BBFC

BBFC:

BBFC stands for; The British Board of Film Classification. It is a privately owned business and has no association with the government. It is funded by the film industry and the BBFC is the organisation that is charged with the responsibility of censorship within the United Kingdom. It classifies films and puts them into categories that consist of these ratings, U (Universal - anybody may watch films rated U) PG (Parental Guidance - may need parental guidance to watch) 12A (people under the age of 12 may watch this film when they have a parent or carer with them) 12 (age of 12+ may watch this film) 15 (age of 15+ may watch this film) 18 (age of 18+ may watch this film) R18 (Restricted 18 - pornography).

Here is a table of the film classifications of BBFC.

Our film will contain strong violence and strong language. The film will contain themes of adult nature such as crime, action and thriller. However, our film shall not contain any sexual scenes, sexual references or any nudity. Therefore I would classify our film 'B.B.B.' a 15. This does not effect our target audience as we are aiming for any age from the age 15 and above. 

Shot List.

Shot list from Anthony Hanson

Shooting Schedule

Shooting schedule template from Anthony Hanson

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment template media from Anthony Hanson

Cast and Characters

Cast and Characters

Christian - Leon - Is a key character in the film opening. He creates a view of an antagonist. Although the audience do not know anything about him, his background, ethnicity even his appearance remains unseen throughout the film opening. However, the way he walks and the respect Tom's character shows him helps the audience to create a view of him, maybe even a fearful view. His costume is very casual and working class style. This helps connotate the genre and establish the setting of the film. Leon creates lots of enigma as nobody knows anything about him and you cannot even see his appearance which is vital in creating an enigmatic film opening. 

Anthony - Jay - Is another key character in the film opening. He has the most dialogue during the film opening but still his dialogue is relatively short consisting of 3 very short sentences during a phone call to an unknown ringer. Unlike Tom's character's dialogue, Jay's dialogue is very significant in creating a enigmatic scene within the opening of the film. Unlike Leon, the audience will see Jay's face multiple times throughout the film opening as there is no significance if the audience see or don't see his appearance. His costume consists of a very casual look but also a more middle class than a working class look. He acts very nervous throughout all of the film opening which may help create early views for the audience on the character. Jay does create enigma within the film opening and especially during the phone call.  

Tom Petty - Unknown character on lamp post - Tom plays a character who initially seems to be just a random person hanging around on the streets. However as Leon gets closer to Tom, Tom treats him with respect as if Leon owned the streets. He has a bit of dialogue that has no significance in the film opening. Tom's character's name is unknown to the audience. Tom's costume is not significant but what he is going to wear fits in with the genre and setting of the film opening. Enigma may be created as the audience do not know who this character is.

Ed Clixby - Unknown character opposite street of Jay and Leon meeting - Ed plays an impartial character who literally just stands opposite the street where Leon and Jay meet up. Ed is going to wear very casual clothing as just a normal civilian. He is unknown to both Leon and Jay, he has know dialogue. This may help create the enigma we were aiming for Ed's character to create. Nobody knows who he is and what he is doing there. 

Planning: 8 Key questions

8 key questions:

1)Is it practical? Our film opening is practical as we have all the resources and materials needed to film our opening. It is also easy to gain access to the locations we need to film our opening.
2) Is it an idea that works to the strengths of the group? Yes because we have a very small group of only 2 people. It is much more easy to work as a smaller group on a task like this as we both find similar interests and are able to agree much easily.
3)Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course? The film opening's storyboard requires us to use certain camera shots and techniques to full advantage to create a good film opening piece. So yes I do believe the film opening we are going to make will allow us to show off certain techniques we have learnt earlier on in the course.
4) Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available? Yes as the film opening is going to only be a 2 minute opening scene at the most. It should not take any more than a handful of hours of filming to create our film opening and even less than a handful of hours to complete the editing of the film opening. 
5)Can you get access/permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times? Yes, the location we are going to film in will be easy to gain access and will require no permission. 
6)Can you organise lighting to use in that location? We will not need to organise the lighting for our film opening as our film opening only requires external and natural lighting. However, during the first scene we will need internal lighting so therefore we will use a lamp to help the audience focus on the props they need to be focusing on during this first scene. 
7)Have you included dialogue? We have only one scene of dialogue and it is incredibly short. In the script it is 3 very short sentences of the character Jay on the phone to an unknown character.
8)Do you have guaranteed high quality reliable actors to play the characters? We have reliable actors willing to play a part in our film opening. Tom Petty and Ed Clixby have both agreed to helping us film out our film opening. They both did drama at school a couple of years ago and not the basics to acting. They will not be needed to to do much during the film opening. It is for the audience to decide wether or not they are of high quality and standards.

Editing Update

Editing

We have completed editing the whole film opening and put every scene together very nicely. The film opening runs very smoothly. All we need to do now in the editing department is finish off adding the titles and production logos and also we need to find some music to play in the background of the film opening and then add it to the editing sequence. 

Filming - Day 2

Day 2

We have finished filming our film opening. Tom and Ed from Day 1 of filming were not needed today and we managed to fully complete every scene. The weather again was very good and also very similar to the weather from last night! We went out to film at about 7:30pm and came home around the time of 9pm. 

Filming - Day 1

Day 1

Just completed filming our first day. We have not filmed in a chronological order but we will be able to sort this out during the editing after we have finished filming. We found 2 actors to help us with our filming; Tom Petty and Ed Clixby. The weather was also very good and it turned out to be a successful night of filming.
One more day needed and all the filming should be completed.

Mis - En - Scene

Mise en-scene from Anthony Hanson

Storyboard

Storyboard

Target Audience Member Profile

Target audience Member Profile

Name: Aidan Bell
Age: 16
Occupation: Student studying welding at Grimsby college

Q1: Do you like crime/action films?
Yes they are one of my favorite types of films.

Q2: Why do you like crime/action films?
Just everything about them to be honest. I love the fact that it is realistic and it can happen within day to day life.

Q3: Is there anything you don't like about crime/action films?
 I dont like it when the crime films combine with love stories and romance. But apart from that i can't think of anything else.

Q4: do you prefer more modern type crime films or do you prefer old film noir orientated films?
I prefer modern day crime films because I haven't really seen any film noir or seen enough to compare them.

Q5: What actors would you like to see in crime films?
I like Danny Dyer in crime films also Johnny Depp and Ben Affleck in the film 'The Town'.

Q6: What other types of media do you use?
I read the newspapers every now and then and I am always listening to music and watching TV. Every now and then I use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Q7: What crime films do you like the most?
The Town, Greenstreet, Football Factory, Oceans 11 and Inception.

Q8: What do you do recreationally?
I like to meet up with friends and see my girlfriend. Play my Xbox a lot too when Im home alone. Also love to go out have a few drinks and have a laugh.

Script

Scripting

Characters:

Jay - Anthony

Leon - Christian

EXTERNAL - NIGHT - NATURAL LIGHTING

Scene 1:

               Leon:

              (Gathers props, - drugs, cigarettes, lighter off the table.)

              ( Cross-cutting - Jumps to scene 2 - Jay)

Scene 2:

              Jay:

              (Casual walk down an empty bare street.)

              (Lighting: Street Lights.)

              (Acting like Jay is in trouble, acting shady, crafty.)

              (Keep looking behind.)

              ( Cross-cutting - jumps to scene 3 - Leon)

Scene 3:  

             Leon:

             (Stroll down street with swag)

             (Acts like top dog)

             (Jumps to Jay on phone - cross-cutting)

Scene 4: 

              Jay:

             (Stops on corner of street.)

             (Receives a phone call)

             "Yeah, I'm coming, almost there man."

             (Puts phone down, - looks over shoulder, shady.)

             (Carries on walking, but quicker.)

             (Cross-cutting - Leon) 

Scene 5: 

            Leon:

            (Carry on walking towards destination, similar to scene 2)

            (Walks past a group of people on the street corner)

            "Now then"

            (Shows the amount of respect people have for Leon.)

Scene 6:

            Jay and Leon:

            (Comes to another corner, stops walking, random person opposite side of street smoking.)
            (Leon walks round the corner in front of Jay, passes an object to Jay.)
            (Leon carries on walking as if nothing ever happened.)
            (Over-shoulder shot - Jay)
            (Point of view shot on the object Leon passes to Jay.)

Scene 7:
             Jay:
             (Camera follows Jay - tracking shot.)
             (Jay walks down alley into the dark)
             (Camera stops tracking Jay, doesn't follow him down the alley.)
             (Camera carries on moving along the street into the titles of the film.)

             

End of film opening. 

Target Audience Interview

We interviewed a handful of people about what they like to see in Crime films. Here is one of the interviews we orchestrated. Many of the interviewees said and explained similar things. They all loved the action and violence within crime films as it is what the audience like to see. They also explained that they liked the thriller side to crime films such as keeping them in suspense through enigmatic scenes. Also the interviewees said that they preferred crime films to be as realistic as possible and not to spin off into an abstract of science fiction for example: Inception. After each interview we have come to the conclusion to take a few ideas we have gained from these interviews and to use them in our film opening for full effect on the audience. 

Target audience research Box Office Statistics

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/

This link to the official box office statistics shows a chart on each crime film on how much money it has made since its release. Surprisingly, Inception is 1st in this chart. This is a surprise because the movie Inception is more science fiction orientated than crime orientated. It has made a massive $292,576,195. However, unfortunately our film can in no way be associated with a film like Inception as ours is more of a blue collar crime, working class orientated film. A film which is similar to ours is The Town. this is 7th in the chart which also makes a lot of money since its release. A massive $92,186,262 has been made since this films release. This is very promising as it shows that this film was aimed at a big audience and succeed in its release. As this is similar to our blue-collar crime genre we expect to have success among our audience as The Town did on its audience.
Here is a screenshot of a chart from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/ showing the all time record of lifetime gross and how much each film has made, here are the top 7.

Generic Conventions.

Generic conventions a.hanson from Anthony Hanson

Target Audience Research UK Film Council

In our research we decided to have a look at the UK film council website.
Looking at this research graph we found on the website we have established that action which is our genre is in a healthy 5th place in the chart. 50% of people like the action genre and said they would go to watch a action film. Unfortunately the crime genre, which is our sub genre, is not included in this chart.






Also on the same website of the UK  film council we found the percentage and difference of ages within the two genders. we are targeting our film at the age group of 15-25. Looking at this research we will have quite a big audience as male and female under 35 as they rate at 57% and 52% as shown in the image. We have a very big demographic audience to target our film at.



This statistical data shows again action is high up in the charts once again. It once again, shows action is popular among people. 54% of people like to attend the cinema to watch action films and 72% like to buy action films on DVD! It shows that the size of our target audience has a very wide demographic view and is relatively a big audience.




20% of Great Britain's population above 16 voted action as there favorite genre. This is again shows a very big target audience considering it has been voted by 20% out of 27 different types of genres. There is a lot of interest into action films as shown by all the statistical data we have found off the UK film council website. This research has been very useful and has given our group some great ideas for our film opening.

Job Roles

Camera

• Our camera men are going to be Christian Tam and I. This is because we felt comfortable using the camera during the the preliminary task. We will therefore oversee the cinematography of our piece by carrying out camera shots, movements and angles. We will need a camera, tripod and a battery intake. The cameraman is directed by the director to capture the scenes of the film. 

Sound

• Christian Tam and I will also be overseeing the use of the sound equipment. This is also for the same reason because we both felt in the zone whilst using the sound equipment. However, if at any point we are both acting we will rely on Kiah to manage the sound effectively. We will need a boom microphone and a radio microphone. The boom operator is responsible for taking care of the placement and positioning of the boom microphone.

Lighting

• We will rely on the natural lighting for our films which will mainly be low key as we will be filming during the night. There will be street lights to help with the lighting so it isn't pitch black. 

Director

• Kiah is going to be the director of the film opening as she shows leadership qualities and has come up with some very good ideas for the film opening. Also we will be using her pitch idea for our film opening. The director organises and helps direct the performance of the actors and gives them directions and pointers in what they need to do. The director is key to all aspects within film making. 

Producers

• We will all contribute to the production of this film opening as we will all be participating in the acting and technical elements this film opening may entice. The producers help to initiate, coordinate and supervise the making of the film. The producer is involved from the start of the film and throughout until the very end of film making. They can also be involved in fund raising for the film. 

Our Pitches

In this video we explain two possible ideas for our film opening project. After receiving feedback from the class, we as a group decided to go for idea 1. Idea 1 was a crime/action film. Itconsists of of cross cutting between two young, teenage male figures. One of these characters will be running down a block of stairs as if in a hurry to create a bit of early tension. Using the cross cutting technique, we hope to create tension among the audience by having another character walking down a street in low key lighting. Almost to help point out to the audience that this character could be a potential antagonist. The audience may expect some sort of conflict through the technique of cross cutting. During the opening scene titles will be shown throughout to help the audience establish the type of genre and also to name key and important characters/actors and also the directors and producers of the film opening. All the feedback from the class has been positive for this idea so we as a group are confident that our idea will work.

Film Opening Conventions

Film opening conventions from Anthony Hanson

Changing Ideas

Changing Ideas.

We have decided to change parts of our film opening. We have all decided that the film opening will need more action to entice the audience. We have decided this because of the statistics on the UK Film Council show that the majority of people prefer action to other genres. This is not the only reason we have changed the genre. Another combining factor would be that we looked at teenage demographics which show that our target audience would prefer action within our film opening. 

My Genre

My Genre

We have all agreed on a crime/comedy genre. We believe this is a good idea because it is original and we are all interested in the same sort of films and genres. We have looked at modern crime films such as kidulthood, adulthood and SKET to help with ideas. These have parts of comedy and crime and are very popular amongst its audiences.  

Presentation on 'Black Hawk Down' film opening analysis.

Black Hawk Down Film opening analysis from Anthony Hanson

My Group

My Group

I have chosen to work in a group with Christian Tam and Kiah Stenhouse. We believe that we will work together very well. We all have similar interests within Media Studies. We all have similar ideas and and have chosen to do crime and action for our film opening as we all enjoy this type of genre.  

Brief

Brief

The titles and opening of a new fiction film to last a maximum of two minutes.