Risk Assessment for A2 Film

Pitch Presentation for A2 Film

Recently we produced and presented our pitch presentation. The ides of doing this was to receive some audience feedback and get new ideas for what we can do to improve our film/trailer. In this presentation we included our ideas on the following areas;

• Target Audience
• Unique Selling Point
• Production Company Logo and Connotations
• Storyline
• Characters
• Settings

These are the notes that we used when presenting our ideas.

Slide 1 - Target Audience: 

 

 The target audience of our film is 13-24 year old females. We have aimed our film mainly at females because we feel that some women may be able to relate to the issues that come up within our film and the main characters in the film are mainly female.

 We also aimed it at teenagers because some of them may be having to deal with the issues themselves so again It would be relevant to them.

 Slide 2 - USP:

  

This film is based on a true story so this will make people want to come and see what has happened in the life of a teenagers life also it uses voyeurism as well.

Personal identity is used as well because people can relate to the occurrences that take place within the film.





Slide 3 - Production Company Logo and Connotations: 

The reason we have chose this production company name is because Impulse is the way that somebody feels and the films that we make, we want the audience to feel something. The colours are both masculine and feminine because we do not want to limit our self to just one genre of film we want have a wide variety.   

Slide 4 - Storyline:  

 













The story is about Millie who has moved to Ernulf which is her new school, on her first day she sees Jack and likes him straight away. The only trouble is that everyone loves Jack and whilst she is trying to get his attentions she causes trouble between the future prom queen Charlotte because she believes that jack loves her.

After weeks of them two talking they are finally put together in a science assignment where they have to work together, in the weeks that they work together they become very close and Millie decides to tell Jack that she likes him, but Jack only sees her as a friend.

After this Millie didn’t speak to Jack and in the time that they were not speaking Jack begins to realise that he loves Millie back, but it is too later because she has gone to a party and is about to go into a Bedroom with Ben. Jack runs too the party and pushes his way in to the Bedroom and tells Millie that they need to talk, she says no. This ends in Ben trying to push Jack away and Jack and Ben getting into a fight.

This is then broken up by Millie who decides to go with Jack. They go to a park and speak like they used to, after a while Jack declares his love for Millie and they Kiss.

Slide 5 - Characters:

Millie is a shy, happy and romantic girl who falls in love easily. This makes her an easy target.

Jack is a cool, popular, good looking, sporty lad. Which makes him popular around the ladies.

Charlotte is a popular, good looking, thick, stereotypical blonde. She thinks that she is more popular than she actually is.

Ben is a normal teenage who is sexual frustrated and tries to get Millie to have sexual intercourse with him.

We will also have a list of extras as well. 

 Slide 6 - Settings:

 
We have several locations that are going to be included in our film, we have classrooms and corridors within the school that we will be filming in and we have two house locations, one will be the first house that the character Millie lives at, and the second will be the house in which the party is hosted at the end of the film.

 

  

Mood Board

This is the mood board that I have created on teenage angst films. The mood board includes images from films such as Easy A, American Pie and Mean Girls. This mood board shows characters, props and locations that are all related to the teenage angst genre. With the characters it shows the stereotypical outfits that they wear during the film which is casual clothing. The locations that are shown, the beach, the school corridor and the football pitch all fit in with the stereotypical locations of teenage angst films as they are all locations that are around teenagers during their secondary school education.

Impulse Productions Company Logo for A2 Film

The images above show the development of our production company logo. When designing the logo we were unsure of how to design it. So before creating the logo above we looked at other production companies that have produced teenage angst films. For example we looked at...

We chose the colours red, orange and yellow for our main image of the logo. We decided on these colours because we felt that they are very suited to the target audience of the film in which it has produced. At first we chose a blue background for our logo, however we changed it because we felt that it seemed to be more masculine rather than feminine, and our films is aimed more at females rather than males so this was not very suited. We then changed the background of the logo to pink, and as shown in the final image, we have also added a heart to the background which again helps it to suit the target audience of the film and also helps it to fit in with the 'teenage angst' genre. With the heart being in the background of our production logo it connotes the type of films that we are going to be producing.

Theorys - Linked back to own trailer

Blumer and Katz - Uses and gratifications theory. There are 4 uses and gratifications and they are

• Diversion - Which is the entertainment pleasure that the audience get from the programme.
In my trailer diversion was used when the character Millie falls over the banana skin infront of Jack, this is funny for the audience as they know they she has just fallen over and embarrased herself in front of him.
• Surveillance - All of the recent news stories and articles.
In my own trailer teenagers are shown as being bitchy and arrogant, this represents what some teenagers now a days are like as they are growing up.
• Personal Identity - Something that you can relate to as an audience for example the characters or the situations that are happening within the programme.
The relationship narrative of my storyline between the characters Millie and Jack is a very stereotypical one, Millie (the new girl) falls for Jack (the most popular boy in school). She tells him that she likes him and he doesn't know how to respond so he doesnt which upsets Millie, they dont talk for a few weeks, then Jack goes after Millie at a party to express his feelings for her, however she is with another boy, they fight and it ends up with Millie and Jack leaving together. They go off and talk then, they then fall in love. This is relatble for our target audience as they may have gone through similar experiences themselves.
• Personal Relationships - Social, for example discussing programmes with friends

Barthes theory - Barthes believed that all stories and films included certain codes, these codes are enigma codes and action codes. His theory was that an enigma code was a clue towards something that is going to happen and an action code is something that tells you what is going to happen next in the story. The enigma code in my own film is the uncertainty of Jack will pick to go out with, with all of the girls after him and trying to win him over it.  

Levi Strauss - His theory was binary opposition, for example good vs bad, old vs young and urban and rural. He believed that the word did not depend on the direct meaning of them, but by our understanding of the word and its opposite. Which he knew as binary opposition.

Stuart Hall - 
focused on the audience positioning and the interpretation of media texts from different social groups. His theory was that there is three ways in which we read texts. Dominant/preferred reading, negotiated reading and oppositional reading. Dominant/preferred reading means that the audience will read the text in the way that the author wanted them to. Negotiated reading means that the audience or reader will partially believe the code but they may change it slightly to reflect their own interests and experiences. Oppositional reading means that the audiences social position will put them in a position where they are in an opposite relation to the dominant code.
Vladmir Propp - The Villain - Charlotte, the popular female character. Tries to prevent Millie from speaking to Jack.

The Hero - Jack, as he tries to rebuild the connection between himself and Millie after he realises that he messed up before.

The Donor - The character Jack when he goes to look for Millie to tell her how he really feels towards her.

The Helper - The character Ben would be known as the 'helper' in my film, he is good friends with Jack all the way through until the very end of the film where the pair fight over Millie.

The Princess/Reward - Millie, the new girl within the school.

The Despatcher -In my own film there isn't really anyone that sets Millie off to try and get Jack's attention and likewise there isn't really anyone that sets Jack off to try and get Millie Back at the end of the film. If there was to be a despatcher it would be Jack as he goes after Millie when she goes to the party to tell her how he feels.

The False Hero - Ben, the boy that Millie goes to the party with. Tries to convince Millie to go out with him rather than Jack.

Tzvetan Todorov - Equilibrium - All of the girls around school love Jack, Charlotte(the popular female) sets her mind on going out with Jack and also going to prom with him. Disruption - A new girl named Millie moves to the school, Millie notices Jack and begins to realise who he is and she falls for him. The pair then get put together in a group to work on a science project. Reaction to the Disruption - Millie tells Jack that she really likes him, Jack doesn't know how to react as he thought that they were just good friends. This leads to Millie ignoring Jack and hiding from him for a few weeks. Attempt to Repair - After finally realising that he does like her back Jack goes to talk to Millie, however she has already gone to a party with Ben. Jack then goes to find Millie to express how he feels towards her. Jack finds Millie with Ben and then a fight breaks out between Jack and Ben. Millie then decides to leave with Jack so that they can talk. New Equilibrium - Jack and Millie express how they feel towards each other and decide to start going out.

Propp and Todorov

Vladimir Propp was a russian theorist who analysed folk stories. He argued that whatever surface differences there might be in stories, it was possible to group together all characters into eight characters roles. The eight groups that he believed characters could be sorted into were the following;

• The Villain - Who is known to be the character that tries to prevent the 'hero' from reaching their target or goals.
• The Hero - Commonly known as the main character within the film, will set out on a quest/mission. Usually in an attempt to save someone or something.
• The donor - Is the character that provides an essential object within the film that helps to reveal things that the audience may not know about.
• The Helper - Character that is with the 'hero' throughout the film, helps the hero along the way and sticks by them.
• The Princess - This role could be represented in various different ways, the character could literally be a princess, for example like Maid Marian in Robin Hood. However the princess could also be the prize for the hero at the end of his quest/mission, or she could be the object of the villains bad deeds.
• The father of the princess - Father of the princess within the film who presents the hero with his reward at the end of his quest.
• The despatcher - This is the character that sets the hero on his quest at the beginning of the film.
• The false hero - The character that tries to prevent the hero from completing his quest by attempting to divert him away from his task. 

 I have used Propp's theory and applied it to the characters within the film Shrek and these are the roles that i have given to the characters.
The Hero of the film is Shrek. This is because it is quest to try and find out why the fairytale creatures are illegally camping outside of the swamp.

The Villain of the film is Lord Farquaad because it was him that sent the fairytale creatures to the swamp. Lord Farquaad then sends Shrek to save the princess from the castle, promising him a reward of his swamp back.

The Donor of the film is not a specific character however it is a magical dragon who prevents the wedding of Farquaard and Fiona when Shrek realises that he is in love with Fiona and that she is an ogre aswell. 

The Helper of the film is Donkey who sticks by Shrek and supports him throughout the duration of his quest.

The princess of the film is Fiona who is saved by Shrek, who she then believes will be her prince. However Shrek tells her that Farquaad is to be her prince.

The father of the princess is Fiona's father who suggests that Fiona should marry Farquaad rather than Shrek.

The despatcher of the film is Farquaad as he is the one who sets Shrek off on a quest to save the princess Fiona.

The false hero is also Farquaad. He earned the princess although he sent Shrek off to save her rather than him going to save her. However Shrek and Fiona fall in love.


The next theory that I have looked at is Tzvetan Todorov's theory on narrative. 

Todorov believed that all narratives, eg; books, films, plays etc.. have 5 main stages in them. These 5 stages are;

• An Equilibrium - Story begins, shows the normal life of the characters in the story
• A disruption to the story, this could be an event that changes something in the storyline.
• A recognition that the disruption has taken place.
• An attempt to repair the disruption, someone trying to sort out the situation in the story.
• A new equilibrium - a new storyline begins, alternatively the old storyline could go back to normal after the disruption has been resolved.