Research and Planning

Green - Strengths

Red - Weaknesses 

Purple - Key Changes
Orange - Application to our production

Key Words

11.09.2017 - Research of other Blogs

From researching other blogs I now have a better understanding of the contents of a strong research and planning page which has helped me massively, considering my blog last year was so poor.

I have made a personal toolkit of what I believe to be a strong research and planning page from analysing other blogs:

• Detailed analysis - one thing I picked up on looking at other blogs (even the strongest ones) is that analysis wasn't in enough depth.
• Show a journey - not only lesson dates but updating previous work constantly to show any changes made, improvements and progression.
• Explanation - Explain everything. Any images, shots, fonts, explain why you are using these.
• Meet deadlines - otherwise I will never be able to keep up (I had this problem last year after losing my blog).
• Show personality - make it your own.
• Enjoy yourself - if I stress myself out I will not enjoy completing the coursework which will reduce motivation.

11.09.2017 - Assigned our group

In this lesson I was also assigned my group I will be working with throughout the production process and whom I will be producing my 5 minute short film alongside.

I am working with Joe Squibb and Anna Smith. They are great people with great ideas so I'm hoping together the three of us can make a wicked film.

11.09.2017 - Research into other short films

Choice

Strengths -

• Clever editing techniques. 
• Original narrative (once I got my head around it)
• Cliff-hanger - kept engaged.
• Connects with the audience - breaking the fourth wall.

Weaknesses -

• Took me a while to understand the narrative.
• As it was set at night the lighting caused camera shots to be grainy/blurry.

Overall, the media techniques produced within this short film were executed very well. For example their use of point of view cinematography and techniques such as breaking the fourth wall for dramatic effect, allowed the audience to really connect with the character. It also provides us with an element of realisation as it makes us take the situation more seriously. On the other hand, the narrative was nothing short of confusing. I found it hard to get my head around the reason the main protagonist ended up in the situation he was in. Someone of my age group, in the demographic band E (students) would find it difficult to understand the complexity of the narrative unless they were a computer whizz like the main character.

Blue

Strengths -

• Good storyline - raises awareness about domestic abuse.
• Good cinematography - wide variety of shots.

Weaknesses -

• Lost my attention half way through. Too much conversation/waffling.
• Lacks originality.

This short film was in my opinion, the weakest of the three I analysed. This is because the narrative was predictable, I guessed the plot very quickly as they gave the most obvious signals way too soon  in my opinion, such as the male protagonist being overly nice to the female protagonist, paying her compliments that didn't quite sit right with me. Also, I completely lost focus after a short while as protagonists began to waffle and it lasted for what seemed like forever. It did not engross me as a viewer at all, and this to me, is the films biggest flaw.

However I give them their due, Blue was a way of raising awareness about domestic abuse cases so the audience may now know what signs to look out for and that there is people that victims can talk to and confide in.

Zika

Strengths -

• Kept engaged all the way through.
• Based on a true story.
• Clever editing techniques.

Weaknesses -

• Upsetting scenes - can be distressing.

The ONLY downfalls I can find from this short film is that it is extremely distressing and may be subject to copyright issues having used clips from the news and that it could be considered 'lazy'. BUT it was so well put together and so mesmerising, I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen. It is based on true events within the world and the candidates interpreted them so beautifully from the editing to the cinematography. Easily the strongest of the three I analysed.

These short films will help me and my group throughout the research and planning process as it will help us decide on a genre we wish to use and any sub-genres we wish to implement. It will also allow us to pick up on any weaknesses of the films so we are aware of what not to do at the same time.

14.09.2017 - Potential Film Idea

So far, we have come up with an idea involving mirrors that symbolise more than just that of  persons reflection. For example, they are secret cameras that people are being watched through constantly (a bit like Big Brother, but with less Botox and more substance).

We also wanted to implement a disorder such as OCD within this idea as it would be a guide to the main protagonist realising he/she is being watched, through something as simple as a wonky mirror. 

18.09.2017 - More extended narrative below, with more of a plot coming together.

18.09.2017 - Creation of a clear narrative

An external force working to get rid of the unknowingly powerful female protagonist, watching her 24/7 through what she thinks is her reflection staring back at her in a mirror. She wears a necklace that holds a unimaginable amount of power which causes her kidnapping whereby she is attacked and left vulnerable. She then wakes up in hospital suffering from amnesia due to the trauma she suffered from the attack leading her to forgetting everything that had happened pre-trauma.

When she returns home, all of the mirrors in her house are locked away. However, when she greets people in the street, her trauma begins to stimulate flashbacks/ mirrored dimensions. She encounters people in the street that slowly trigger these flashbacks and as a result, her flashbacks become more frequent in which her memory begins to slowly come back to her - the purpose of the mirrors are revealed to her through the flashbacks in which she ventures through to the other side of the mirror.

18.09.2017 - Another change to our plot, we changed our minds a lot throughout this double lesson.

WE HAVE FINALLY CHOSEN A GENRE AND A NARRATIVE THAT IS GOING TO STICK!

Genre: Psychological Mystery

Sub-genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Thriller.

Our female protagonist (we have not decided characters yet, these choices will come later when we complete character profiles), has just moved into her grandmothers old house with her Mother after her parents just recently divorced and her grandmother passing away.

Later that day, she stumbles upon a necklace amongst a box of some of her grandmothers belongings that were given to her. Little does she know that this necklace is responsible for keeping dimensional harmony between reality and the second world on the other side of our mirrors. She wears this necklace 24/7 in honour of her grandmother but it causes her to have nightmares that entice her into finding out about this world and organisation she never knew existed with her family knowing a whole lot more than they care to let on. Especially with a room that is kept locked and 'out of bounds' and her mother claiming she has no idea what is in there.

Each dream gets her a step closer to finding out what's on the other side of the locked door of which could possibly prove her grandmother was living a second life as a gatekeeper between two realms. Reality and the mirror dimension. The only thing that distinguishes between the two is one simple symbol, the same one that's on the necklace.

22.09.2017 - Sub-genres

Main Genre - Psychological Mystery

We chose this genre as it best supports our narrative. Our plot is very complicated to film however we intend to make it easier for us through establishing mise-en-scene techniques using simple every day objects/props e.g. the necklace, and making them complex. We will do this through the mystery side to the genre and these simple, yet effective, objects will implement the psychological impact onto our protagonist.

Shutter island is an example of a psychological mystery, and it is one hell of a film that I highly recommend watching (but you are a Media Studies examiner, so you have probably seen it...if not, where have you been since 2010?). Personally for me, it is probably one of the best twist endings of all time and you feel it too, watching behind a screen. Its so powerful. It messes with the audience psychologically as well I think, and I think that was Scorsese's intentions, and it was/is so effective. We want this power implemented within our film, we want the audience gripped, hanging off the edge of their seats wondering what will happen next. We want them to constantly be changing their minds, deciding who is telling the truth and who is withholding the truth and most importantly what the necklace symbolises. Ok, so we might not be as persuasive as the lovely Leonardo DiCaprio, but we can try our best.

Typical codes and conventions of this genre include suspense, tension, raising of stakes for the protagonist (for example, for Christina the tension builds as her dreams get closer to revealing the secret hidden behind closed doors, literally), the protagonist must be proactive, for example, hold that element of curiosity and eagerness (Christina stops at nothing to find out what the necklace means and what hidden truths her family have been keeping from her) and finally the ending must resolve all loose ends (so Christina and the audience will find all the evidence in the locked room that will lead her to the group of gatekeepers).

Trailer for Shutter Island:

Sub-genres

Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Thriller.


Above: Represents the mirror universe and also me pulling my hair out using this awful website.

Sci-Fi is implemented within our film through the parallel universe and the parallel selves on the other sides of their mirrors.

Fantasy is used within our film through 'mythical' creatures - when really they are just second versions of people in reality.

Thriller can be applied through the use of nightmares our protagonist will have - dreams imply the people on the other side of our mirrors are evil when in fact they protect the harmony between the two dimensions.

The Gatekeepers VS Inception

22.09.2017 - Setting

We have decided to use Joe's house to film the majority of the shots as it has the ideal layout to get the shots we need for the film.

SETTING 1: HOME.

We have chosen Joe's house to film our home scenes as it is more spacious thus allowing us to be more flexible with our cinematography in terms of shots and camera angles. We will be able to choose from a range of options this way and we can decide which is the most appropriate to the scene.

SETTING 2: OFFICE/WORKPLACE.

We have chosen to use our schools main office as our location for Christina's workplace as it is a generic but ideal setting and provides a more natural environment as we are not going to kick out the office staff, we are going to keep them doing what they are doing to create more of a natural vibe for viewers. 

SETTING 3: PLAYGROUND.

This is where Christina meets Elek, this location was chosen as it provides a nice backdrop within the scenes and supports the true aims of the gatekeepers. This scene is also where riddles almost unravel for the viewers.

25.09.2017 - Treatment (First Draft)

Christina Rune has just moved into her grandmother, Fenna Rune's old house with her Mother (Laura Rune) after her parents just recently divorced and her grandmother passing away.

Later that day, she stumbles upon a necklace amongst a box of some of her grandmothers belongings that were given to her after her death. Little does she know that this necklace comes with a significant amount of responsibility. It  is a keepsake that encourages peace and keeps dimensional harmony between reality and the parallel universe on the other side of our mirrors. 

She wears this necklace 24/7 in honour of her grandmother but it causes her to have nightmares that entice her into finding out about this world and organisation she never knew existed with her family knowing a whole lot more than they care to let on. Especially with a room that is kept locked and 'out of bounds' and her mother claiming she has no idea what is in there.

Each dream gets her a step closer to finding out what's on the other side of the locked door. If she gets inside she could possibly prove her grandmother was living a second life as a gatekeeper between two realms. Reality and the mirror dimension. Although, she doesn't know that's what she's out to prove.  

The only thing that distinguishes between the two worlds is one simple symbol, the same one that's on the necklace.

09.10.2017 - NEW TREATMENT

It's a murky September evening, when Christina, a tall, pale brunette turns the key in the lock of her new home hesitantly. She is soon followed by her mother, a scarf distributor with nothing but love and affection for her daughter, whose intelligence may do her more harm than good. With her parents divorced, and her grandmother deceased, Christina absorbs her surroundings. She is standing amidst her grandmothers once beautiful home, it was her home now, the eerie atmosphere sends shivers down her spine,  the woman she cared for so deeply was gone. But did she really know the owner of 10 Chandler Road as well as she thought?

Fiddling around with some of her grandmothers belongings, Christina accidentally unearths a mysterious necklace. She gently places the necklace around her neck and stares at it admiringly unaware of the consequences that may follow. An item that seems so insignificant leaves Christina with a huge level of responsibility. She can now unknowingly travel between two realms, reality and the hidden dimension on the other side of our mirrors, that she never knew existed. However, it comes at a price. The only clues she is given about this entire ideal, is through daily nightmares that entice her into finding out the truth and enlightens her sense of curiosity and eagerness. This drive is further fuelled by the locked room that is left 'out of bounds' in Christina's new home. She must find out what lies behind that door that keeps recurring in her dreams and she must find out what organisation it was, that her grandmother was a part of.

If she can get inside the locked room she could potentially prove her grandmother was living a second life all along, with her mother knowing a whole lot more than she intends to let on and the truth set in her sights.

The Gatekeepers are an organisation situated within the mirror world that aim to keep dimensional harmony between reality and that of the mirror world. They promote peace, protection, security and preservation. Fenna Rune was the leader of this group, before she passed away. She had hoped that her granddaughter would take the stand one day when she found out, but her friend/rival got offered the position due to a majority vote. She was disappointed but knew things could change for the better now her dear granddaughter found the necklace she purposefully left for her. Fenna knew it would be tough to see Christina have to go through the stress of figuring out what is going on, but ultimately she knew she would make the right decisions.

Christina could be the new leader between the two realms. Reality and the mirror dimension, following in her grandmothers footsteps. The only thing distinguishing between the two is one simple symbol, the same one that's on the necklace.

This is exactly what Fenna Rune had wished for all along.

25.09.2017 - Character Research

Within this lesson, my group and I researched potential characters we can find similarities between them and our main protagonist (Christina Rune).

Our first decision is Coraline from the fantasy/thriller directed by Henry Selick.

Both characters have a personality trait of curiosity in which they wield a sacred item. Coraline discovers a buttoned key whereas Christina discovers a necklace with the gatekeeper symbol on it which allows protagonists to travel between the mirror dimension and reality.

Both films end in a cliff hanger. Coraline with the "Evil Mothers" hand climbing out of the wishing well. In comparison, our films ends with Christina opening the door which she finds the portal to the mirror dimension.  

25.09.2017 - Character Profiles

Christina Rune

Age: 19

Job: Admin Assistant.

Nationality: English. Dutch Family.
Eye Colour: Green

Hair Colour: Brown

Height: 

Life ambitions: Own her own business.

Links to character research aforementioned (Coraline).

Laura Rune

Age: 45

Job: Independent business owner.

Nationality: Dutch born. Lives in the UK.

Eye Colour: Green

Hair Colour: Blonde

Height: 5ft 4

Life ambitions: grow her business nationally.

Excuse the horrendous photo of myself but I don't care enough to get up earlier in the morning to put make up on and make myself look half decent.

Fenna Rune

Status: Dead.
Age when died: 75 (human age).
Job by day: Scarf embroidery.
Job by night: Gatekeeper.
Nationality: Dutch.
Eye colour: Blue.
Hair colour: Blonde/Brown.
Height: 5ft 2
Life ambition: keep peace between two realms.

Shout out to my grandma for unknowingly playing Fenna Rune (she would kill me if she knew I used her photo).

Rune (characters last name), is German for secret.

Fenna (grandmothers first name), is Dutch for guardian of peace.

Elek Abaven 

Age: 68

Job by night: Gatekeeper.
Nationality: Hungarian.

Eye Colour: Green

Hair Colour: Black

Height: 

Life ambition: to be the next leader of the gatekeepers.

Elek is a Hungarian name meaning defender.

Abaven is an Armenian name meaning protector.

25.09.2017 - Theorist Comments

Genre Theory

"Genres are created through a process of repetition and recognition leading to anticipation and expectation" - Graham Burton (2000).

As a genre of a film is established, audiences begin to gain certain expectations due to genres having specific codes and conventions. For example, in an action-adventure film such as The Expendables, you would expect there to be a mass amount of weaponry and physical fighting. Within our film, as a psychological mystery, audiences would typically expect low-level lighting to represent the reality and bright white/blue lighting to represent the mirror world.

Narrative Theory

Levi-Strauss: Examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values and beliefs of a culture and how binary opposition can be represented within a single shot. This can be useful within our film when distinguishing between our two dimensions. Reality and the mirror-world.

Enigma Code: Audience are drawn into the film via a narrative that requires unravelling and needs to be looked at from various angles. Roland Barthes narrows down the action of a film into five codes that are woven into any narrative:

• The Hermeneutic Code (withheld truth).
• The Enigma/Proairetic Code (tension build-up).
• The Symbolic Code (broader meanings).
• The Cultural Code (audiences wider cultural knowledge e.g. morality).
• The Semantic Code (certain scene/quote has different connotations).

This theory applies to our narrative as the audience are left guessing throughout and have to piece together the puzzle for themselves.

Audience Theory

Reception Theory: This approach focusses on the scope for negotiation and opposition on the audiences part. A film is not just passively accepted by an audience but they interpret its meaning based on their own cultural background and life experiences. The meaning of the film is created within the relationship between viewers and the film itself. Similarly, within our film people are able to make their own interpretations of its meaning. For example, the secrets that are kept throughout, viewers will be able to create their own thoughts of the truth.

02.10.2017 - Demographics and Psychographics

Unfortunately I was unable to attend this lesson as I was unwell, I know what you are thinking...wuss. However, I contacted my group for the lessons tasks and still managed to get the work done, wrapped up in my duvet or not.

Demographics

We have chosen to target Band E. Our aim is to connect with a younger student-based audience as they will be able to relate to our main protagonist, Christina. Within our film, Christina has just completed her time in education and has started to experience life in the workplace thus ticks off 'Students' and 'Casual Workers' as Band E criteria.

We did notice an important criticism that could be made to oppose our choice of demographic. As our narrative is quite complex, students may not have the intellectual ability to understand the complexities of it. However, we stick by our decision as it is a more sensible choice of demographic.

Psychographics

Psychographics are used by film industries when deciding on a particular target audience as it allows people to relate personally to the film they are watching. For example, psychographics tend to be broken down into segments such as social class, lifestyle and personality traits.

For example, a film set in the war may appeal to a member of the older generation as they lived through that time and want to see how it has been represented and if it validates what really happened. Thus they may fall into the resigned psychographic as they are keeping the past close.

Joe and Anna decided that the psychographics for our target audience would most likely be explorers and reformers. I couldn't agree more.

Explorers seek discovery and often follow curiosity - Christina discovers the necklace that produces nightmares and is eager to find out what her family have been hiding from her and what is kept behind closed doors (quite literally). This eagerness is driven by her trait of curiosity. This type of audience would follow Christina on her journey and desire to know the truths that have been withheld.

Reformers seek enlightenment and freedom with no rules/regulations obstructing their personal growth - Christina's strong desire to discover the dimension on the other side of her mirrors is felt with a sense of liberation and the idea that she will not stop until she finds out the truth, no matter what gets in her way, showing her determination.

Age Certificate

We have chosen to target an audience of 12A. This is because any age group younger such as PG or U would not be able, logically, to figure out the narrative due to its complexity.

Using 12A, allows producers to include a moderate amount of variables such as profanity, drugs, violence and sexual scenes. However, for obvious reasons, they cannot go overboard with things like this as 12 is still quite a young age.

I HATE BLOGGER

02.10.2017 - Primary Research: Interviews on Demographics & Psychographics

Here, we asked fellow sixth formers three questions regarding the demographics and psychographics of our narrative. As our target audience is teens, it seemed plausible to conduct our primary research with people of a similar age group. All three questions were open questions, allowing us to obtain a more in depth analysis of our interviewees opinions of our narratives target audience etc. The questions were as follows:

1. What psychographic group do you think you fall into out of the following choices (Explorers or Reformers) and why?  
2. Do you think the narrative is too complicated for your age group and why? (Each interviewee were given a summarised copy of our narrative to read before the interview took place).
3. Having read our narrative as well as the psychographic and demographic tables given, at which stage of life do you believe to be more suitable for our main protagonist to experience a supernatural phenomenon?

See what our victims had to say:

Behind the scenes of one of our interviews:

16.10.2017 - Primary Research: Questionnaire on Demographics & Psychographics

Insert results.

16.10.2017 - Title & Production Name

Decided Title: 

The Gatekeepers

Decided Production Name:

Benadrukte Productions

We decided on the title as it is short and sweet but also doesn't give too much away and gives the viewers a reason to tune in. We chose 'Benadrukte Productions' as the production name as it follows the Dutch theme we have going on throughout and 'benadrukte' is Dutch for stressed which is the story of my life right now.

We also discussed other potential titles and production names which are discussed in the vlog below.

Production Logo

Before we decided on our production logo, we created a brainstorm on possible ideas for our the logo so that we had some to choose from, I have added the brainstorm below so that you can see our ideas.

ADD BRAINSTORM

Here is our final production logo, we decided on the tidal wave as it represents stress which links to our lives and it best suited to my group.

Above is our chosen production logo - courtesy to Anna for painting it herself. This was our decision as the production name means 'stressed' in Dutch therefore we decided to create a tidal wave to represent the amount of stress we are experiencing at the moment with our A Levels and Media coursework. So it symbolises a wave of emotions heading towards us.

16.10.2017 - Group Roles

The following role we have assigned ourselves are not intended to stick and certainly wont be set in stone as we will all participate in filming/editing etc. equally. However, for the purpose of having main roles so it is easier to decide whose name goes where in the credits, we have assigned ourselves as the following:

• Myself: Actor & Camerawoman.
• Joe: Editor & Director.
• Anna: Actor & Producer.

16.10.2017 - Shopping List

We have been allocated a £50 spending budget to go towards anything we need to support our production. For example, props, costumes etc.

Our shopping list consists of:

• Blue/White LED lights.
• Decorative key to create necklace symbol.
  
  Looking back over my blog, I have realised that we didn't actually need to spend any money on our props and costumes, as the made the props ourselves and had the correct costumes at home to use, therefore we didn't need to spend any of our budget. 
  
  
  

  Costumes
  
  For our film I have taken some pictures of the costumes of our characters so that you can see what they are going to wear through the film and why we have chosen that specific costume.
  
  

  

  
  

This is Christina's casual/household clothing. We decided on these clothes to create a relaxed look for her while she is in the comfort of her own home.

This is Christina's nightwear.

This is Elek's Gatekeeper costume within Christina's nightmares. White is a symbol of purity and innocence and the good will of the gatekeeper community as they serve to protect all of society.

Props

Here are the props that we are using throughout the film.

This is the symbolic necklace found by Christina during the film. However it is also the key to getting into the locked room in her Grandmas old house. It is made to look like 'gK' (Gatekeepers), constructed by Anna. This prop is significant as it is almost the entry point to the Gatekeeper society.

These are the articles we used that Christina found amongst her Grandma's old belongings. These are extremely important as they allow for Christina to finally start piecing together her Grandmas history.

Boxes to symbolise Christina moving into her Grandmas house.

Equipment List 

When creating our film, the equipment that we will be using is a Canon camera 700D with a mic, tripod and memory card. I will add pictures below of the equipment.

The Canon 700D camera was the camera we used to film our production. Its a great camera but has caused us multiple problems along the way in terms of focus and grainy-ness.

This is the tripod we used during the filming process which served us well throughout.

Do not get me started on this microphone. From not working, not sitting on the camera properly to having to go out and buy a spare battery this tiny piece of equipment gave us hell. But we got there in the end.

Script - Draft 1

This is the first draft of our script, where we have annotated to make changes that we needed to make to our film and .....

NEW SCRIPT

Storyboard

Shot List

Film - Draft 1

MAJOR CHANGES TO OUR FILM

Due to unforeseen circumstances whereby our original main protagonist was not able to continue acting in our film, as well as the lack of continuity, being too repetitive and not to mention it being confusing to our peers...we decided to re-shoot the whole production. We sat down as a group and discussed the next steps, and I put myself forward to become the main actress in our film. So the stress starts all over again...

I have started by creating new character profiles for our film:

Christina Rune:

Age: 19

Job: Admin Assistant.

Nationality: English. Dutch Family.
Eye Colour: Green

Hair Colour: Brown/Blonde

Height: 5ft 5

Life ambitions: Own her own business.

Laura Rune:

Age: 45

Job: Independent business owner.

Nationality: Dutch born. Lives in the UK.

Eye Colour: 

Hair Colour: Brown/Blonde

Height: 5ft 6

Life ambitions: Grow her business nationally.

Fenna Rune:

Status: Dead.

Age when died: 75 (human age).

Job by day: Scarf embroidery.

Job by night: Gatekeeper.

Nationality: Dutch.

Eye colour: Blue.

Hair colour: Blonde/Brown.

Height: 5ft 2

Life ambition: keep peace between two realms.

We also had to film in new locations. Instead of the park scene we originally had started with we have chosen to have a scene in our local library in Loughton of which we had been granted permission from the library director (see below).

New location (library):

We thought that not only would this be a good place to vary our locations a bit more, it would be a good place for Christina to retrieve her clues to the real identity of her grandmother.

Permission from the library (no we did not just waltz right in expecting to film):

Audience Feedback

We showed our peers our first draft of our production and this is the feedback we got:

• "It doesn't make much sense".
• "I don't understand the plot".
• "It doesn't reflect the chosen genre properly".
• "It jumps from shot to shot too quickly - it doesn't flow".
• "It is unfocused in some places".
• "Its too GCSE".

So given that we got only negative feedback we decided to scrap it all and start fresh. We decided to film the whole thing from the beginning. Obviously we lost our main actress too so I had to take over that role as well.

Music

Opening scene music: A New Beginning - Bensound.

Library Scene: Swimmey Texture (revelation) - Kevin MacLeod.

Nightmare Scenes: Nightmare Piano Loop - Stair - Freesound.org.

Ending Credits: Slow Motion.