Project Development - Characters

This part of development will evolve as production officially begins on the as of yet "Untitled A2 Short-film"; however as a starting point I must at least outline what type of characters to include my story.

As stated in my mind-map, within my story I want to have a character who is a victim of the social topic and a secondary character who inflicts danger onto the victim. I believe That these two selected types of character are all but essential to the story and keeping it  small. Ultimately helping the story remain focused and moving forward as it will be driven solely by one or two characters.

Ultimately this decision may change depending on feedback based on various drafts of the script but primarily on whether its necessary to the planned story. However I have outlined these two types of characters that I intend on incorporating into my story.

Project Development - What is the story's theme?

This part of the project development has direct relation to the mark scheme as it stated that our short-films must incorporate a relevant theme or social topic. This not only has a large factor on how well my short-film will be marked but will also impact the story. This is because whatever social topic I may choose to do, I must make sure that it feels natural to the story.

Appearance 

This had my curiosity as this idea places a huge significance within our society. This is due to our society has fixed notions on what is deemed attractive or un-attractive as well as how to present yourself to the world; all based on magazines and celebrity appearances. Therefore having harsh psychological effects on those who may not be classed as socially un-attractive. This would be an intriguing concept to tackle on and see how audiences respond to the characters dealing with such relatable situations.

Race

This was a topic I had addressed in my previous work on "Oblivious" making it unappealing for me to re-visit; despite that I have to potential to explore alternative perspectives on a similar topic addressed in "Oblivious" which is the idea behind terrorism. 

Gender

This is a topic that I was simply un-interested in as I felt a sense of cliche towards the idea as well as the notion that I lacked any sense of where to take the idea and create a engaging idea from it and potentially creating controversy around the story based on the narrative and themes.

Bullying 

Bullying is a idea that is a familiar and relatable concept that intrigued me as this could be applied within any situation or environment and not just the generic association with school. Which is why I was so drawn to it as can allow me as a film-maker to create situations for my audience to witness and connect with based on their own experiences and perspective on bullying.

Sex

The topic of sex is one that had my curiosity as a film-maker as well as being a teenager myself going through the universal transition from child to an adult which made me believe that this would be an interesting idea to address. However the slight complication that I encountered was producing a story that would be plausible and achievable to execute, but failed is why I refused to delve into the topic of sex.

Exam Stress

Like many of the other social topics on this list, exam stress is one that is universally understood and relatable. This idea had my attention as I too have encounter situations that have made be deal with exam stress; providing me with my own personal insight on the topic if I were to produce a story round the idea.

Money

Despite the idea behind money being a worldwide phenomenon, I found it quite difficult to find a scenario that really appealed to me and I was reluctant on producing a short-film around a topic I wasn't confident in.

Final Verdict

Based on my thoughts on these social topic, I have identified those which were unappealing to me as well as those that I am excited to produce. Ultimately helping me further narrow my decisions as to what type of story I intend on producing for my coursework. 

Project Development - What is the Genre?

This is perhaps the most important part of the development process;
deciding what genre the story will be, this will help me as I'm the director and writer of the project.By deciding the genre, this will help me understand what codes and conventions to incorporate into the story; as well as what the initial tone of the script. 

I began this point by listing the first 3 genres that I would like to do for my short-film. Once those three genres had been listed (Action,Comedy & Thriller) I then began to narrow down my options by illustrating to myself whether or not I believe it is a which genre was the best choice. This decision was based upon various factors such as: past experiences, conceptual stories surrounding the genres and my ability to successfully execute them. 

Action

I decided that I would stay away from "Action" based on my past experiences with past projects "Calamity". This was a project based within the action genre and had various action sequences incorporating weapons and hand combat; however due to the lack of production value  towards the props and costumes as well as the lack of training and poor choreography regarding the fight sequences. All of these factors where a result of poor planning and attention to detail, meaning that I was unable to successfully pull off an action short-film. Which is why I made the decision to stay away from this genre for my coursework and pursue a genre that I would feel comfortable doing. 

Comedy

I have had very little experience in "Comedy". My only past experience in comedy was with a project called "The Downfall" crime-comedy; my style of comedy for that  particular story failed as I lacked the correct execution and the proper understanding of what makes an audience laugh. I also then understood that the story was not suited for comedy as the situations the characters found themselves in meant for humourless slapstick. Despite "The Downfall" being fair in its story buy failed in tone and direction. However since that film, I have the opportunity to truly connect with the audience as my conceptual idea for a comedy short-film will allow my audience to my connected to both the character and the themes behind the story.  

Thriller

I recently had experience in "Thriller". For my AS media coursework I made a short-film called "Oblivious" which I found to be a truly excited experience as I saw new ways to achieve my desired tone through lighting. The overall project was a pleasant success as it received a positive feedback and audiences understood the meaning and themes behind the story. I felt that with "Oblivious" being a thriller, it was quite straight forward as to how we could hook the audience's attention by incorporating real and relevant topics for the real world and infuse them in this eerie and unsettling story. This is something I would love to get the opportunity to delve back into this idea and add another addition to the thriller genre.

Overall Verdict

As a summary, I have decided to stay far away from the action genre but will develop ideas for both a thriller and a comedy. These are both genres I would very much be comfortable and excited to work in; however my final decision will be made based on my overall preference in the two stories as well as the themes and ideas surrounding the projects.

Early stages of 'Project Development'

Over the past few weeks, I've spent that time compiling: various concepts, styles and overall ideas that I am might be eager to execute for my upcoming short-film as apart of my coursework. I have conceptualised my various ideas, I've expanded on my development through the inclusion of various musical pieces and images; all used as creative and visual reference to what I intend to achieve with my various ideas. All of this is to help me ultimately decide on which idea is the best in terms of theme,character and direction in order to achieve the best possible grade in my coursework.

In order to keep track of my conceptual and creative development; I have chosen to present them on a mind-map. The decision to present my ideas and notions on a mind-map to to not only help my progress as I keep notes of all my ideas but to help others recognise my efforts in constructing my eventual final concept.

This mind-map represents all of the basic themes and ideas for a potential story whilst outlining other creative features I could potentially utilise with my given story. I will be elaborating on my mind-map and delving into what I've included on the pages; explain my thoughts and decisions behind why I may have chosen to include or exclude certain ideas. All of these have helped my decision in shaping my final idea which will be addressed in my blogs.

Agenda setting model

What is agenda setting?

Agenda setting is a theory regarding the power of the media, this theory of agenda setting essential has a very powerful influence over the media. This influence cause our society to focus our attention on what the media states is important; the effect of this is that the media is not telling us what to think but merely what to think about; influencing us to think and feel a particular way towards the subject or situation being highlighted by media. All to lure our undermining attention from far greater issues and topics within the news.

Examples

These are examples of ways agenda setting has been used within the media, using scandals as their main piece of information displayed on the front page of their products in order to lure the attention of the public. Through media's use of intertextuality; big and bold sentences used to tease the readership of what to expect from this scandal but only to conjure an idea where this type of news has significance on our daily lives.

The two levels of agenda setting

Level 1: The first level in agenda setting refers to the media influencing the way in which society by think about a certain topic. This level of influence and control is executed through the use of particular subjects or issues to stir our thoughts towards a direction that the media intends on. All through use and manipulation of texts and images to exaggerate the extent of an issue however much the media needs to influence the public. 

Level 2: The second level in the agenda setting refers to the media forcefully deciding for the public what information regarding the subject or issue is important. Ultimately influencing our thoughts on a particular situation or subject based on a certain stamp or phrase allocated to the issue. 

Final Verdict

The agenda setting theory does bring a lot of compelling questions on how we as a society consume information. We as individuals take in information daily but what how does that influence you? We learn our entire way of lifestyle based on information. But how much the information told in the news is necessary or of any real importance? These are all aspects that the agenda setting theory has brought into question.

Film Noir Task

In order to demonstrate our understanding of the film-making style of 'Film Noir' ; our media class has been assigned the task to produce a clip inspired by the brief we have chosen to execute for our coursework. As apart of this task, we are obliged to work within a group consisting of those whom are doing the same brief as you for the coursework. This idea is to help us as students of media reflect on our understanding of the film-making style and then share with others in our group, in order to help develop our knowledge and understanding of 'Film Noir'.

            

In order to complete this task, we were assigned 5 days to plan and shoot our clip. Our group consisted of those whom are doing a short-film, which made the narrative of the clip relatively simple. We began by conceptualising a simple plot; we all agreed we wanted it to share the same world as the film "Gilda" as our story centres around the idea of a form of gangster dealing taking place whilst a performance is going on. 

During the production of our film noir, we encountered many different results in terms of the lighting of our media product. As we attempted to execute our vision, many obstacles such as the the complexity of the shot. This led to us figuring a way to simplify our initial idea but yet having an effective and satisfying end result. This also offered our group the opportunity to develop our communication skills as well as our ability to work together. As a result of this, this issue not only benefited the project but us as individual film-makers as we have gained a more collaborative relationship with our fellow team members.

Overall this task was intriguing as it offered us the chance to try a different approach to visually telling a story through lighting. These are skills I will bring towards developing my coursework.