Rationale
These past units have been a bit of a roller coaster. We’ve produced numerous projects ranging from a Crime Drama episode, from a music video to a radio show. It’s been exciting experimenting with these different genres and learning different techniques to match these formats. Through these units I’ve gained a better understanding of different camera angles and the effects that they have on an audience. What’s also been brought to my attention is the rule of thirds, a shot technique which divides the shot 3 ways, both vertically and horizontally. By placing the subject on one of these lines, the overall shot becomes a lot more visually appealing to the viewer. I used this method in my music video and found some of my shots seemed more professional. For my FMP I wanted to utilise these new found techniques to make interesting shots that are symbolic for my overall theme.
Project Concept
My project is intended to be a short film which follows the life of a college student who upon going their daily life suddenly collapses. When they wake up they find themselves at the start of the day once again but now they experience life as if they were a video game character. Their objective is to get through the week as they’ll enter a majority of events throughout the week. They’ll have to be mindful of their ‘lives’, decisions and dialogue choice which’ll impact the week to come. Not only does the protagonist fulfill their role in the game they are also the player, watching their own choices and experimenting with the potential of altering their decisions.
It’ll be made apparent that our protagonist is very invested with gaming, films, literature etc and uses these mediums as coping mechanisms as they deal with their troubled life. The main character lost their mother and a young age and is rarely sees their father as he’s constantly working. They have a circle of friends who they interact with throughout the week and develop their relationships with as the week progresses.
To make this all possible I will need to borrow an AV kit from the college in order to film each scene. I will require permission from certain shop/cafes to be able to film in these areas. I will also need to be using programs like Photoshop and After effects in order to create sprites and details that’ll make the scenes appear as though their in a game.
Evaluation
When it comes to evaluating my work I will keep my production journal regularly updated and write regular reviews each time i move into a different stage of my project. For my journal I am constantly jotting potential ideas roughly in a notebook and then writing them clearly on my blog – I will but my evaluations on my blog as well. These rough ideas will be scanned and added to the blog posts.
When I have to face my final evaluation, I wish to create a video review where I carefully dissect my gradual production, the final product as well as my troubles and victories throughout the creation of my FMP.
Production Schedule
As it’s quite early in the project I’ve made the plan descriptions quite vague, when I come closer to the filming project I will make a detailed filming schedule.
Research Sources/Bibliography
For my primary research, I will study many games that focus heavily on story and drama. Games like this are often made up of cut scenes that include well crafted cinematography. An example of one of these games is called ‘life is strange’ (trailer here) and is one of my main inspirations for this project. I will also look at the film ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ (trailer here), a film that takes heavy influence from video games and includes many aspects of them. I also what to look at interviews with game directors to help discover their process and designs choices.
As the focus of the project is narrative I want to perfect my script as best I can by annotating other film scripts and exploring books and websites that help teach the art of script writing. I will be writing my script using the service Celtx , a program dedicated to script writing. Through out the dialogue I will also be including a plethora of jokes, because of this I will also look into the art of comedy by studying comedians.
RESEARCH MY PRACTITIONERS
EDGAR WRIGHT
Edgar Wright is a British Film director, producer and screenwriter from Dorest. His Career kicked off when he began directing his own independent short films. He’s work on short films, TV series, sitcoms and big blockbuster films. His talents lie with in the comedy genre, he’s worked on multiple sitcoms and funny films, the most prevalent example would be ‘The flavored Cornetto trilogy” – a trio of films, consisting of ‘Shaun of the dead’ , ‘Hot fuzz’ and ‘the worlds end’. These films are famous for their top quality comedy and their amusing stories. He’s collaborated with main big names like Simon Pegg, Quentin Tarantino and Nick Frost.
Edgar grew up in the South West of England and studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art (now know as Arts university Bournemouth) and earned a National diploma in Audio Visual Design. At this age he entered a competition on the tv show ‘Going live’ and won with his comedic pastiche of a popular genre, he made multiple films like this, an example being a tribute to Dirty Harry named Dead Right.
He made his first feature “A fistful of fingers”, a low budget western spoof, which was screened limitedly and was broadcasted on British Tv and on Sky movies. Edgar said he was dissatisfied with his final product however it still caught the attention of comedians Matt Lucas and David Walliams who asked him to be the director for their comedy channel production ‘Mash and Peas’. This opportunity led him to later produce other works with the BBC.
In 1998 he was contacted by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson to direct their Tv sitcom Spaced. Spaced became a success with Edgar use of dynamic camera angles and influences from science fiction and horror. It was at this point Edgar invented his ‘Homage’O meter’, which he’d applied to Spaced to keep track of all the references. He wanted to made his influences and references entirely apparent and I seek to do similar things when I place references in my own film.
After working together on Spaced Edgar and Simon moved onto cinema, creating together the beginning of the Cornetto trilogy ‘Shaun of the dead’, a zombie comedy with themes of romance also incorporated. This became a critical success and was jam packed with references to horror directors George A. Romero and Sam Raimi.
In the field of comedy he excels as both a writing and director. He’s collaborated with many other talented writers and comedians like Simon Pegg, with whom he worked on the Cornetto trilogy with. After they gained major success from Shaun of the dead they continued on by making Hot Fuzz, this featured the same cast as Shaun of the dead but a completely different story.
In between the making of Hot Fuzz (the 2nd installment of the Cornetto Trilogy) and The World End (the 3rd installment) Edgar Wright co-wrote and co-directed Scott Pilgrim vs the world, a film adaption of the popular graphic novel series of the same name. This film was one of the main influences for my piece and I will later analyse a scene from it. Despite the films positive critical reception it only managed to earn half of the budget from box office. After this helped co-write ‘The adventures of Tintin’, directed by Steven Spielberg, and produced by Peter Jackson. Edgar wrapped up the Cornetto trilogy in 2013 when he released ‘The World’s End’.
A year later, Edgar received the opportunity to work and co-write the Marvel film Ant-man however he left the team due to creative differences. After this he began his work on Baby Driver which released in 2017, this received positive reviews and is his most recent work
Analysis of Scott Pilgrim scene
The scene I wanted to analyse was the opening scene that accompanies the opening credits. I chose this scene as it greatly shows the general aesthetics of the film and gives us a good impression of some of the characters.
To kick things off, they show they production company Universal’s familiar logo but they taken a twist on it. The whole thing is presented in an 8-bit style with the usual music accompaniment being remixed with a joyful chip-tune sound. This is only a opening credit but it’s already making the influences apparent by presenting a aesthetic like a retro arcade game.
We’re then given a short introduction narration by Bill Hader which gives us our setting and context to the scene to follow. We then get another taste of the chip-tune accompaniment this time mimicking a harp sound. We listen in on the friends and band members of protagonist Scott Pilgrim mocking him for dating a highschooler. We learn his age name a see a a little box which clarifies this information. This small detail adds to the game aesthetic the film is establishing.
Within the dialogue we already get a good impression of what our supporting cast is like. We quickly learn that Kim is quite aggressive with her moody tone and facial expressions, we learn Neil is quite nervous, reserved and a big fan of games and that Stephen is a fairly chilled and funny person. It’s also worth noting that through out the scene you can hear the sound effects from Neil’s game and they use the iconic noise from Zelda game franchise. This sound effect would trigger when the player would open a chest and in the film they cleverly use it when Scott opens the door to greet Knives.
During the bands banter they’re interrupted by the door bell, this sound effect is highlighted by the inclusion of the phrase ‘ding dong’ in large letters when the sound is triggered. This references the film’s graphic novel roots and adds to the heavily edited aesthetic.
After a comic interaction between Scott, Stephen and Knives, we see the same black boxes that was used to introduce Scott in the very beginning. This time we see them when Knives first meets each member as she is as much of a stranger to these people as we are – she is used as an exposition device.
Before they break into song we see the large letters accompanying Kim when she shouts ‘One! Two! Three! Four!’ which really emphasizes the loudness and tone of the band as well as the film. We then get a majority of quick cuts that match the pacing of the song. Each close up of an instrument includes these light lightening bolts every time they are strung or hit. This really helps to highlight the intense moments in the song and again, add to that aesthetic. We also get a shot of Knives that gets closer and closer to her face to show her expression of awe and how she quickly falls in love with the music. This is very effective for her character, as she is the youngest of the cast, only 17, she is much more impressionable than the other.
We then get a pan shot which pulls away from the band, getting further and further away making the room appear much longer than it is. This shot, not only looks amazing, but helps reflect Knives’ (and Neil’s) positions of being younger than the other characters and stuck only being their fan.
The credits then detail all the actors names which our matched with rough scribble like animations that each show iconography of their characters. I won’t detail them all but for Scott’s actor Michael Cera, his name is paired with 4 lines representing bass strings. All these animation are so rough and crazy, they perfectly fit with the music and characters.
To summarize, in only the first 5 minutes of the film they’ve already established through tone that they carry throughout the entire film. It’s so consistent with it’s editing and very cleverly done. This film really is an excellent piece that creates an aesthetic that’s so powerful and in your face with clear influences and homage to it’s source material.
RESEARCH THE COMPETITION
I’d consider my main competition to be my fellow classmates, more notably those creating short films like myself.
My friend Jamie Courtier (blog here) is,like myself, working on a short film for his FMP. We’ve been friends throughout the course and have both helped each other with creating and critiquing each others works.
In the beginning of our course, when we worked on our short films surrounding the theme ‘silence’, he worked on a one minute skit named ‘Silent but violent’. As you can expect, it was all a big fart joke with a old silent film aesthetic. His piece was entertaining and well put together and I credit it for being the only in our class to take a comical route.
Jamie later worked on his recreation of the infamous scene from Taken in which he threatens that he will find and kill his daughters captures. This remake was well loved by the other class members for their effective lighting and acting in their recreation and as a result was presented in one of our weekly lectures. He also helped other class members out with their remakes by acting in them.
Onto our crime dramas, Jamie worked with a collective of other to make ‘Hades Forest’. He both starred and wrote the scripts and storyboards for the piece. Their crime drama was a big success and earned praise from our fellow students due to their good performance and professionalism.
What I consider to be Jamie’s best work was his music video for Queen’s classix ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. He put a tremendous amount of effort into his editing and produced incredible effects throughout the video. Not only do I praise, our lectures and fellow students gave it positive reviews.
Jamie’s FMP ‘Backspace’ follows it’s protagonist being self-aware their in a student film. He states he’s excited to blatantly abuse student film tropes in his piece by mocking them throughout. Like myself, he’s creating an ambitious piece that requires a lot of editing and care. I look forward to sharing ideas and tips with each other in the next coming weeks.
RESEARCH THE TARGET AUDIENCE
The basis for my target audience will be young adult who take an interest in Video games and pop culture. I made a survey with survey monkey and found the following results. I sent this survey to all of my class members so sadly I could get a diverse age range however as they are my target audience I care more to hear their opinions.
What I found was that a majority of people my age enjoy video games, though my number of responses was low, all of them said they enjoyed games. The majority of responses came from white males under 18 as that is basically most of my class.
A majority of my responses came from males, I suspect this is because the members of my class, who I sent the survey to, is primarily male. For my target audience there is not a specific gender I wish to pander to however because I have a female protagonist I feel like this will appeal more to a female audience as they could better emphasize with the character.
Again, as this survey was filled by my fellow class members, this is the reason for such results. My target audience falls within this age range as well as young adults aged 18-24. This group of people are shown to be the most interested in video games and also as my piece is set in college it appeals to this age group as they would be experiencing or would have recently experienced being in this environment.
This again is the result of the members in my class who answered my questions. I do not have a particular race is seek to advertise to, I do not consider it something I need to worry about in regard to my target audience.
Video games are forms of entertainment that can be fairly affordable for those in any class. As the characters in my project align in the similar classes, I am aiming to target the working and middle class as my audience.
Typically, video games are favored by the younger generations as they either grew up or are growing up playing them. As my project is heavily influence by video games and is to be jam packed with references I want to appeal top fans of them.
My project is set in reality and the video game aspects are part of the main characters imaginings. The aspects from games that I wanted to capture was their memorable aesthetics, interfaces and story-telling. I wouldn’t be able to replicate the experience of playing a game for yourself because films aren’t interactive. It’s intended to be like your watching someone else playing a game as the game is being played by the protagonist herself.
As this is one of my main influences I wanted to attract fans of the game. This game is heavily story based and has very basic gameplay. The majority of game play consists of exploring the environments and controlling conversations, these are the aspects I seek to replicate.
My film will not only include references to games but many other forms of pop culture like films, tv shows, literature and anime. Thankfully my target audience is quite fond of this.
As this is another big influence for my piece I wanted to see if people that fit my target audience were also fond of it. Scott Pilgrim vs the World expressed obvious references to video games and holds the same kind of aesthetics and tone I desire to create for my piece.
I wanted to hear these opinions in detail and asked for people who were unfamiliar with the film for their first impressions. People described it as ‘unique’, ‘comical’ and ‘enjoyable’, I hope my FMP can receive these words of praise as well.
I research the general audience of my two main influences. Sadly there was no specific results regarding the Life is Strange but I did find one for Scott Pilgrim vs the world. According to YouGov Scott pilgrim’s fan base is very much a young one, consisting of mainly young adults, this is mainly because all of the main characters are young and there is little representation of the older generations. While the gender of views is mainly central it leans more towards a male demographic as the film has a male protagonist and a male audience is more likely to empathize with him. Finally on a political spectrum the audience appears to be on the left side, I’d presume this is because the audience is primarily young.
Similar to the prior results regarding Scott Pilgrim fans generally were left on the political spectrum. According to these results video games are more favored by men as opposed to women. Sadly there wasn’t a average age but that may be due to ‘video games’ being a much broader term and different games are made for and marketed to different age ranges. One of the similar general interests was movies which is reassuring as there will be frequent references to popular films and tv series.
To overview my target audience, I am seeking to appeal to young adults who are interested in entertainment mediums like video games, movies, TV series and literature. I do not want to focus on a particular gender or ethnicity but age is important in regards to my audience as older generations may not be able to understand the references and themes portrayed through the characters and symbolism.
RESEARCH THE LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO YOUR IDEA
In legal terms my main enemy would be copyright laws. I have to be very careful as I will be frequently referencing other works. I need to ensure that these references don’t go to the point where they could be considered coping as opposed to a homage. I also seek to include diegetic music that the main character would listen to throughout the film.
When using music in my piece, a majority of the soundtrack would be the musical works of a friend of mine. I’m seeking their permission to use their pieces in my project, thus avoiding copyright claims. However, there are a few songs I’d love to incorporate in my project but I have little means of jumping around copyright. The only way would be to contact the original artists and ask fro permission free of charge, I expect a disappoint response, if I even get one.
An example of a song I wished to use would be Televisions by Current Joys. Though I am unable to make contact with the artist, if was able I would say the following:
Hello, I am Alana Cottrell, a student at Exeter College. I am currently in the midst of making my final major project and I’d love to include one of your songs in it, with your permission, of course.
The song I wished to use was televisions for your 2013 album Wild Heart. I love the tone of the song and wished to reflect the feeling of longing and loneliness your portray in your lyrics and delivery.
I would love to incorporate your music in my project and hope you will respond with a positive response, thank you for reading.
_______________
In my project I will be dealing with strong and dark themes, including depression and suicidal thoughts and tendencies. There will also be a frequent use of rude and vulgar language through out as well as a few inappropriate jokes. There is nothing overly graphic in terms of violence or horror and the adult themes will be expressed mostly through dialogue. In regards to the Cbbcf, this would make my project lie within a 15 age rating. According to their offical website “15 rated films, videos and downloads can contain strong material including strong swearing, strong horror and strong violence.” (see here).
When I looked into the ratings for 18, it strictly mentions that the adult themes are very present and frequent, my project will not be so extreme. I also looked into 12 ratings, I was surprised at how lenient some of the regulations are. It mentions allowing adult themes like sex, drug use and violence in these films but they must not be glamoured or too incessant (see here). While my project won’t be overly graphic or mature the themes of mental illness are very serious and it will not be treating it’s presentation in a way young people should be exposed to.
The main character of my project is a victim of depression. I need to be extremely mindful of the way I portray their illness as to not offend the views. I will be doing extensive research on the subject that I will mention in my research of concepts, ideas and topics related to my idea. my protagonist will often make jokes about their situation as this is part of their coping mechanism, I need to make in abundantly clear that this is the actions of the character and not a behavior to be idolized.
RESEARCH CONCEPTS, IDEAS AND TOPICS RELATED TO YOUR IDEA
RELATION TO VIDEO GAMES
My short film follows a college student, living their life as usual, but they experience it as if they were in a video game. The ‘game’ is being played by the protagonist themselves as they play as themselves in the game. The way I present the video game aspects won’t be in a fantastical way, as it’s set in the real world. The aspects I wanted to focus on was the importance of choice and how that can affect the end of the story and the relationships between characters.
To fully understand the intricacies of game design I studied the book ‘Game Play and Design’ written by Kevin Oxland. The book details of steps necessary to ensure the design is smooth and organised, these steps are;
–Defining the genre – this reflects the basis of the game and helps players to instantly have an idea of what to expect. The genre of my film would be categorized as an action, adventure RPG (role-playing game). This is as follows due the story heavy nature, the action is the events, the adventure is the journey and the RPG elements refer to the playing putting them selves in the characters shoes and defining their actions.
–Defining the target audience – it’s imperative that a game is marketed to a specified audience, by having a set audience in mind the designers can clearly present their desired themes to those who will enjoy them. My target audience is young adults who are interested in story heavy games and psychological explorations of emotions.
–Defining your themes and ideas – This refers to your game play theme. Your defined theme will be the big statement that identifies what your game is all about. My game play theme would be ‘A action adventure RPG heavily driven by a compelling story and characters’. As for ideas, it’s most likely you’ve be containing and developing these since the beginning, these help shape your theme and provide the real attraction to what makes your game special. Considering this I now state that ‘my game is a story based action adventure RPG that revels in the importance of choice as we follow our protagonist experiencing the hardships of growing up and dealing with mental illness.’.
Defining the core objective and rewards – This relates to main objective that players will be tasked to completely. This could be as simple as reaching the end of the story which is exactly what my objective is. Players would be tasked with finding an ending for our protagonist. It’s also important that players can feel rewarded for their hardships, they require a sense of achievement. Whether this is through virtual ‘trophies’, answering the games lingering question or the sense of pride created from overcoming the challenge. The achievement in my film is being able to create an ending for the protagonist that they are satisfied with. As they spend the game with the protagonist they’ll empathize with them and desire a happy conclusion.
Defining the environment – Setting is important in almost anything, not only is appearance to be considered but also scale and exploration. Due to my project being heavily story based the environments that will be explored will be limited and relevant to the story or characters.
Defining the narrative and characters – This is the real meat of the game, the main attraction, this is what the players will follow throughout their entire play-through. The story needs to be compelling and understand, the player needs to understand what’s going on. The characters need to be well defined and recognizable, having a simple uninteresting cast will greatly affect a players enjoyment and ability to empathize with the characters. In regards to my project, the narrative will be clear and simple, the protagonist seeks to get through the day with little trouble. As for the characters, I need it ensure they vary in personality and looks. Most of the characters will be in the same age range and I need to avoid them all seeming like carbon copies of each other.
Defining the interface – This is all about how you play the game. I won’t go into detail regarding this matter as the viewer themselves isn’t playing the game. In they way the game will be presented it will be imagined as if they were playing it on a console, the buttons feature on screen will replicate those of the PlayStation 4.
That is the starting basis of designing a game. the steps are crucial and help to structure the game as it gets further into development.
THEMES OF MENTAL ILLNESS
According to this article “Mental illnesses affect 19% of the adult population, 46% of teenagers and 13% of children each year.” Mental illness is very present in our society but people usually shy away from it as it can be a very complicated. Mental illness differs with many different people, people can have different causes, triggers and copying mechanisms – this is one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to treat. In the previously mentioned article it states that only about half of people suffering with mental illness are actually being treated for it. The world is becoming much more aware of mental illness and how it affects people but that doesn’t mean that we understand everything and there is still prevalent issues.
As my protagonist is in college, aged 18, I will be focusing more on mental illness in teenagers and young adults. As the previous statistic said 46% of teenagers suffer from some form of mental illness. Puberty and growing up is extremely challenging, not only do you have to deal with the change and growth of your body but also you’re expected to mature and think of the daunting future ahead. This pressure is immense of teenagers, and aspects of it follow through to adulthood. I haven’t chosen a career I want to pursue, my father, now 44, has also said he’s never know what he’d like to do for a career and still doesn’t. Young adults are given unrelenting amounts of pressure and responsibility when most of them aren’t ready for it. The stress and difficulties of coming of age is a theme that will be heavily featured in my project.
Continuing on coping mechanisms, the game world our protagonist is experiencing it a product of their imagination. This is one of the ways they can make reality seem much more interesting to them. One of the reasons they admire the work of fiction is because they embody world and societies so different from our own, involving themselves in these worlds becomes a form of escapism.
To help define this further I researched Schizotypal personality disorder, which can be described as a mild form of Schizophrenia. I looked at this website to find information.
It describes that people suffering from this disorder often tend to ‘distort reality’, similar to what the protagonist does. The website notes the following symptoms:
Throughout the film we will be constantly listening to the protagonists inner thoughts. From these internal monologues I will be making the character display these symptoms in both their thoughts and interactions with others.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHOICE
I’ve previously mentioned that the protagonist will be frequently making decisions that will later effect events later in the story. It is like a chain reaction, one small thing can greatly effect the other. To research this I turn to chaos theory – The butterfly effect.
The butterfly effect derives from the condition that a simple flap of a butterflies wings can later progress to a hurricane.
Theories like chaos theory often predict that their are alternate universes in which we made different decisions which led to different outcomes. I’m really excited to explore ways I can show small actions effecting the environment around the main characters. Before I write pages and pages describing theories of the multiverse and parallel universes, the audience will be shown the consequences of their actions and when the game is restarted they will experience a new timeline that reflects a different choice.
RESEARCH THE TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROJECT
When I present my pitch I will demonstrate test shot and detailed presentations of the overall look of the film. As i cannot present them now I will explain what exactly it is I will be presenting.
I wanted to show screen shot of how the shots will look when we follow the protagonist exploring the areas and they are by themselves. I also wish to provide screenshots detailing what conversations will look like in the project.
As for the exploration moments, the camera will be in a fixed position in the environment and will only change in the event that the character leaves the shot. These shots will be framed to keep a large potion of space in it’s vision. An example of this would be like in the original ‘Resident Evil’, in which you follow the character through the mansion by observing them at 3rd person.
The shots will be framed like these image – positioned so a majority of the environment can be seen. It’s like we’re observing the characters.
Also during moments of exploration a their will be other features on the screen, this includes –
-A character portrait – This won’t be particularly large or detailed, I plan to make a simple bust portrait in a pixel style but the image below is to give a general idea of how it will be sized. I desire it to be in the top left corner.
-Health bar and stamina bar – These will be two small bars, coloured red and green, that sit next to the character portrait and give a general idea of how the character is feeling. These will just simply be lines like in the following image.
-inventory slots – This includes access to the characters mobile and items that they receive throughout the story. It keeps the audience constantly reminded of what the character has on their persons. I intend to keep this a simple design in a pixel art style like the image below.
-Active objective – this will be a small box in the top right window which describes the characters main objective.
During cut scenes shots will frequently switch between the characters involved. This will be shot-reverse-shots that vary on the 180 degree line. I have to ensure that these shots vary as it can become very boring to watch.
One of the most important aspects that will be used frequently is a dialogue wheel, during interactions between characters their is potential for four different outcomes based on how the protagonist acts. The design will be like the following images, each options will initiate a different response and effect moments later in the film. The shots to accompany these will need be close ups or mid shots of the characters so their facial expressions and body language can be easily distinguished.
Finally I will include test shots that demonstrate when the protagonist will interact or inspect something. The object will be placed in clear view as well as the protagonist inspecting it. The image below is a basis from my presentation.
RESEARCH COSTS/BUDGETS/PRODUCTION ISSUES
I need to consider a lot in relation to costs. I will need to not only spend money on equipment and software but I also need to think about props, costumes, etc.
In terms of equipment, I will be booking from the college their one of their AV kits which includes a plethora of different microphones for audio recording, a good quality camera,a tripod and a memory card. I will be using this equipment for all my footage and audio recording. The range of microphones, especially the zoom microphone, will be very helpful when recording the inner monologue.
Hopefully when it comes to recording the footage these are the only necessary components.
In relation to software, the main application would be Adobe’s premiere pro editing software to gather all the footage together, adobe’s after effects to add desired affects and adobe’s Photoshop to help create the widgets seen on the screen that make the footage appear as if it was in a game. Luckily the college has Photoshop as a service that students can use for free, however Premiere pro and aftereffects will be bought by myself. These will individually cost me just under £20 each per month (meaning £40 overall).
Costumes aren’t major issues as they are just casual clothes a student would wear. I would ask actors to wear what they usually would with some small required details like a specific look or style (ie, I would ask them to dress masculine). It is the same with make-up, no special effects make-up would be necessary. As for props, the exact things I need are still yet to be decided as they’ll will be listened once I’ve completed the script and pre-production ( I will include a prop list at this point). I’m planning on including things i already own or are easily obtainable so it won’t be to costly.
Production issues will be much more detailed during pre-production in risk assessments and location recces. Issues that aren’t involved with the production itself are a worry but hopefully they won’t be faced. For example in the condition I was injured or ill I would need to make sure I have time to catch up and seek help to make the production go much more smoothly. Another potential issue could be loss of footage or information, to avoid this I will make sure I have these files saved in multiple places so if I lose one I will always have a back-up.
EVALUATE MY RESEARCH
Starting with the practitioners, research Edgar Wright helped me to discover the roots of one of my favorite directors. By analyzing his works and looking into his earlier pieces helped me to not only feel influenced in the ways he presents his films themes and tones but keep them consistent as well. He’s work on a number of comedy films, many of which I’m a fan of, but he’s also Incorporated other genres and ideas into them – this is something I would like to do myself. When analyzing his opening scene for Scott Pilgrim I was able to fully appreciate all the work and detail that went into creating the tone and aesthetic through the heavy editing and imagery.
Looking into my competition helped remind me of the things myself and my classmates have produced over the past year and how the things we’ve learned will greatly assist us in the coming project. Also thinking of our projects as competitions helps me to bring out my competitive side which motivates me to go above and beyond. It’s also a big reminder that I don’t have to do this all by myself. Their is a great community in our course that seek to help each other in our endeavors.
My target audience research was slightly disappointing in my opinion. This isn’t only because I received little, poorly varied responses for my survey but also because it’s something most people are aware of but don’t go into detail about. I felt as if I was frequently repeating myself and didn’t have much to say other than the bare minimum. In future projects I seek to explore a variety of audiences in greater depth and try other formats like voxpops.
Legal and ethical issue was another portion of my research I wish I had more to say about. I could research the basics like age ratings and what adult aspects of my piece would effect these and consider legal actions like copyright but besides these I regret the amount of consideration I’d given them. Regarding ethical issues, I found myself waffling a little it while writing it, I was thinking these are things I’m aware of as long as I’m careful everything should be fine. Due to my lazy attitude towards I’m going to do further research when I get to scripting my film and taking more into account when mentioning sensitive topics.
Moving onto Ideas, concepts and themes, this was by far the most enjoyable aspects of the research. It enabled me to finally explore the content I’m wishing to create a made a comfortable basis for my ideas that I will be later developing. I found it very interesting to look into game design as it’s something I’ve always wanted to know more about and now being able to apply this new knowledge to my FMP is very exciting. The only negative I would say about my research of ideas was in regards to my theme of choice. While I consider it a minor theme in the project it still holds an importance in the message of my film. I’m hoping to do more detailed research surrounding the topic in the future.
I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to present test shots here as apart of my research although by planning out the separate shots I’m striving to create I feel more comfortable bringing them to life. I plan to conduct these tests shot as part of my pitch so I can help others understand my intentions for the project. I’m now excited to create these rough edits and to present them to my fellow peers.
Finally looking at budgets was a little bit puzzling. No one like the though of having to spend money and the further I got into my research of cost the more my heart sank into my stomach. I am very thankful the college offers regular bookings for their equipment as I expect I’d be lost without it. I wish I’d included a detailed description what the equipment specifically is but I didn’t have the information at the time. I will hopefully be including a kit list in my pitch. Going through potential production issues also fed my these lingering sense of dread that if my planning goes poorly everything else will go downhill as a result. This has really helped whip me into a position of productivity.
To conclude, research is a big, scary amalgamation of paragraphs that I now, thankfully, understand. While this has been a exhausting amount of effort I’m glad to see that it’s mostly finished to an extent i can be content with. Overall it has really help shape my ideas a feel more confident about continuing my development of my FMP.
PART 3 PITCH
I will present my pitch on a powerpoint, I will write a script to along side with this so I can present it professionally and clearly.
OUTLINE THE CONCEPT
Narrative
The story follows a college student, as they begin their day as usual, as they leave their house they suddenly collapse and their day starts again from the beginning. However as the day restarts they now live their life as if they were the protagonist of a video game. As the day progress they have to make a collection of different decisions the effect the following events to come. After certain decisions the scene will be restarted as the player was unsatisfied with the outcome.
This ‘game’ is being played by the protagonist themselves. She creates these delusions because they make her life more interesting and enjoyable. The protagonist is incredibly nihilistic and often sees life as dull and worthless. They’re very introverted and are hugely invested in fiction and fictional worlds. They use fiction as a for as escapism as the believe these alternate worlds are much more superior to their real world.The character has a small group of friends, who like them, are big fans of fiction. There will be interactions between the friends to help establish their bonds and relationships.
My FMP is only the beginning of something that would be much larger. I did this because I don’t think I create the full product so my FMP is a portion of a much larger story. This is risky because I can’t present the characters full development and the story.
The primary themes of my piece are all about the value of life and the importance of choice. The way the protagonist deals with their decisions greatly impacts their story and quality of life.
RUN TIME
My film is intended to be around 20 minutes long. I understand that this is quite ambitious and will be very time consuming considering the amount of editing I’ll have to do. As previously mentioned, the FMP is only the beginning of a much larger story, so these 20 minutes will establish the characters and the story.
AUDIENCE PROFILE
The primary group of people I seek to target to is the gaming community. This community is primarily young adults, aged around 15-25, as well as slightly male-dominated (however the ratio from male to female does not differ by a hefty amount). Also as my film revolves around the life of a college student I seek to advertise to people of this age range.
In terms of socio-graphics, typically young people and gamers mostly reside in social Grades C1, C2, D, people who are mostly trained and employed I comfortable jobs ( working and middle class). Games can be a fairly cheap and engaging for of entertainment, this is why it appeals to this group of people.
In relation to Young and Rubicam’s 4 C’s theory, my target audience would be a collaboration of the strugglers, the explorers and the mainstream. Games often hold a variety of different stories and mechanics which could strongly appeal to the explorers as they seek to find new experiences. With increasing popularity, gaming I becoming more and more mainstream which would appeal to those who want to experience the same thing as others. As for the strugglers, they’re considered to search for a ‘sense of escape’ and entertainment mediums like video games are perfect candidates to keep them busy.
Gamers, both casual and hardcore, are generally introvert and reserved. With exception to multiplayers. many games include single player campaigns in which they can experience the narrative for themselves. Most aren’t overly active as most games require you to sit down and pay attention, players are to be in a more relaxed state.
My target audience will most likely take interest in mediums similar to video games like films, TV series, literature and art. Often films are adapted from games and vice-versa, examples would be the collection of Star Wars games.
INSPIRATION
I’ve had to main inspirations for my FMP. The first is the feature film ‘Scott Pilgrim vs the World’ directed by Edgar Wright and starring Michael Cera. Based off a graphic novel by the same name, Scott Pilgrim is a very stylized and heavily edited film with a consistent aesthetic throughout. The film is heavily influenced by video games and often uses sound effects and visuals to replicate the look and feel of them. It also contains a intriguing and entertaining story as well as compelling and likeable characters.
My second inspiration is the action adventure story based game Life is Strange. The game is incredibly story heavy and confronts problems dealing with puberty, bullying, depression and a collection of others. One of the most prevalent themes is about the importance of choice and how it affects our lives. Throughout the game you’re tasked with making difficult decisions that later effect the stories conclusion.
KEY CONCLUSIONS FROM RESEARCH
- For my practitioners, I studied director Edgar Wright, director of the infamous Cornetto trilogy and one of my main influences ‘Scott Pilgrim vs the World’. I admired his clean comedy and stylized visuals he’d present.
- While conducting my research I managed to gain greater understanding of my target audience so I could effectively advertise to my desired target audience. I learned my audience is non-specific to gender, leans towards younger generations and consists of mostly left-wing political supporter. I found it highly enjoyable to explore my concepts in greater depth, exploring the process of game design allowed me to clearly lay out my narrative neatly and creative a clear path when I get into production.
- After researching budgets and costs I’m now prepared to effectively budget for my piece and can save accordingly and prepare properly.
Production Schedule
Alana cottrell 