Production: filming reflection

At this point, we have drafted our first rough version of the film trailer that we shot in December using iMovie. Having watched all the footage and put it into a sequential order, we felt that the quality of the shots wasn't of a high enough standard for A level work. The shots that we used didn't portray the feelings we were trying to convey, and the angles were quite basic; something that simplifies the rough version of the trailer. During editing, when we put the clips together we felt that we hadn't thoroughly planned effectively, as the sequence followed a strong linear narrative that explained the plot of the trailer; this meant it didn't follow the conventions of a trailer, and was more of a short film.
In order to achieve the best possible grade we can we have decided that we are going to re-film for our coursework, following a different narrative.

The reason we are going to create a new narrative is because the topic of the original narrative, abuse, is a very sensitive topic that the actors found difficult to portray effectively; we wanted to be as sensitive as we could, but the portrayal didn't convey the difficult situation we had planned for. The scenes we had shot didn't seem genuine enough to be taken seriously, and so we are going to re think and create a completely new narrative that doesn't deal with such a sensitive topic.

To develop a new narrative we are going to discuss new ideas, but still follow a dark romance idea; this is because it allowed us to be creative by subverting the stereotypical conventions of a 'normal' romance film. For the next film trailer, we will ensure that the storyboards we create include a number of clips that excite the audience and build up hype for the film; this is a more conventional stereotype of a trailer, and so will meet the brief of the coursework.

Production: filming day

Today was our scheduled day of filming (11/12/16), and this was the only day of filming we carried out; we had decided that we wanted to film all of the footage that we needed in one day, both the indoor and outdoor scenes, as we felt that this would allow us more time for editing, as well as ease of using/booking out equipment etc. We also made this decision because initially we had struggled to organise a day that both the actress and myself and Megan could all do; Jay attends college Monday - Thursday so wasn't available for any of these days, and Megan and I work both Saturday and Sunday. This meant we had to book time off work for the scheduled filming day, and so that we wouldn't have to do this again we compacted the shoot to encompass all locations. On the day of filming, we were fortunate to have fine weather so we had no issues with being unable to film, however it was very cold so we had to ensure that the actors had coats to keep them warm.

We had ensured that we had a spare camera battery, as we weren't sure how long we would be filming the outside scenes and wanted to be sure we could capture enough quality footage without rushing; this was useful as the initial battery didn't last as long as we thought it would.
Before we the actors arrived and we commenced filming, we set up all the equipment so we could check that everything was working correctly; this also gave us time to rectify any issues that we encountered - an example of this is that we weren't sure the best positioning for the lights in the house location, so we spend some time carrying out test shots to see who position gave us the best lighting. This meant that everything was ready for when the actors arrived, meaning e didn't waste time getting prepared. Before shooting indoors, we made a point to warn the actors of the equipment, such as the tripod and the lighting stands to ensure they wouldn't injure themselves falling over, as well as ensuring the equipment was protected.

We used the storyboards throughout the day to make sure that we had captured the shots we had intended to shoot, as well as allowing us the opportunity to film some extra shots where we thought suitable. This will give us flexibility when editing as we would be able to add the bonus shots if they looked better than ones we had planned.

Compared to last year, where we filmed chronologically as we were only based in one location, this year we decided to film based on the location we were in. This is because it was a method of saving time and as we wanted to complete the shoot in one day, this was the most effective method in doing this.
We finished earlier than we thought, and having looked over some of the footage we were able to back out to the outside location and shoot some extra pieces of footage that we thought would look good.

Planning: Classification

As our film is a romance, it would conventionally have a 12 rated classification as this would include minimal nudity and sexual reference, and there may be moderate violence but it should not dwell on detail. However because our romance film is based around a dark subject that is a sensitive topic, we feel that this could distress and upset younger viewers - as a result we have decided to make the classification for the film a 15, so that we protect younger viewers from emotional and psychological harm. Because we have made this decision, we have had to increase the minimum age of our target audience to 15 years old.

According to the BBFC website, a 15 rated film will include:


No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a 15 rated video work.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse (for example, through instructional detail). The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Whether the depiction of easily accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context and setting.

Language

There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification.

Nudity

There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.


Threat

There may be strong threat and horror. A sustained focus on sadistic or sexual threat is unlikely to be acceptable.


Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but the depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context.

Our film won't necessarily contain strong language, however we haven't yet decided if we are going to use some elements of crude language in order to portray the tension and stress that we are trying to portray. As we are basing the film trailer on domestic abuse, we will show moments of strong violence as this is a strong convention of most domestic abuse situations; however we won't show these being followed through and so it won't dwell on the infliction of injury. 

Planning: target audience

Having carried out a number of film analysis on romance trailers, I found that they stereotypically are all aimed at a similar target audience of women aged 15-30. this could be due to the fact that the romance films contain sensitive and emotional topics such as love, heartbreak and loss; conventionally these are topics that women can relate to, and so will appeal more to them as a target audience. Very rarely are romance films targeted towards males, as stereotypically they aren't interested in the emotional aspects of the films. However because we are subverting and aren't following the conventional romance narrative, we feel that it would be appropriate to include males in our target audience; therefore we have decided to aim our film at males and females aged 15-30.
As we are including the sensitive subject of domestic abuse, this will involve a number of action and violent scenes, that stereotypically appeal to the target audience which will create audience pleasure; the emotional aspects will also appeal to the females, meaning that we are meeting the audience pleasure criteria of both elements of our target audience.

We have decided to keep the minimum age of the target audience as 15 because the topic of the film is sensitive and can cause some upset to a younger audience if they don't understand what is happening in the trailer.
As part of our target audience is teenage/young adult based, we have casted our actors to appeal to this majority of the audience. Through doing this we are hoping that they will be able to emotionally invest themselves into the film and relate to the characters, which will improve their experience of the film. The topic of our film is still a taboo subject, but we hope that there may be some people who are able to relate or understand the situation that the characters are in, and therefore can create a deeper meaningful connection to the characters and the film.

Planning: lighting

In our film trailer, we are filming in multiple locations which include both indoor and outdoor scenes throughout the trailer. The majority of the outside scenes will be present in the beginning of the narrative, when the portrayal of the relationship will be positive and happy. Through using the natural light from outside, it will help to represent the positivity we are trying to portray in the beginning of the film trailer; bright natural light has connotations of happiness and peacefulness, which is  theme that we want to be present when showing the start of the relationship in the equilibrium of the film trailer.

During the disruption of the trailer, we ares showing the breakdown of the relationship between the male and female characters, and we need to portray this through the mist en scene of the shots. One way that we will show this is through the use of low key lighting, which will show a contrast from the happy scenes early in the trailer. To do this we are going to film the breakdown scenes indoors, where the lighting will be harsh due to the artificial lighting; this can show tension to the audience. The artificial lighting however will be dark to reflect the feeling within the relationship.

This disruption will continue throughout the trailer and so the lighting will remain low key to reflect this. In order to shoot the best possible shots, we may have to use our own sources of lighting to create clear and sharp shots that are of a high standard. We will hire out studio lights that are available at our school incase we need them, as we may find that the weather is overcast and therefore may produce a darker light than we need; we are using lighting as a key feature in our trailer as it is going to represent the state of the relationship at the time of shooting, and so it is important that we have the correct levels of low key and high key lighting to reflect this.