Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The type of media distributor we used would depend on the budget, location and genre of the film. Our film if ever made would be a low budget film, it’s shot in a shoddy area so we would use a non mainstream film distribution company. We could also use distributors from European companies as they help get the movie into foreign cinemas whilst funding the movie. An example of This Is  England, as it has funding from Screen Yorkshire and the BBC Lottery Fund.

We decided to use credits from 4 Film as they often fund low budget and indie films, we thought that this would fit our niche. 4 Film have also released Submarine, which was one of our inspirations when creating the opening. Similar type films that have been released by 4 film are This is England or stylisticly (camera shots, and mise en scene representation.

A film company that distributes internationally could be Ill Manors, as it was distributed by Microwave Films who get funding from different countries such as Germany from festivals, forums and comissions. This movie is also a small budget movie set in a similar area (In London), therefore we could relate this to our movie opening.

Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film opening focuses on one main character: Alisha. Alisha is a teenage girl who is representive of our target audience (young/teenage) audiences. We also targeted people of many social groups, to gain a wider range of viewers.

For example in picture number one we can compare to a film that represents/targets one type of social group. Kidulthood displays the stroy of young teenagers in a lower social class who are stereotypical "chavs" or "gansgters". This can be contrasted to another film such as The Breakfast Club in picture number 2 which represent all types of class and stereotype from nerd to popular princess. In our film we targeted a culture like a mixture of these two films, as the story is more about how Alisha is less fortunate in her situatuion (bullied by character type in Kidulthood) it also shows us how she stands out from the crowd, similar to those in The Breakfast Club.

We also based our character on those represented in Submarine (photo 3) which shows a similar story of an unlikely matching between two unpopular kids. We used this as it is a relatable coming of age movie, which is also targeted ar a niche and teenage audience; it also shows off the lives of two unklucky kids who have similar lifestyles to Alisha in our story. However Alisha also has an unstable side which can be compared to Charlie (photo 5) from The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, and Lisa from Girl, Interupted. Both of these characters are unstable mentally and depressed which we wanted to convey in Alisha. This could then go on to show her represented as the stereotypical "goth" or "emo".

We conveyed Alisha as these stereotypes by using mise en scene, and location. For example Alisha wears a coat similar to those in Submarine. Her clothes and make up is worlds apart from those in Kidulthood, however the location is very similar (dark/dirty/in the middle of the city). It is also shown in the cinematography as in many of the shots, we don't focus on Alisha, but her surroundings.

Question 1

    Main Character

Our main character (Alisha) is the norm for indie cinema, however challenges the stereotypical glamorized female lead in holly wood films such as Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like The Hot" or Reece Witherspoon in "Legally Blonde". We wanted to compare our character Alisha to Oliver Tate from "Submarine" or Mia from "Fish Tank"




                                                                                              Costume and Props


In our opening we wanted to use the idea of actual movie openings

by using our props to help us hint at storylines, and characteristics in the main characters. For example, the beer cans and christmas trees hint that at the father being possibly troubled and that its at christmas. A similar film to compare this to is "Morvern Callar", which also uses the dingy christmas theme.












      Title Font/Style

In our title font and style, we wanted a handwritten looking childish font, similar to the one used in "Where The Wild Things Are". We used a font we found online after researching into different ideas.








                                                                                                            Story and How It's Suggested


We used a dramatic, coming of age storyline; similar to the ideas represented in "Fish Tank", as the mise en scene suggests a serious tone. We also wanted it to come across as urban, so we set it in a quite rough area, in a block of flats.

















Camera Work and Editing


We developed the ideas of camera work and editing, by using a lot of handheld and focus shifting shots. This is similar to a documentary style movie. We also used a blue tone in the colour correction, like in "Children of Men". We took these editing ideas, and put our own spin on them.

Filming for the Nightmare Scene

Billy and I filmed with Alisha today, to get the sequences for the nightmare scene. We used lighting with acetate colour fills over the lights in our school drama studio. We then moved the lighting around to make a colourful moving effect.
Below are some photos we took of/during filming!

New Ideas: Sound Collage

To add more detail of the story to our opening, Billy and I decided to add a dream sequence, with horrible flasbacks about Alisha's life. We decided to begin this process by recording different dialogues and noises to create a sound collage. We already used this technique for the ambient noise collage in the beginning part, when Alisha is outside the block of flats.

We decided to use hateful people making vicious remarks, teachers telling her off and laughing to heighten that she us leading a horrible life. We recorded class mates saying horrible things, using the camera and microphone. We are currently now in the process of editing the sounds together, to make an eerie dream like collage.

Improvements

After reading through our feedback, Billy and I have decided to film a couple more shots, to make a storyline more clear. We will do this by filming a few ideas we had in mind, to make the story more clearly set around christmas, we will also film more with the second character (Alisha's friend).