Design for our film poster.

This is the design we created for the poster of our film.

Inspiration for our film poster

Throughout our film Lottie wears grungy, casual clothes with fishnets being the main part of her outfit with either docs or converse on her feet. We wanted Lottie on the front cover because she is the main character however we didn't want to be able to see her face just something that represents her. We have looked at several different images in girls wearing tights and docs to give us some inspiration for our own film poster. 

After reading the book 'How to build a girl' the front cover always stuck in the back of my mind, I really like this image and the fact you can't see the characters face just her shoes and legs. Therefore this front cover has been a key inspiration to me for the design of our front cover as it shows a sense of realism

British social realism film poster examples

These images will be inspiration for when we create our own film poster. 

Magazine anaylsis

 

Character profiles

 

How we target our audience through social media

 

Film poster analysis- This is england

Influence of directors

Film trailer analysis- Trainspotting

Film Poster Anaylsis- The Selfish Giant

By Lucy Harper

Narrative structures

group work

Film trailer anaylsis- London to brighton

This is the official trailer for the film London To Brighton. The editing within the start of this trailer creates a dramatic tone hence the use of fades to black after each shot which mirrors the slow piano music. However, towards the end of the trailer when the non-diegetic music picks up a fast beat, the editing becomes quick paced through the use of 

 

 

The trailer begins with an establishing shot of London. This shot works effectively at the start of the trailer because it tells the audience where the film is set and gives them an insight into why the production company have titled the film "London To Brighton". Non diegetic music starts off the trailer and plays through this shot, however the choice of slow piano music signifies a disheartening mood. Although, this music works perfectly to replicate the mood the film and prepare the audience for later events that may not be positive in nature. In addition to this, this non diegetic music instantly draws the viewer into the trailer hence that it pulls on their heartstrings and leaves them wondering what is going to happen.

 

 

 

 

This an important shot to the scene as it is an close up of a main character. However, before this shot there was a voice over of this young girl saying "I'm twelve this year", and as we can see when observing this shot she has a cigarette in her ear. This represents Britain negatively when the girl of only twelve years of age and still a child is smoking. This is a main code and convention within the trailer, henceforth social realist films focus on social issues that are happening within society.

 

 

Film reviews are another key aspect to film trailers, for example London to Brighton have included several of them. By including specialist reviews within the trailer it portrays the film to the viewers as successful, therefore they will want to visit the cinema to watch it. However, this is another important device to advertise the film and gain larger audiences. 

This shot from the trailer is a medium shot of some run down shops found within the film. The fact the shops are graphitised and closed down indicates to the viewer that the society is rough and broken. When observing this shot we can clearly see that this shot conforms to the genre as the shops would be recognisable of Britain.

   

Several close ups have been used with this trailer to allow the audience to see the emotions that the characters are feeling in each particular shot. For example the shot above is another close up of the young female protagonist, and here we see by her facial expression she looks increasingly vulnerable. In addition to this the low key lighting surrounding the females face adds a dramatic tone to the trailer and makes the audience feel empathy towards her.

Film trailer anaylsis-This is england

THIS IS ENGLAND.

This is the official trailer for This is England. Throughout this trailer there is a variety of shots to send out subtle hints to the viewer of the story line.

The trailer begins with a wide establishing shot of a beach which instantly gives context to the audience where the film is set. However, as we can see the dark clouds and lack of blue sky within the shot reflects on the negativity within the realistic outlook of the 80s era in Britain. This shot is crucial to the genre as the audience will want to know what place the film is taking a social reality of.  However, at the beginning of the trailer there is non-diegetic music being played within the background which is slow and moving. This sound track choice works effectively to draw the audiences attention and pull on their heart strings. In addition to the previous point, the music predicts the mood of the trailer and enables the audience to feel empathy towards the main character Shaun. 

 

As we can see the following shot is of the main character Shaun who is represented as an ordinary mundane boy. However this medium close up shot allows the audience to recognise the character and familiarise themselves with him. In addition to this, hence that he was the first character shown in the trailer, it shows his importance to the film. By editing the character centre frame it again highlights the importance of his presence to the scene.

 

 

 

This is another key close up shot of Shaun found within the trailer. As we can the use of this close up allows the audience to see his facial expression which also represents his mood and feelings. When looking at this shot we gather that the character is feel unhappy and somewhat threatened. This shot overall pulls on the heart strings of the audience; drawing them into watching the upcoming feel as they feel sorry for him.

Other important shots found within the trailer include:

It is important for any British Social Realism film to include iconography and regional identity in order to represent Britain's history. For example the two above shots, the first being Princess Diane and Prince Charles and the second Margaret Thatcher are three well known and important people in Britain's history. Furthermore, this device gives the film trailer context by relating to past events that the British audience will remember and be able to relate to. However hence the film is set in the era of the 80s these shots will also be current news stories; therefore realistically re-creating the time period of the feature film.

 

As we can see the trailer lacks narration throughout, therefore the Editor has included shots such as the one above to allow the audience to understand the storyline without giving to much away. However "Shaun went looking for a friend" tells the viewer that the film revolves around Shaun's life and again enables the audience to build a relationship with the character- (Blumer and Katz uses and gratifications theory).

 

 

 

This is another important shot to the trailer as it conforms to the common codes and convention of a social realist film. The significant use of the England flags work effectively to show the time and era the film was set in. This is because England was a very patriotic society.

 

 

Production company name and font

We are SPARKS PRODUCTIONS. Our production company is a UK independent film company, serving entertainment to the British public. We think this name SPARKS PRODUCTIONS is a suitable name because our film company creates new and exciting ideas.

We have chosen the name “LOST” for our film. We feel this is an appropriate title because Lottie is LOST in a world outside of reality. Due to her dramatic experience, Lottie intoxicated her mind, separating herself from the real world.

We have chosen this font because it is broken up and looks as if it is falling apart. We believe this represents Lottie and her life

Distributors, budget and film festivals

Our film being produced by an independent film company, we are limited to what distributors will market our film. Having a budget of only £600,000. Our budget will cover the infamous actors, camera crew, location, costumes, editing and music.

Our film will be distributed by Film 4 because the distribution company markets realistic films based around social issues. This is an important factor to our distribution as their audiences will be interested in watching our film because the company markets the same genre.

In order to gain audience we will take our film to the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL which will allow us as a production company to advertise our Social Realism film to the public. We believe this is an appropriate film festival for our upcoming film because it caters for independent film makers like ourselves.





Sparks Productions will get funding from BFI and the NATIONAL LOTTERY. Because we are independent, we have a lot less money than conglomerates such as universal therefore we will have to ask around for money input. We will ask our family and friends as well for donations in order to build up our budget to create the feature film.

British social realism mood board

 

British social realism mood boards

I have noticed that in a lot of British social realism films they have used a lot of young boy actors to play the main parts; this is possibly due to the fact that they can be sympathised with due to their young age but also because boys seem to be more rebellious which fits the typical scene of a social realism. 

Although girls are still used in some British social realism films, just not always as the main role. This is because girls aren't deemed to be as rebellious as boys so won't fit the stereotypical aspects of the social realism films. Also when girls are used they're usually in their late teens / adolescence.

Despite the fact that boys are often used to play the main roles over girls we have chose to have a girl as the leading role. This shows that girls can also have struggles in life that need to be dealt with and showcased, us creating a film about a girl makes our film a bit different to most of the other British social realism's around. We've chosen Lottie our main character to be 17 years old which will be the middle age range of our target audience, this will help them sympathise with the main character as they will be able to put themselves in to their shoes. 

Our Film Plot

The main character within our film is called Lottie who is 17 years of age. At the beginning of our film Lottie who is an everyday mundane teenage girl who comes across another female who is 19 years of age attempting to jump onto a train line. Lottie tries to persuade the girl, however with no luck the girl jumps to her death. After this traumatic experience she was scarred and Lottie's life went upside down. This tragedy leads to Lottie turning to drugs, hanging around with the wrong crowd and breaking the law. Her mum has had enough of her behaviour, overall leaving Lottie homeless. The final scene ends with Lottie attempting to commit suicide in the same place and someone coming over to help her; re-creating the beginning of the film and leaving the audience left with unanswered questions as to what happens next.

 

Target audience mood board

Based on our film genre, story line, age of the characters and feedback from our film pitch we have decided to base our target audience around teenagers/ young adults aged 18-25.

These are some of the things our target audience might do in their free time:

Reseaching BBFC age certificate

BBFC Age Certificate


The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification, it is an independent, no government body, which has classified films since 1912.

 

The BBFC which is also known as the British Board of Film Classification, before 1985 known as British Board of Film censors. BBFC is a non-governmental organization founded by the film industry in 1921 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films within the UK.

All classification decisions are based on the BBFC'S guidelines which are regularly published and updated. the guidelines are the product of extensive public consultation, research and accumulated experience of the BBFC over many years. They reflect current views on film, DVD and video game regulation.  

The chosen BBFC rating for our film and why:

Our film pitch

Our film pitch

 

After filming our pitch to an audience we received several comments about our target audience. One being that we should lower the target audience to 15-25 rather than 18 25. After our displaying our pitch we have chosen to lower the target audience in order to capture a wide range of people to watch our film. We believe our film will target 15 year olds because of the chosen  genre which will relate to real life scenarios they may have experienced. 

Our questionnaire results

Demographics and psychographs

Demographics and psychographs

 

 

 by Lucy Harper

Film trailer anaysis- Fish Tank.

 

 

Fish Tank is a British social realism film, produced in 2009. The film is about a 15 year old girl Called Mia who grew up in a council estate in England. She lives with her mother and sister. The relationship with both of them is rough. She is introduced to her mums new 'boyfriend.' She finds herself being very attracted to him. Mia is also a dancer. As the film unfolds a lot of  darker things happen, Mia finds herself in danger.

 

 

 

 

By Lucy Harper

 

 

Our film genre - Codes and conventions of social realism

British social realism  

Social realism  is a genre of film which has a focus on realistic social issues that occur in a modern society, represented by different ideologies. Themes within this genre include: drugs, family issues, prostitution, sex, social class and religion which are all very widely used in films today especially British ones.

Our film fits within the British social realism film genre, showing the real issues that teenagers come to face with in everyday life. The themes that appear in our film are suicide, drugs, social class and rebellion which are all realistic situations that people can relate to.

To make a social realism film these are the codes and conventions i will need to make sure i include  when making my British social realism film.

  

Codes and conventons of social realism from lucyharpermedia12

What is genre? - Codes and conventions of a trailer

GENRE refers to the method of characterisation based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed, it can be determined by the subject, setting or plot of the story.

 

Genre is a creative strategy used by film companies to ensure that their audience can identify with a film, it makes it easier for them then to target their audience more specifically.

Each genre will be split up into sub-genres; they are categories developed from a main genre being split into more specific categories e.g. horror has several different subgenres such as: gore, psychological, killer, monster, paranormal, comedy horror.   

Our chosen genre is British social realism which explores key social topics within the modern society, showing peoples vivid emotions and feelings.

Codes and conventions of a trailer

Brief

Brief

A Short film in its entirely, lasting approximately 5 minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the options;

As with AS you will create a portfolio of work assessing your ability to:

 Plan and construct media products using appropriate
- A poster for the film
-A radio trailer for the film
- A magazine review page featuring the film.

Or

A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

-A website homepage for the film
-A magazine front cover, featuring the film
-A poster for the film


I am working with Saffron Smith and Jessica Rice