Production Log - Week 4.

In the first lesson of the fourth week of production, we learnt about the sound used in British social realism. We then went on YouTube and downloaded the opening sequence of a British social realist film  of our choice. We then had to upload it onto YouTube again and annotate the sound heard within the sequence, we labelled what the sound was whether it be diegetic or non-diegetic and what type of sound it was, why it is used and the affect it has on the audience. By doing this, it made me much more aware of the importance of sound as it leads to a lot of interpretations and connotations about the film.

In the second lesson this week, we clarified the definitions of: focus groups, vox pops, audience feedback, qualitative, quantitative, open questions and closed questions. As a class we then discussed what you may want to find out about a potential audience. We said that we'd want to know they're interests, films they've seen of the British social realist genre, what they like about them and how they appeal, etc. Once we went through all of this, we was then assigned a more current piece of coursework, to conduct some primary audience research by producing either a questionnaire, a focus group discussion or a vox pop in pairs as a part of the pre-production stage of production. My partner and I decided to produce a vox pop as it is something that neither of us have done before so we thought we'd widen our range of abilities and try something new. We then made five questions to ask ten people individually. These questions would help us gain as much audience research as possible from a range of people of different genders, ethnicities and interests.

 

This is an example of a vox pop, it features people of different genders, ethnicities and interests.

In the third lesson this week we refreshed our memories on the definition and purpose of a film treatment. We identified the elements of an effective film treatment, these are: the title of the film you are producing, identifying the target audience for the film, information on the technology that will be used in the production of the film, the representations of the characters included in the film, a brief summary of the films narrative and a detailed sumary of what will happen in the opening sequence, how the conventions of British social realism will be observed or subverted, the style and iconography that will be used in the film and the institutions that produced, distributed and exhibited the film and why.

In the fourth lesson of week 4 of productionmy partner and I filmed the footage needed for our Vox pop. We found a number of people and asked them specific questions related to the British social realism genre, the themes within this genre and more specifically our ideas and what they thought of them.

What have you learnt about your target audience?

After filming the footage of members of our target audience for our vox pop, I learnt that they are interested in themes and situations that can relate to their age group as in British social realism its a realistic portrayal of these real everyday situations but demonstrated in a film. The target audience generally like British social realist films to appeal and relate to their age group, this is done by including themes and situations that happen in the real world within their generation. They don't like over the top escapist factors within these films, they seem to like them being displayed explicitly.

What have you learnt about the institutions involved in the production of social realist films?

I have learnt that the institutions involved in the production of British social realist films tend to be independent production companies based in Britain as the appeal of British social realist films is mainly in Britain as the audience members will be from Britain and would have a better understanding of the films narrative and the themes in the film. Knowing that predominately independent companys produce British social realist films, they don't have big production budgets for each film as they have limited funds and therefore cannot or do not usually include production sets, international actors, special effects/CGI, etc.

How will this inform your production?

Taking into account the institutions involved in the production of British social realist films, in my partner and I's production we will not include special effects/CGI as it is not conventional of the genre and we would not be able to fund major ones anyway. We will also not use production sets because we too cannot afford to do so and yet again it is not conventional of the genre as British social realist films tend to use real life locations. We definately would not include any international actors in our cast because we do not have any links, money to pay them and it again is not conventional of the British social realism genre.

Primary audience research.

*Defines British Social Realism*

Have you seen any films of this genre?

• Kidulthood
• Adulthood
• Four Lions
• Sket
• Fish Tank
• Anuvahood
• This is England
• Attack the Block
• 4,3,2,1

What do you like about that film?

• It showed different people, different scenarios (youth)
• Things in it actually do happen to kids these days
• Shows what typically happens in British culture
• Real life
• Interesting because you can relate to it

How do you think that appeals to you as an audience member?

• It makes sense, its relevant to my life and its a true representation of youth
• You can relate to it
• I live in Britain and I'm a teenager so I can relate to it

*Shows British Social Realism themes*

Which of these themes are you most interested in and why?

• Racism  
• Violence
• Petty crime 
• Immigration
• Sex
• Parenthood
• Domestic abuse
• Drug abuse
• Discrimination
• Drug experimentation
• Childhood
• Crime
• Rebellion
• Success & Failure.

Do any of these themes relate to you or happen in everyday life?

• There's a lot of violence in society
• Racism obviously
• Not me personally... but yeah racism
• Not me personally but poverty is one
• Childhood, racism and rebellion because were at the age where people rebel
• Probably religion and success and failure maybe.

*Shows picture of Adulthood*

Would you go and see this film?

• I have seen this film and I went to watch it because there was a good trailer and it looked interesting because of the fact that there was kids of our generation 
• I've seen it, I went to see it because it looked catchy
• Probably not because it highlights violence
• Probably because the characters are something you'd see around this area, well maybe not with the baseball bats, but the girls you can tell are a bit skanky and the boys look dangerous
• It looks interesting it looks like there'd be lots of people my age that would be interested in this so that's why I would go and see the film
• I would see it because it looks different, it doesn't look like something you'd see everyday and it looks like it would relate to us.

*Lists three of our ideas*

Which one of these do you prefer and why?

• The last one because it seems like it would be an interesting narrative
• The first one because you don't really see a lot of disabled people films
• Probably the last one because I could relate to it
• I like the first one because the third one is kind of cliché because everyone has pregnant people and the second one not all people would be from Jamaica so they might not relate to that aspect but the first one is really nice
• I would say the dyslexia one, I've never heard of anything like that before I think that's the most different I mean you hear of loads of teen pregnancy's but I've never heard anything of dyslexia I think that'd be really interesting
• The second one, because he's Jamaican and plus I like films where the black guy is the main character
• The last one, it's just like something you see and it's a bit different compared to others
• The second one sounds good, because it's like showing success and wanting to be something but being held back by different things and your showing more than one theme so there'd be more appeal
• The last one you said about pregnancy was quite exciting because who gets pregnant in school and runs away, it happens but you don't see it and it something I'd like to see and it's different
• The last one because teen pregnancy happens all the time and people don't know what to do about it, so that's probably the most interesting and abusive relationships happen all the time, people are always subject to abuse so that would be good.

How would you improve the idea that you chose?

• Try not to make it too cliché put a twist on it (pregnancy)
• It depends on how you show racism, if you had a good base of characters if they were all white or all Asian  as long as you do that it will be effective because you could show the differences between the races (Jamaican Runner)
• Add some kind of action theme to it to make it more exciting (dyslexia)
• Maybe not her perspective but other people's aswell because it is frowned upon some people's opinions are different to others. Some people think its a good thing, some people think its not good, we always see the bad side but what about the good side too (Pregnancy)
• Add some violence into there, maybe rape somewhere (dyslexia)
• Maybe have her boyfriend beat her so bad that she loses her baby or something like that and you can show the outcomes of abusive relationships (Pregnancy).

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The majority of British social realist films my target audience have seen tend to include characters of their age (Kidulthood, Adulthood, Anuvahood, 4,3,2,1, Fish Tank, Sket and Attack the Block). This connotes that these characters must specifically appeal to my target audience because of there age and perhaps interests. My target audience may be able to personally identify with these characters and their lifestyles and therefore enjoy watching films like these purely because of this mutual identification. This has developed the ideas for my British social realist film because my partner and I will use characters of a similar age to our target audience as we acknowledge that there is a lot of appeal because of the age of the characters.

Collectively my target audience liked these types of films as they presented situations that happen in the mundane of everyday life. They also felt that they could relate to these films greatly as they are culturally relative to British people so they felt they could connect and understand the narrative as they relate to aspects of the film. This has helped my partner and I to develop our film as we will make sure that whatever narrative we decide to use we will make sure it is surrounding a situation/s that occur in real life, more or less every day. We will also be sure to make it culturally relative to British people as we have been asked by the brief to produce a 'British Social Realism' film.

Overall my target audience felt these British social realist films portrayed a true representation of working class British people, in particular - youth. These authentic representations allow my target audience to relate to these films as they may personally relate or identify with the characters because they may have friends or family members that have similar traits to the characters or they may even be like characters of their age themselves. This has narrowed down my partner and I's British social realism film's concept as we will make sure all of the characters are represented fairly and correctly in accordance to the British society.

When asking my target audience about our British social realist films ideas, the majority of them said they preferred the idea where a girl falls pregnant and tries to run away from her boyfriend who physically abuses her. This is most likely because teenage pregnancy does happen frequently in real life and many teenage girls are trapped in violent relationships, so it was interesting to see that our target audience chose the idea where the situations are most parallel to those in the real world. This feedback definitely helped to narrow down our British social realism concept as my partner and I have decided to satisfy our target audience and use this narrative as it is greatly achievable.

Following through with our idea of teenage pregnancy, when we asked our target audience how they would improve it, the feedback combined more or less told us to not make it too cliché or typical. One person suggested we highlight the more positive sides of teenage pregnancy in accordance to British society. Baring this in mind, it has helped my partner and I to develop our idea and make it more unique to other films including pregnancy.

Production Log - Week 3.

In the first lesson of this week, we finished off the timeline we had started in the previous week. I completed the timeline for the opening sequence of the film, 'High Fidelity'. My timeline included all of the timings in which each graphic would appear, the timings of each transition and what transition it was whether it be a cut, fade, dissolve, etc, when the music would change and the duration of the music and what was actually happening throughout the opening sequence and what we could visually see. We was asked to produce this timeline as it helped us gain a better understanding of how many graphics actually appear in opening sequences, what information they display and where each specific graphic is placed, whether it be towards the beginning or the end of the opening sequence. Creating this timeline actually helped me to gain ideas about the typography of the graphics, the different transitions we could use, etc. High Fidelity was a very interesting, unique opening sequence, as very little of the narrative was actually shown, but the main character was introduced although there was no dialogue. This opening sequence was unique because all of the graphics were made to look like they were on record grooves and on walls on posters. This was very unique as they would use whip pans to introduce the next graphic, this made it look like most of the graphics were stuck on posters on the wall. These techniques that were used within this opening sequence taught me that you don't have to reveal lots of the narrative or introduce the characters a lot to gain interest, as this opening sequence captured me although there was no real insight as to what the narrative is and what the main characters disposition is like.

In the second lesson this week, my teacher asked me and my classmates to in pairs capture two pictures of what we believe a positive and negative representation of Britain looks like within the school premises. As a positive representation of Britain, my partner and I took a picture of a class working to show that British children are educated, dedicated and committed and that they work hard to try and achieve their future aspirations, to prevent feeling isolated as they age. To represent Britain in a more negative way, we took a picture of a skip in front a metal spiked fence, a leafless tree and some flats. This represents the duller side of Britain, as through this picture we see danger from the hard, spiked fence and poverty from the flats. The leafless tree also connotes a lack of opportunities for some people living in Britain, meaning they cant achieve their aspirations and there is no escape for them as individuals, they are just isolated within the hopeless mundane. The sky is quite miserable and dark, which further reinforces these connotations.

Positive representation

Negative representation

As a class we then discussed how the mise-en-scene is presented in British social realism. We concluded as a class that they use working class, urban areas set in real life locations to add to the verisimilitude. They predominantly use natural lighting in both the exterior and the interior. They use a very dull colour palette, which typically consists of black, grey and white. They use authentic detailed costumes and props, but tend to use minimal props. The genre tends to use untrained or inexperienced actors of different ethnicity's  this is so that their behaviour and performance is portrayed to be as real as possible. The current era is made to look very rough and hard for the every day British person. Using this knowledge, we then viewed three minutes of a scene from 'Looking For Eric', and whilst watching it we took notes about how the mise-en-scene is used to represent the characters, locations and establish the British social realism themes.

After completing this, we then went on to discuss what the camera style is like in British social realism. To do this, we looked at the opening sequence of the British social realist film 'Shifty' and took note of the camera language used in it. We looked at what shots were used, the angles used, the movement used and the composition of each shot. From this, I learnt that British social realist films use a lot of mid shots to show the body language of characters and a lot of close-ups to support this body language with the characters facial expressions. A lot of establishing shots were also used in this opening sequence in particular, we almost saw a new establishing shot for each camera to show where they're coming from and more specifically what social class they're in. There was no extreme use of high or low angles, most of the shots were positioned straight on as they don't want to add any further connotations to the shot, they want the audience to view the scenarios as they literally are. The movement within this sequence consisted of a lot of hand-held, so the shots look more natural and so that you can feel each characters vibe. Pans were also used when there was an establishing shot to allow us to see the full view of each location. Moving tracks were also used when introducing certain characters as it made us as the audience feel like the characters presence was more intense, showing that they are quite a strong, potentially influential character. We also closed paid attention to the composition of each shot, thinking about the framing and the rule of thirds. Characters were placed to the side of a frame to leave lots of space to one side of them to show how lonely or isolated they may be or feel. This isolation was also shown when the camera would take a shot from a far distance. In almost every shot they rule of thirds had been applied. In some shots it had seemed like it had purposely been avoided to show more of the mise-en-scene. All of these elements we identified within this film, are applicable to all British social realist films as they all use the same camera style.

In the third lesson of this week, we watched the opening sequences of films like; Anita and me, This is England and Drive. Whilst watching each of these, we had to analyse the sound we heard whether it be diegetic or non-diegetic sound and the impact this sound had on the audience and what the sound connoted about the film.

We found that the sound in Anita and me started off with light warm hearted non-diegetic music, this connoted that the main character was not of British decent and immediately told the audience that she may come from a different background to those that live around her. There was a lot of ambient sound used to add to the realism of the scenes. A voice-over was used, it was the main characters voice and was used to directly address the audience, to give us as the audience a better idea about what was actually going on. A sound bridge was also used from her narrating the story through a voice-over to her talking to her class in school, telling them about her life and what it involves. this helped to anchor the meaning.
 

The opening sequence for 'This is England' contains purely music, one song is used throughout the whole opening sequence, it's almost a song in the style of the genre - reggae. This music relates to the cast and a group in British society within the 80's - 'skins'. This group of people were of all ethnicity's and the music in the opening sequence was the type of music they were interested in. Connoting that the characters in the film are interested in it. For the audience and more specifically people who lived through the 80's, this music is used to make them feel reminiscent of the era.

 In the opening sequence for the film 'Drive', music was also used. This non-diegetic music related to the characters life and the narrative. It connoted that all he does is drive around in an American city alone, connoting that he is isolated and trapped within the city and there is no escape from this.



From this lesson, I learnt that the sound is very important to the representations and connotations created for the film, as the sound helps suggest the characters disposition and maybe lifestyle and helps the audience gain a better understanding of what the narrative may be, whether its through diegetic or non-diegetic sound.

In the fourth and final lesson of the third week of production, my class and I discussed what the editing style was of British social realist films. We discussed what the pace of these films was typically, how frequently effects were used, whether the editing was typically continuous or non-continuos, how much interference there was and how often montages were used within these films. As a class we concluded that the British social realism genre's editing conventions usually consist of: long takes, simple/minimal editing, mostly continuity editing but some directors use montage, very infrequent CGI/effects, a general slow pace excluding when a montage is used. Camera movements are often a replacement for the use of transitions, editing on dialogue, an audio overlap and sometimes where music is used, it enhances the editing. To find proof of these typical editing styles for this genre, we watched the opening sequences of two British social realist films; Dead Mans Shoes and Shifty and analyzed how the editing style represented the characters, locations and helped to establish the themes.

In 'Dead Mans Shoes', a montage is used to show the two mens childhood together, cross cuts are also used to cut between the archive footage showing they're childhood and the present footage to show their development and that they were brothers as they shared they're childhood in a stable home with their family. The cross cutting to the present era connotes that they came from a loving, functional family surrounded by people, to being isolated and excluded from society as they are shown in a rural area with no one around. When the footage of the males in the present is shown, a lot of dissolving transitions are used to keep the flow of action smooth and not all over the place.

In 'Shifty' there are a lot of long takes when capturing one of the main stars - Riz Ahmed as it represents his character as intimidating. Also when the other main character is talking, the shot jumps forward, closer into the action. So they're editing on dialogue, which is a typical convention within the British social realist genre.

All of the editing conventions I had discovered today will be very useful to me when I produce the opening sequence to my own British social realist film as I now understand that all of the editing in British social realist films have a meaning and a purpose, to either represent characters, locations or establish the themes of the film.
 

What have you learnt about opening sequences and title devices?

Looking at all of these opening sequences, I learnt that there are a lot more graphics included in an opening sequence than I first thought. There are lots of title devices included, like: production credits, such as; production companies, executive producers, etc. Job title credits are included, like; costume designers, music composers, etc. There are also casting credits. I found that all of the important actors in the film would appear alone in a single graphic. The less important characterised - the supporting ones would appear with other actors in the same shot. I also learnt that montages can be used in an opening sequence to create enigmas within the audience and it allows them time to think about what the film will be about.

How will this inform your production?

This will inform my production, as I now know that to make a good opening sequence I have to include many graphics with all of the different people who made my production possible. I will also differentiate from the import cast and the supporting cast. Therefore, some actors will have a single graphic alone if they are important and others will appear together. The use of montage in various opening sequences will inform my production as I may decide to use a montage to lead the audience to connotations about my film before it has even begun.

What methods might you use in your opening and why?

In my films opening sequence, I may decide to use a smash mouth opening as looking at opening sequences that used this technique such as London to Brighton made me think it was really engaging from the beginning and it creates enigmas within the audience from the start. I think this technique creates a desire to answer unanswered questions within the audience which keeps them alert and fully active as an audience throughout the whole film. As they may want to gain information about each character and their lifestyles as some of the things the characters are going through they are also experiencing similar situations perhaps. I could also possibly create a montage as this fast paced method could reflect the characters lives in my film and show how many frequent, recurring, negative events take place in they're mundane lives. This method also puts an emphasis on the chaos in they're lives. Both of these techniques are very relevant to the British social realism genre if they are used and applied correctly and can create a great atmosphere within the audience before actually getting into the main body of the film.

British social realism - visual style.

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Analysing sound in British Social realism opening sequences.

High Fidelity opening sequence timeline.