R+P Post 10: Reflections so far / looking ahead

So far, I feel we have worked very well as a group to come up with and follow through with our idea - teenagers navigating their lives, with many downfalls along the way. We managed to create a solid platform from where we are able to now move on and start thinking about creating a shot list and actually shooting our opening sequence. We have successfully chosen the main characters and thought a little about costumes (party clothes - skirts, dresses, makeup) and props (bottles of spirits, cigarettes), although this still needs to be discussed further. Looking forward, I feel we need to think in more detail about the type of shots that we will use (tracking, pans, etc.), where these will fit in and how we will put these together when it comes to editing.

R+P Post 9: Our script

Lola: What the f*ck!
Marlon: Oh, Lola
Lola: Who the f*ck is this?
Marlon: What are you talking about?
Lola: Don't try that shit with me
Marlon: Chill out!

This is what the characters will be shouting at each other, yet the music over the top will be too loud for the words to actually be audible and so the audience will only slightly hear what they're saying - the emphasis is more on the moving of their mouths and to draw attention to the fact they are having an argument. During this, we might add a slow motion effect to dramatise the situation a bit more, and also to ensure that the words aren't completely audible. The use of strong language, we thought, was appropriate because it's realistic to how teenagers talk and highlights Lola's anger and her lack of control over her words and actions when she is drunk/on drugs (therefore presenting these substances in a negative light).

After our rough cut, we decided to change the script in order to make it simpler to shoot and easier for us to edit the continuity successfully, as the shot/reverse/shot didn't work and the slap didn't look realistic. We also decided to take the sound of the speech out completely so that it's just their lips moving as the words sounded odd under the music.

Updated script:

Marlon: Oh Lola
Lola: What the hell!

R+P Post 8: Our opening sequence idea, to include sound and titles

Our opening sequence:

• The first titles to appear are the distribution and production companies (StudioCanal UK and Stealth Films).
• After this, the film goes straight into the master shot of the party, with people dancing and loud music playing - the music is 'Felt This Way by Conducta'. Then there is a montage sequence of people chatting, smoking, throwing up, passing out, dancing, taking drugs and more. Throughout this, some of the shots are broken up by titles; Starring Ella Budgett, Will Own; Flora Cox, Ezra Burns; Directed by Eleanor Lynch and Flo Donald; Music: Conducta - Felt This Way. At the end of the montage sequence, the last title is the name of our film 'Adolescents'.
• Also during the montage, there is a reoccurring motif of Lola looking in mirrors and stumbling about to show a hidden underling meaning that whilst she is looking at herself, she sees a distorted version of herself reflecting back at her. 
• The opening then goes into a continuity sequence. Lola is walking into the living room from the garden and sees her boyfriend, Marlon, speaking to another girl. She then goes up to them and she and Marlon have an argument, whilst he denies that he was flirting with the other girl.
• Lola in a fit of anger, and delirious from the drugs, punches him and then walks away.
• She goes upstairs and as she turns to walk down the corridor to the bathroom, the music blurs out and just becomes background noise. She goes into the bathroom and looks in the mirror one last time before collapsing to floor and crying, whilst make up runs down her face.

Skins (Series 1 edit)

This is the track we are using for our music, we will start it 29 seconds in and it first begins playing as the master shot of the party appears.

R+P Post 7: Our film's title and plot outline

The title of our film is 'Adolescents' as it shows the different individual lives of teenagers within a friendship group.

A brief synopsis of the plot:

In the beginning, a girl (Lola) is seen to be using drugs and punches her boyfriend (Marlon) at a party due to him talking to another girl. She then begins to drift way from her friends and causes arguments with many of them as she loses control of her life (due to taking too many substances too often). The other relationships between her friends are explored as they try to figure out how to help Lola. She gets kicked out school and home life soon goes downhill too as her parents can't take the stress she is putting on the family. The film follows the journey of  Lola as she tries and fails to regain control of her life, and also witnesses her violent outbursts - domestic violence. The tragic ending, death from an overdose, leaves the audience feeling sad as well as thoughtful about the lives of teenagers and their sometimes inability to cope.

The film Project X is based around a house party that takes place and with many of the people there consuming drugs. Although it's focus isn't quite the same as ours, it still manages to portray the reckless lives that sometime adolescents choose to live.

In the TV series Skins, a character called Effie is seen to fall into a routine of going out and taking drugs, breaking and repairing relations she has with her friends as she tries to figure out how to get herself back on track. There are many emotionally distressing scenes involving her, and this links in very closely with the main character in our film, Lola.

             

           
             

R+P Post 6: Our chosen genre and how we plan to connote this

The genre we have chosen for our film is a British indie teenage drama (focusing on relationship drama as a sub-genre within this). We thought we would be good at connoting this genre because we are all in our teens and so can relate to the subject matter that will be explored.

The film Fish Tank was used as inspiration for our genre because it is a British drama and examines the life of a teenage girl who has daily struggles including issues with her family, which is something the girl also faces in our film.

In our film, we plan to show the genre through the suggestion of British culture (each member will be British although of different ethnicities) and we will shows the traumas that young people are forced to deal with in their day-to-day lives. We will also present the different relationships with people have with each other withing the wider friendship group and how they bring each other up and down throughout the film.

R+P Post 5: How we plan to attract/address our target audience

Our film opening shows a montage and continuous sequence of rebellious teenagers, all of different ethnicities, at a house party. The first shot the audience sees is a master shot of the party, plunging them straight into the action, allowing our target audience (both genders, ages 15-24) to immediately engage with what is going on, and can identify with the content in our film. We will have loud music playing with a heavy beat from the very start to draw them in further as this is common to the type of music the youthful generation listen to. Due to there being people of different genders and ethnicities, we hope this allows for everyone to feel involved. The film is a gritty, British indie film and gives it a certain type of social realism to which all can relate.

Moreover, the male that is being abused by his girlfriend is seen to be vulnerable and in a weak position, not conforming to the 'hyper-masculine' rules that have been made up by society, So for this reason, we also hope that our film can appeal to boys who feel targeted by social conventions and stereotypical gender norms, as they can witness a male who rebels against these by showing his emotions.

                     

This Youtube clip shows a scene from Human Traffic where members of the friendship group are all in a club together. It helped to show us some editing techniques we might use later on to speed things up and slow this down as well as making things out of focus, to really present a party atmosphere that is quite distorted.

Kidulthood is a film which involves teenagers of different ethnicities who are battling problems in each of their lives. It appeals to their target audience because of the hard-hitting issues that are raised (e.g a 15 year old getting pregnant) and which the viewers can relate with. It is also London based like ours, and so proved to be a good reference point.

R+P Post 4: Representation of social groups in our opening sequence

The main social groups we have chosen to focus on within the middle-class teenage community are age and gender. Our film mostly shows negative stereotypes of the younger generation as they are seen to partake in the use of use drugs and alcohol, as well as being involved in violent acts. We've chosen to portray these stereotypical views to explore in depth how teenagers are viewed in today's society and how these views can be both true as well as sometimes misguided - true because they are pursuing illegal activity and causing chaos, yet misguided because our film shows the goodness in some of the teenagers and their moral actions in certain situations (e.g. seeking help for the girl who's life goes in a downwards turmoil due to drug over-use).

Our film also challenges the stereotypical gender norms because the domestic abuse that takes place is inflicted from the girl onto the boy. Most people automatically assume that the male is the protagonist in abusive relationships (however, this is wrong as an article in The Observer 2010 stated that more than 40% of domestic violence victims are male).

We looked at Skins to get an idea of how we would portray the teenage lifestyle as although it is a British TV series, it tackles many of the issues that are raised in a out film.



We also looked at Human Traffic which is a film about teenagers who enjoy going out partying, however, this movie slightly glamourises the idea of drug taking and it the opposite of what we are trying to show.

R+P Post 3: Our production and distribution institutions

Production

The production company we decided to use is Stealth Films Limited because it is London based and has produced four other low budget British films like ours and so has good experience in this particular area of film. One of the films we looked at when exploring further to find similar ones to ours was Kidulthood, and this was also produced by Stealth Films so we feel it all fits together perfectly.

Their website is currently under construction.

Distribution

The distributor we decided on using is StudioCanal UK as its headquarter's are located in London (although it is a French company) and they have worked with independent British films, including Tyrannosaur which has similar themes in it to ours.

R+P Post 2: Our target audience

Core Target Audience

Our film is mainly targeted at students and people of similar ages to us as we thought we would be able to relate with people of our own age more. This means people aged 15-19, however after discussing this further we decided that it wasn't broad enough and so we extended it to people aged 15-24.



Although our opening sequence focuses mainly on a girl and her drug misuse, the rest of the film explores the dynamics within a larger friendship group, which involves boys, and so for this reason our film isn't targeted at particular genre. We spoke to our friends in school and told them about our idea and they all seemed very intrigued and wanted to know how the film would end, giving us confidence that we had chosen the right target audience.

Secondary Audience

We also thought that because our film deals with domestic violence and mental downfalls, it could be directed at awareness campaigns for these particular areas and potentially schools which are keen to promote the awareness of drug use and it's major consequences. Furthermore, our film is a British indie film and so is also directed at fans of this particular genre.


As group, we wanted to look into other films or TV dramas that were targeted at the same age category and we soon discovered that both Skins and Misfits have very similar themes to those that can be found in our film (e.g. teenagers figuring out the ropes of life and experimenting with certain things), and so are targeted at the same age group.

 

R+P Post 1: How we intend to work as a group

Our group came together to discuss a few things such as; when and where we will meet and what our working principles will be in order to make our project as successful as it can be. During week 1, we decided that we will meet on Tuesday for an hour after school (4pm-5pm), Wednesday at lunch for half an hour (12:30pm-1pm) and Thursday during period 6 for 40 minutes (1:45pm-2:25pm). During week 2, we decided we will meet on Wednesday at lunch for half an hour (12:30pm-1pm), Thursday for an hour after school (4pm-5pm), and Friday during period 1 for 40 minutes (8:50am-9:30am). All of the meetings will take place in the media block so that when available, our teachers can help us and give us advice on how to progress with our project.

The working principles we established in our group are as follows:
1) Arrive on time to all scheduled meetings and let each member know in advance if you are unable to attend one of the meetings for a suitable reason.
2) Make sure that each task/job allocated to you gets completed promptly and to its full potential.
3) Bring forward ideas at each meeting and play a keen participating role in order to make sure our project is the best it can be.