strict as he is dressed more smartly and he appears to have no money on him. I also get the impression that Romeo is more confident than Gavin and it also appears to me that he calls the shots. Gavin is always walking behind Romeo which shows their role in the friendship quite clearly to the audience.



Shot types



During the opening sequence there are lots of long shots and establishing shots. This is a really good technique to use as it lets the audience see where the characters are growing up and 'hanging' around. It also allows us to see other things such as what they are wearing and how they are together.

There are also some medium close-ups which allow the audience to see the emotion on the characters faces but it also allows us to see both the characters faces at the same time which lets us see how they react to one another. High angled shots are also used. These allow us to see where the boys are and also makes them look quite vulnerable and innocent which is what they are. 




Editing
During this opening sequence a lot of straight cuts are used. This is effective as it lets the action flow very smoothly. The edits are quite slow which is also effective as it lets you see lots of the action and lets you engage what is happening. The camera tends to follow the action rather than use match-on-action. I think this suits the opening sequence well as the action doesn't move quickly and so the edits don't need to. 


Sound
For the first minute or so the sound is diegetic sound. There is only dialogue to start with. This makes the music more effective when it starts. The music is non diegetic sound and is quite up beat. This fits with the dialogue as the boys are having a laugh and a joke with one another and so the mood is quite good. The volume of the music is lowered when the actors begin to speak. This doesn't drown out what they are saying but you can still hear the music in the background. 






This is the opening sequence to A Room for Romeo Brass. 
In my opinion the opening sequence finishes at 5:35 seconds in when the music finishes and Romeo enters the house.