PLANNING: CASTING

 

REFLECTION: News Report Scene

 In terms of Miss en scene, the news report is very valuable to our trailer as it puts the plot line in context. Rather than just filming the protestors, Alecia in her car and the scenes in the woods of the four boys, the news report helps to tie together these scenes and give the audience a relatively good idea of what the movie is about. The audio of the news reporter is also useful because it means we can overlay it other establishing shots. 

To film the news report we used the media department’s green wall/screen. This is because in post production editing I can replace the green screen with the set of a news channel set. This is because we are unable to use the real set of a news channel, therefore, using a green screen should be effective enough to realistically mimic the set. Although we filmed the other parts of our trailer with an iPhone, for this scene we decided to use a DSLR camera and a tripod. This is because we didn’t have a tripod for our phone, which meant we couldn’t keep the footage still/stable. Therefore using a DSLR camera and a tripod allowed us to film the news report stationary without any camera shake or movement. This was important because of the footage wasn’t still, it would have been hard to make the green screen set look realistic.

As the audio on the DSLR camera wasn’t very good, I decided to set my phone up behind Tom and record his audio through the internal microphone on the iPhone. I was sceptical at first as to wether the audio from the iPhone would work better than the camera and to my surprise it was better.

Planning: Props

 

Planning: Audience Questionnaire

 

CONSTRUCTION: PROP MAKING

The vision for one of our scenes is to capture a sequence of people protesting for the group "Transparent Animals". This group is protesting against the lockdown regulations and their restriction of freedom. Therefore, to make this scene as realistic as possible, I needed to make props that are relevant to this scene. I decided to make two different props that can be used by the protestors, which clearly states the reason they are protesting.

The first prop I made was a placard. This is because in almost every protest you can expect to see someone holding a placard with a message on it. To do this I found two offcuts of MDF, which I then wrote a message on one side of the two offcuts. Using a power drill, I drilled the two MDF boards to a plywood strut. The messages on the placard showed "Freedom" on one side and "Boris lied people died" on the other side. 

The first prop was easy to make as I have good knowledge of carpentry and joinery therefore there wasn't much of a challenge. However, making the second prop was significantly more challenging as my knowledge on making flags isn't that broad. To start off using a CAD (Computer Aided Design) software, I started creating a template which had a crow and the words "Transparent Animals" on. This is because the group protesting is called Transparent Animals, therefore I thought it would be appropriate to put their group name on at least one of the props. Using the laser cutter, I cut out a stencil on Vellum card, which would allow me to spray paint the template on. Then using a white sheet I got given from textiles, I ironed and stabled the sheet to a MDF board. This was to keep the sheet flat and stuck to its position. I then placed the stencil over the white sheet, masking taped it down and stapled it down to make sure the stencil didn't move during the spray painting process. I spray painted over the stencil directly onto the white sheet and then let it dry. I was very happy with the result.

PLANNING: TREATMENT

 

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

I know that all brands define their target audience. In order to reach my specific target audience I need to know who they are and what their interests are. To achieve this I will create an audience questionnaire to research age, gender, ethnicity, and social class of my target audience. In addition I need to find out what their media needs and wants are so I can create a film that will satisfy them. 

My research started with investigating how brands define audiences in preparation for creating my own audience profile. For example, I saw how Bauer Media, NME and Empire defined audiences. This helped me create an audience profile.

The following points are factors I need to consider when carrying out my research.

1. Who is my primary target audience? Unisex audience in the age range 15-25 but can be applicable to older audiences.

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer? They would probably like a combination of thriller/horror/action. Cloverfield, Blair Witch Project, IT and the Ritual.

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films? Netflix, Prime and Sky. They are likely to see information about films through advertisements on TV, YouTube, Internet and Social media. They might also find information spread through influencer power.

4. What brands do they prefer? Odeon, Xbox, Apple, Microsoft, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, JD Sports, Nike, Adidas, Puma, Nandos, Wagamamas, Tesco,

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition? One of our USP's for our film is the found footage we use. Found footage allows our audience to feel connected with the characters as we watch the film through the eyes of one of the characters. With the audience feeling a connection to the characters allows them to create a rapport with them and it feels more personal.

6 . Why should my audience watch my film?