Planning my Opening sequence
I decided before doing my shotlist and planning my story board I would write down a few of my ideas for shots and what the costume and makeup of my actress will be so I can refer back to this before filming.
Location
My ideal location for the opening sequence is Brighton beach, because of the calming location of being by the sea, my opening sequence will be reflective so the shots by the sea will reinforce this atmosphere.
My film should give of a vibe of being a very British Film, so I feel this location would suit my film.
In Brighton there is a train station, which I want to include shots of the protagonist, to get a sense of them travelling and a sense of loneliness when the character is standing alone.
I would like to also have a location of on the train with my protagonist staring out the window of the train.
Character
In my opening sequence there is a single character Arya Lark. There viewpoint of the audience will be on a second character who is filming Arya but we are not yet introduced to them.
Name: Arya Lark
Age: 17
Occupation: Student, enjoys schools so works hard and has good grades
Diagnosed with: Leukemia
Birthday: 23rd August
General physical description: Brunette, pale, 5ft 4", pretty
Hometown: London, from the city
Father’s name, background, and occupation: Jack Lark, office job
Mother’s name, background, and occupation: Maria Lark, office job
Siblings: sister who is eight, who she is close to, Cara
Position in family: The eldest child, cares for her little sister
Hobbies: reading, pop punk music, helps decorate set as the local theatre
Never Let Me Go
Title- Never Let Go (2011)
Genre - Drama
Director- Mark Romanek
Box Office
Budget:
$15,000,000 (estimated)Opening Weekend:
£625,496 (UK) (11 February 2011)Gross:
£1,473,603 (UK) (18 February 2011)
Company Credits
Production Companies:
DNA Films, Film4, Fox Searchlight Pictures
DNA Films produces films such as
- Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)
- Ex Machina (2015)
- Sunshine on Leith (2013)
- Dredd (2012)
Fox Searchlight Pictures produced films such as
Research the audience for Drama genre
I have researched films of the drama genre and found on IMDB user ratings for each film. This helps me understand what the audience's opinions of the films were and what age and gender they are. Using this it will make it easier for me to understand my target audience and what films they prefer.
Submarine (2010)
Cyberbully (2011)
The Help (2011)
From this data I can see that both Female and Male audiences do enjoy watching films of the Drama genre, however Females are more likely to enjoy these type of films.
Audience Research
I researched into my target audience to what type of film genre they would prefer to watch, here are the results
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Deciding on a Film Title
After getting a group of 15 people that are representative of my target audience, I explained to them the genre of my film and the synopsis. I then asked them to choose which name they felt best suited the film and would also attract them to watch the film. Here are the results:
Synopsis of my film
Film Title - Before I Go
Genre - Drama
Synopsis -
Arya Lark is a 17 year old girl who was diagnosed with Leukemia when she was 14 years old. Arya has been undergoing treatment, traveling to back and forth to London for appointments with many doctors. Arya has decided to stop undergoing treatment, and wants to try and live her life to the fullest within the limited time she has left. Arya has created a bucketlist of things she wants to do before she dies, simple things perhaps to a normal teenager, but to Arya they mean a lot as she hasn't had much chance to live like other teenagers. Things on her bucketlist are things such as; go on a date, find love, go to parties, ride in a hot-air balloon, skydive, sleep under the stars, and others that will be revealed as the film progresses. Arya's parent's are forever concerned about her health and make it difficult for her to break free, so Arya is determined to find a way to live life to fullest and break free from her world of responsibilities. Arya finds love and the story follows how they deal with the inevitable death of Arya and their love story within the limited time they have. The film ends with Arya dying having trying to complete her bucketlist and enjoying her last moments with the boy she loves.
Research into female main characters
I have decided that in my film, I would like to present a strong female character as the protagonist, therefore I think some research into female characters in modern films will help my decisions.
Katniss Everdeen-The Hunger Games
Katniss in 'The Hunger Games'is a strong female character because she does everything in her power to protect her family. She is independent and prefers to be alone and not have to rely on others. Despite romantic interest from other characters Katniss is adamant that she has no time to think about herself only about her sister and mother. Katniss is seen as a symbol of hope for people to look up to when protesting about their treatment from the authorities. From a young age she had to put her family first and take care of her family since her father's death and her mother's decline.
Kathy- Never Let Me Go
Skeeter - The Help
Skeeter in 'The Help' is a strong woman as even as she is born into privilege she starts a project writing about black maids and their unfair treatment from the majority of the white community, Skeeter defying social norms of the time, is isolated from the community because of her views on the civil rights movement.
Looking at these examples of strong female characters I would like to have a combination of these characteristics in my character. I would like to portray my character mainly being similar to Kathy from Never Let Me Go, being strong enough to accept her fate but not letting herself be consumed by her sadness, and also Katniss' ability to put others before herself. I think by taking inspiration from these characters, my protagonist will be interesting and likable.
Drama Films
Popular films of the Drama genre are:
The Imitation Game
Synopsis: In 1939, newly created British intelligence agency MI6 recruits Cambridge mathematics alumnus Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to crack Nazi codes, including Enigma -- which cryptanalysts had thought unbreakable. Turing's team, including Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), analyze Enigma messages while he builds a machine to decipher them. Turing and team finally succeed and become heroes, but in 1952, the quiet genius encounters disgrace when authorities reveal he is gay and send him to prison.
The Breakfast Club
Synopsis: Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal (Paul Gleason). The disparate group includes rebel John (Judd Nelson), princess Claire (Molly Ringwald), outcast Allison (Ally Sheedy), brainy Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) and Andrew (Emilio Estevez), the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same.
Never Let Me Go
Synopsis: Friends Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) grow up together at a seemingly idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. When they leave the school and the horrible truth of their true purpose is revealed to them, they must simultaneously confront deep-seated feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to tear their friendship asunder.
Cyberbully
Synopsis: A woman (Kelly Rowan) tries to help her teenage daughter (Emily Osment) when she becomes the victim of online bullying.
A common feature in all these films is the complex plots dealing with realistic characters and their emotions. The films explore the characters journey's and development within realistic situations whilst still being entertaining.
By researching other films from the same Genre as mine (Drama) I think I will be able to use a variety of techniques to be able to convey the themes of my film. I have taken inspiration from the complex characters and how they are presented in an exciting and interesting way.
Audience Profile
Although my film is targeted at a wider audience, my ideal audience member would be;
Name:
Ella Foster
Age:
16
Gender:
Female
Ethnicity:
Caucasian
Socio-Economic status:
Has a disposable income, perhaps from a part time job or pocket money.
Education:
State school
Taste in Music:
A wide range of Pop music but especially indie pop
Taste in Film (preferred genres):
Romance, Drama, adventure, sci-fi, Dystopian and Utopian
Other interest:
Reading, socializing with friends
Example Title sequence Timeline
Flm: To Kill A Mockingbird
Release Year: 1962
Director: Robert Mulligan
Genre: Drama
Genre: Drama
00.02 - Universal International
Edward Muhl - In charge of production
00.25 - Gregory Peck
00.40 - To Kill A Mockingbird
00.54 - With John Megna Frank Overton
00.58 - Rosemary Murphy Ruth White Brock Peters
01.02 - Estelle Evans Paul Fix Collin Wilcox
01.07 - James Anderson Alice Ghostly Robert Duvall
01.12 - William Windon Crahan Denton Richard Hale
01.33 - Introducing Mary Badham as Scout Phillip Alford as Jem
01.45 - Based upon Harper Lee's novel "To Kill A Mockingbird"
01.54 - Director of photography Russel Harlan, A.S.C
02.03 - Art Director - Henry Bumstead
Set decorations - Oliver Emert
Sound - Waldon O.Watson Corson Jowett
Production manager - Ernest B Whemeyer
Assistant to producer - Isabel Haliburton
2.10 - Film Editor - Aaron Stell, A.C.E
Costumes by Rosemary Odell
Men's Wardrobe - Seth Banks
Make up - Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist - Larry Germain
Script Supervisor - Meta Rebner
Assistant Director - Joseph Kenny
02.25 - Music - Elmer Bernstein
02.32 - Main titles designed by Stephen Frankfurt
02.38 - Screenplay by Horton Foot
02.46 - Produced by Alan J.Pakula
02.51 - Directed by Robert Mulligan
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