Chosen distributor for my film

My chosen distributor for my film is Film Four. I have chosen this as a lot of British Films are distributed by them.

Film4 is a digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, that screens films. It offers films in standard definition free of charge.

Film Four has had an impact on British Film Culture since 1982.

I have chosen this as it is relevant to my particular choice of genre as alot of films (especially low budget) that focus on life in Britain and regional identity with a cult edge. And this I what I planned for my video. Not the typical Hollywood glamorous shine, that is on films distributed by Universal or 20th century fox etc. Film4  looks for material with a distinctive voice that aims to push the boundaries within a given film genre which i thought my film did.

It also tends to use contemporary stories, rather than period pieces and will usually be made with British led talent or with British content which I also thought my film met the criteria of.

It also links to the films that I have researched into as they are low budget british indie films. And have the same kind of style and story lines as my own film.

Setting Photos

I have chosen these particular locations for my film as I wanted some where quiet and in the middle of nowhere. The scenery is very bleak and dull which sets the mood for the audience on how the film will be. The scenery represents the character alot in the sense that he is very miserable and dull and his fellings are also like that too. The colours of the scenery and the reality of the scenery fit in with the genre as it is very typical British weather and scenery.

Second day of filming

On Saturday morning I got up at 7 and got ready to leave the house and begin filming my 1st scene of my opening. We began filming at 8. The weather was absolutely perfect as it was just getting light outside and it was a cold, frosty, grey morning. It ahd been raining the night before so it was damp and made the atmosphere much more cold and grey.

Filming was much easier this time round compared to the hectic party scene. I was only filming with one person, which made my patience better and it was a much more relaxed and calm atmosphere. The fact we started so early meant there wasn't many people walking around and it was quiet. Also we weren't constantly interrupted by people passing by, just the odd dog walker.

The setting was great for the scenery still shots. And because we got up so really the actor looked really tired and and mess hair, which gave a rough look to tim, whic hwas perfect for the video.

Overall the morning went really well.

Change of Date

I had planned and was supposed to film the second part of the filming on Sunday 19th January but I had some problems with the actor, as he had other commitments he had agreed to before without realising. I have had to reschedule the times and date to more suitable ones.

Here are them rescheduled:

Changed from Sunday 19th January to Saturday 25th January.

I have also decided to film early moring time instead of afternoon, as it is much easier and the weather looks more promising.

I plan to start filming at 8 am.

First day of Filming

Last Thursday I began my filming. I decided to film the second half of my video first as it has taken more planning to organise and the concept of getting everyone together on a certain day was rather difficult. I have filmed all the footage for that particular scene. I found it quite hard on the actual night, as I was worrying people would not turn up at the correct time and people would be late. My production schedule had helped me clearly plan my time frames. On the night, a few people did turn up later than required which did cause some tightness of time and resulted in me falling behind schedule but it turned out ok in the end.

Storyboard

Detailed Outline of My Video

The opening shot of my video will be an establishing of the landscape and scenery surrounding the character. Here the slow music begins play. Then the camera will
shoot a close up of the main characters face, emphasising the sad emotion on his face.
Then the shot will switch to a close up of the character struggling to ligh his cigarette with his hands shaking from the cold. Here in this shot, the voiceover will begin. After, using a medium shot, I will shoot the character drinking his can of beer. Then the character will look down at the ground and I will film this in wide shot. The music and dialogue continues meanwhile. Using a wide shot of the character again, the camera follows him walking. Duialogue and music contines still. Another wide shot is taken of the character with a tilt zoom movement. Then an over the shoulder shot is used as he keeps walking, then a pont of view shot. Another wide shot is taken of him walking then a cut in shot of his feet. Then a cutaway of the scenery again and a wide shot of him walking. Then the camera changes to a close up of the characters face again, smoking his cigarette. The music and dialogue ends and then a black background appears with the words in print 'SOBER' with white/grey text.

Next, a full shot of the door of the house appears, the character walks up to the door and opens it. As he opens the door, the camera changes to wide shot. Then point of view shot. Camera pans slowly a little to see the entire room. Close up of different characters. Begins to walk through the hallway, a girl tries to pull his arm to kiss him, he pushes her away. Shot reverse shot here. Continues into the kitchen, the camera follows him from behind. Then as he reaches the kitchen doorway, the camera switches to see the front of him enter the room. People are jumping and messing around, fighting etc. He walks over to the bench and sniffs some drugs, then carries on across to the other side and opens a can. Sips the can, and a close up shot is put here and continues to party.

List of Extra Actors

• Callum Lincoln
• Zoe Crick
• Niall Chazot
• Sam Bryan
• Patrick Rowley
• Alex Whitehill
• Megan Whitehill
• Jess Palmer
• Jess Ferguson
• Ben Graham
• Jason Mullen

Production Schedule- 19th January 2014

Sunday 19th January 2014

12:45pm: Go to Location

1:00pm: Arrive; begin run through and briefing with cast.

1:15pm: Begin Filming

1:45pm: Break

2:00pm: Filming re-starts

3:00pm- Break

3:10pm: Filming re-starts

4:00pm: Filming Ends

4:00pm - 4:15pm: Time for footage that needs re-doing

Production Schedule- 16th January 2014

Thursday 16th January 2014

5:45pm: Actors arrive

5:45pm - 6:15pm: Run and talk through and briefing with cast

6:15pm: Jonny- Main Character arrives

6:30pm: Take positions and filming begins

7:00pm: Break

7:05pm: Filming Re starts

7:45pm:Filming ends

7;45pm-8:00pm: Time for anything that needs re-doing

Call Sheets

Filming Dates

I have chosen the two dates I will be filming my project on:

Thursday 16th January

&

Sunday 19th January

I have chosen two dates quite early on as I would like the chance if needed in the second week of filming to redo any shooting that may need to be done and have another chance to film if anything does on the off chance go wrong (fingers crossed that it wont though!)

Name of Film

I have decided to name the film 'Sober'.

I chose this because it links to the story very well. The story is about a teenage boy growing up in the North East who has a difficult life and is very troubled. He struggles to cope with his life and results to relying on drugs, alcohol and partying with his friends to help him through. The idea is that when he isn't sober everything becomes okay and that is why he begins to constantly be drunk etc. The name Sober represents his life as it becomes alot worse when he is sober.

Props

For my opening, I will be needing some props.

So far, I have covered the following.

• Empty Alcohol bottles
• Cigarettes
• Fog Machine
• Chewing Gum
• Flour (pretend drugs)
• Credit Card
• Extra Lighting (maybe)

Costumes

As my film opening is set in the mid nineties, the style of wardrobe I've chosen is grunge, cool and simple. It is set in a low class background so I want the actors to look rough wearing no fancy clothes or expensive looking clothes. They're teenagers so I want a style of 90's youths.

Main Character- Shaun Evans

Black Harrington Jacket
Plain White T-Shirt
Jeans
Black Vans

For the scene with the extras, I have most of my extras finalised but there's still a few people I'm waiting on confirmation.

I have asked them to dress 90's style and make themselves look rough and low class. I have said to them to make their styles look unique as that's what teenagers do when putting together outfits trying to be different and individual with their own style.

Location Ideas

I thought long and hard for the perfect locations for my Opening. I finally came to the idea that I wanted places that were very simple. I need an open land space and a house. I have chosen to film my opening sequence on the back roads to Durham. I have chosen this as it is very scenic, it is a quiet area with not many people at all (which ultimately makes filming a lot easier due to lack of interruption) and it's not chaotic or full of buildings. It's just paths and fields and trees. For the part of filming where I want it to be set in a house took a lot of thought also. As my film is set in the 90's, I wanted somewhere rather dated and not as modern. It's quite difficult finding a house in this day and age that has that feel and look about it as every ones houses are up to date and very modern. I carried on thinking until I came up with the idea of using my own house. I only need to use the hallway and kitchen. The hallway is very simply decorated with nothing majorly modern, making it easy for me to alter it and make it look different. The kitchen hasn't been decorated for a while and I have been giving permission to remove anything that ruins the image, and make it look older looking. I am also using a fog machine, to give a cloudy look to the party as there will be people 'smoking'and 'drinking' at the party.

Script

Be you, Be me, Be everyone. Or at least try to be.

Never thought it would end up like this.

Well it's not the end but it could be.

Drink, smoke, sleep, pretend to be cool, then repeat, I want to be all those but can I be?

It's not a question, it's more like an answer, but it's an answer I'll probably never know.

We all live the same cycle, try to grow up, we get wasted, have a right fucking good time.

Meet the girl, lose the girl, hate the girl.

But we've all been there.

Reality says "Fuck You" so the majority of us say it too.

My names Shaun Evans and here's a great big "Fuck You" from me to you.

Here I have recorded the character testing the script to see what it sounds like. This is just a rough copy of footage.

Voiceover

As all the films I have analysed have a voice over in the opening sequence, I have become really interested in including one in my own. So there will be non-diagetic sound and diagetic sound at the same time. There won't be any conversation with the extra actors in the background during the party scene.

I haven't completed the script yet but will be finished soon so I will upload it shortly.

Music for my Opening

I have chosen a song that i think would be perfect for my opening sequence. The song is Brianstorm by Arctic Monkeys. As I know you aren't allowed to used copyrighted songs. The person who is playing the main character in my opening, has agreed to record two separate versions on his guitar of the song in different styles for my opening. I wanted a slow version for the beginning and then the fast one to kick in half way through. The other night we quickly experimented with the slow version and I really liked it! I recorded it on my phone and it has a few mistakes but obviously it's not the final version. Here's a sample of it off my phone for you to listen to.

Brief of Opening Sequence

Here was my brief planning for my opening sequence. I have my main character finalised, my story is decided on. I have planned what I want to film and how I am going to film in it and in what order. There will be a daytime scene and a nighttime scene. I have came up with a name but I may change my mind if i think of another one. It is going to be set in the 90s with that style. i have afew location ideas and unfortunately haven'tsettled on a place for my second part as i want it to be perfect, so I will hopefully have decided on one finally this week and will post some photos and a brief on the place soon.

Inspiration

All three of these films I have chosen really have given me inspiration for my own opening sequence. They all have similarities. All of them have a main character who is a male and the the stories throughout are mainly focused on them. They all have problems they are dealing with and that was one of the main things that I am basing my story on. They're all British films and use the place it is set in as a strong connection on how the character is themselves, their social status etc.

My character will be a male who depends on drugs, alcohol and partying to help him through the problems he is dealing with through his life. Which is inspired from aspects of each of the films.

All three films have a voice over in the opening sequence which I have been interested including from the start. The music played in all of the films represents the personality and age of the character which I plan to do also.

Submarine Film Distributor

Submarine was distrubuted in 2010 by Optimum Releasing.

StudioCanal UK (formerly Optimum Releasing/Home Entertainment/Classics) is a film distributor company working in the UK and Ireland. The company releases many films, including foreign language films, anime releases such as Studio Ghibli's films and independent British, Irish and American films in the UK and sometimes Ireland.

Optimum was acquired by StudioCanal, a subsidiary of Vivendi SA, in 2006. Since StudioCanal bought Optimum, the French company distribute their large back catalogue of classic British films (many from the Cannon and EMI catalogues) through Optimum releasing under the strand 'Optimum Classic'.

In September 2011, the company was renamed StudioCanal UK

Submarine Analysis

In this first shot, it shows the characters bedroom, it's quite childish looking which may indicate that he hasn't grown up properly and is a young teenager still.

 Optimum Releasing are the Film Disributors of Submarine. it was distributed in 2010.

 Again there is a long shot of his bedroom wall emphasizing his interests and how he may lack maturity and there's a bird figure hanging from the ceiling which gives the audience the idea that he may not be like every other typical teenage boy.

 The camera pans across the room until the character is in shot and a voice over by the character begins. A window is in view, which shows the weather outside is quite dull and miserable, which may represent the feelings of the character. The voice over immediately indicates that this is the main character and highlights the importance of the character. He introduces himself and music begins to play.

 The camera then changes to a mid shot of the character then a low angle shot close up of his head. This is effective as it highlights the emotion on his face. The character then looks directly into the camera as it is another person. This is rarely used but when it is, its extremely effective as it replaces the camera with the audience and the character is interacting with them, making the audience feel as if they are in a conversation with him and part of the film, creating a more realistic approach. There's an awkward element to the glance also which may represent the character and his personality.

 The music that is playing throughout the opening is very peaceful and calm, which could represent the character himself and how is a quiet person who hasn't got many friends.

 All of these establishing shots of landscapes around where he lives, shows its a very peaceful place. The colours are very dull which also gives the impression that it's quite boring where he lives. It also could represent his thoughts and feelings and how he is constantly thinking.

The title is very simple yet effective as it is put over a view of the sea. The sea links with the name as it is called Submarine. The word is divided onto three lines, which could represent the parts of his life the film focuses on

Control Film Distributors

Control was distributed in 2007 by Becker Films and Momentum Pictures.

Becker Film Group

Becker Film Group is a leading independent film distribution company bringing innovation, extensive experience, strong relationships and an established reputation to the quality film market.

Momentum Pictures

Momentum Pictures is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year, with several dtv releases.

Control Analysis

I am going to analyse the film 'Control'. The film is based on the lead singer Ian Curtis of the band Joy Divison. The story follows his life from the bands rise to fame to his unexpected tragic suicide at a very young age. I have chosen this film to analyse because its one of my personal favourites as a fan of the band but as it is a very British film set in working class Manchester and highlighting the social status of the character throughout the mise-en-scene etc.

First we have a close up shot of the main character, his facial expressions indicate sadness. The camera slowly pans around his face to show his emotion more clearly. There is a voice over and the character is speaking slowly and clearly, quite blandly with no expression. the character bows his head into his knees which is sign of sadness also.

The shot is then changed to full shot, to include the entire and the characters full body. This is to show the full emotion of the character and how he is feeling. The whole film is in black and white which also represents the mood of the film instantly and prepares the audience for events to occur later on in the film. The voice over indicates that the character is of high importance in the film. 

Then it switches to a black background and flickers the words Control as the title of the film. This resembles a light flickering and could represent how his life is sort of on and off. The darkness of colours again sets the mood for the film and the personality of the character.

The long shot of this building creates a miserable atmosphere. The buliding is a block of flats and looks quite poor looking. This represents the social class of the character, living a poorer place. The text pops up on the screen as the character walks past  the building stating the place he lives in and the year. The year is 1973 which immediately tells the reader that it isn't a modern film but is set in the past.

The appearance of the character also indicates the time period as he is wearing flared trousers and has longish hair. This shows it is set in the 1970s at the beginning as flared trousers was fashionable and very common at that time.

Again the shot of the building emphasises that he lives in working class environment.

Here is medium shot of the characters father reading the paper when Ian enters the room, his father acknowledges him and talks to him. However Ian ignores him completely and carries on walking throughout the house. This gives the impression to the audience that he is a typical teenager and keeps himself to himself.

This long shot of him entering his room gives the impression he is a very private person, going straight to his room and having his personal space.

He then closes the door completely immediately. This also represents his want of privacy and how there may be something bothering him. Due to lack of talking to his parent and being ignorant. The shot of the closed door, represents his personality as someone who doesn't open up very often to people and keeps himself closed.

This shot of him lying on his bed lighting a cigarette is a great example of a stereotypical teenager, hiding in their room and getting up to mischief. However, this may be how he relieves himself of his problems and worries by smoking as it is popular. The 

This shot of him lying on his bed lighting a cigarette is a great example of a stereotypical teenager, hiding in their room and getting up to mischief. However, this may be how he relieves himself of his problems and worries by smoking as it is popular. The close up of him in mid smoke could represent his relief after smoking it, due to the facial expression, he looks very relaxed.

This shot of his shelf indicates he is a fan of music and reading, as he becomes a songwriter and performer as he gets older, this shot shows the audience in advance of what may be to come.