Animatic

Social Realism Conventions

1. Realistic portrayal of British society
2. Use of unknown actors
3. Working Class setting
4. Realistic/gritty location
5. Controversial themes: drugs, crime, sex, prostitution, poverty, alcoholism, homosexuality
6. Themes of political or religious views
7. Social or racial injustice
8. Economic hardship
9. Age: typically for teenagers or young adults (15 - 30)
10. Believable storyline and filming techniques

Location

Through our previous research into social realism, we began to realise how important location is within this genre to build a realistic image, as well as highlighting social class and economic status. Stereotypical examples of this are 'The Full Monty' made in 1997, directed by Peter Cattaneo, and is set in Sheffield, England about 6 unemployed men after the steel mills have been shut down, showing their low economic state and working class culture. Another is 'Trainspotting' created in 1996 and directed by Danny Boyle, set in a poor working class area of Edinburgh, reflects in the characters. This is shown through their attitudes, night life, social interaction and ways of earning money.


We are lucky enough to live in a wealthy part of the country where the majority of families would consider themselves middle class. This is great for our storyline as it goes against the social norms, and hopefully making it more unique. As main character, Cally, has also come from a wealthy background, with horses and private school etc, so our geographical location could not be more key. We have both also noticed that due to the fact the location plays such a role in these films the trailers often have many establishing shots so the audience can relate to the event in a more realistic way. So we decided that we should also follow this theme in our trailer. Therefore we will need to shoot some scenes of the wealthiest areas in our society, conforming to the stereotypes.

Filming Schedule

Two Completed Magazine Covers

(A gradual red tint has been added over the "rough" Cally. This is to distinguish between the stages of her life, as she is still the same character. The other cover could suggest they are different characters)

Ideas for Magazine Cover

Magazine Cover Continued...

We used the programme Gimp to help with the layering and editing of our Magazine Cover, above are a few ideas for the text to build up the cover.

More Film Poster Research

Saul Bass (1920 – 1996) was a designer, photographer, director, film maker and illustrator. He created visual identity through symbolism and simplicity for both film and other consumer corporations. Working with Directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese and created many film posters and title sequences through out his life, as well as writing a children's book, and being the person responsible for the shower scene in 'Psycho' (1960)
His name is associated with Modernism, experimental film making, visual metaphors and original and advanced design.

Bass directed the short dream sequence in the Hitcock movie 'Vertigo' as well as working on the poster campaign for the film. Using primary colour schemes and minimalist symbolic images, like the sinister spiral on the bloody red background he created new and revolutionary illustrations. It was not customary, until Bass' era for American poster designers to be credited for their work. By signing all his work, he made it possible for the designers to lay rightful claim to their work, and continued the changing status of the artist.

Ideas for Magazine Cover

Poster Research

Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

This poster grabs your attention through use of bright, bold, block colour. The word 'Precious' is written in white, on the red background making it stand out and the use of the colour red could be to suggests the idea of blood. The large woman in the centre is created in black jagged shapes and has the siloutte of a hand cleverly disguised into her profile. The use of the colour black creates mystery, and the pointed rough fragments highlight that she has been hurt, and her body shattered. From this powerful image we can tell that the subject matter of the film itself may be explicit and graphic through the placing of the hand maybe she has been sexually abused? This female figure is obviously the protagonist, taking up a large amount of the pictorial space and the viewer can tell she is woman through the outline of her hooped earrings.

The names of the films actors is placed at the top of the poster, emphasising the star quality, including popular and well known artists such as Mo'nique, Mariah Carey and Gabourey Sidibe. Also positioned at the top of the poster are the successes the film has had, including awards at the Sundance film festival. Winning awards for acting, audience and a grand jury prize.

Marketing Plan

As with every film, we have to decided to think about a detailed marketing plan with objectives to raise awareness of our film, create visibility, and engage audience interest. Obviously, we have been concentrating on the creation of a trailer as the main force aiming to see the film. However, there are many other ways to do this such as 'word of mouth' as social recommendation is a key factor to creating 'buzz' and we would want pur audience to be persuaded that this is an especially entertaining and must see film. Both negative and positive interest can be useful as it is argued that there is no such thing as 'bad press' for example, a provocative film will gain high levels of awareness sometimes resulting in the film being seen just to see how terrible, scary or shocking it genuinly is.

Another way of reaching our target audience could be through advertising such as a poster. However, there are often a dozen or more different posters on display in a cinema at any time so we much be vreative and work hard to make each one stand out. Ours should include: a main image or artwork making the film appealing, as well as names of its stars, genre, credits and a tag line.

Film Title

We choose the name "Dazed" to be our title after audience research determined this as the most popular from a list of:

Dazed

Cally

Perplex
Confused
Differences

More Storyline Ideas

Cally is your typical teenage girl who comes from a traditional British family and area, who enjoys hanging around with friends and having fun but there is a new boy at school who she falls for and gets into the wrong kind of crowd. Cally's school and home life start to seem insignificant and her new love interest becomes a bad role model - getting her into lots of different trouble like drinking and stealing. Eventually everything around her begins to spiral out of control, and the couple begin robbing banks together. A sort of 'modern day Bonnie and Clyde'

Mood Board

Storyline Ideas...

Cally is a 17 girl who has had a passion for riding horses, which she has done her whole life. Unfortunately her friends love to party! This means Cally is often smoking, drinking, taking drugs, having sex and staying out late most nights. But what happens then her two worlds collide? Our film follows the life of Cally in a realistic drama showing how her family reacts to her antics and the consequences of her actions. How far can Cally go before a tremendous time turns into a horrifying time?

Grave Encounters

1. Theme - Thriller/horror
2. Cinematography - slow documentary style, shots gradually build up in speed creating tension
3. Lighting - stark, dark, set in the night time, day shots are all natural lighting
4. Editing - long scenes, not many transitions
5. Narrative - Produciton crew for a television show investigate a mental house that has become subject to many paranormal activities
6. Sound -  natural sound, spoken word, diagetic, emphasis on clang and bangs in the mental house
7. Characterisation - crew = not given any personality, see more of them as the trailer progresses