The document outlines the production of a film about a teenager facing peer pressure and betrayal amidst a grim environment, emphasizing relatable teenage experiences with drugs and alcohol. It discusses the chosen story's appropriateness for the target audience, camera techniques, and editing methods like sepia tones to enhance the narrative. The group reflects on lessons learned regarding camera work, editing software, and the importance of mise en scene in effective storytelling.

1. Dan Walton, Sam McCoriston, Toby Rossiter, Natascha Urso 10/06/09

2. 10/06/09 Our production tells the story of a teenager who experiences a traumatic event involving the betrayal of his friends. As he briefly narrates his feelings at the time, the audience sees a ‘flashback’ of what he had experienced that day. Our chosen story involves the exploitation and highlighting of common misdemeanours that teenagers often go through; most notably drugs and alcohol. In addition to this, our story is set in a modern, unpleasant environment where litter and unflattering scenery are present. As one would expect, this type of environment would commonly be associated with the exploitation of drugs and alcohol within the media. This particular story was chosen because as a group, we felt that this would be the easiest to recreate. One of the other story possibilities involved 7 on-screen characters, a large crowd chanting in unison and a large music stage. As one could imagine, this would be impossible to achieve. Another possible story involved beach scenery. The same thought applies here as well. We felt that this story was the most appropriate to be chosen because of it’s accurate portrayal of common teenage experiences to which our target audience could relate. We also felt that the restricted environment of which to film was appropriate, and also the only one which we could effectively use for mise en scene purposes. Additionally, the camera work ideas involved in this production could be sufficiently varied despite the lack of props highlighted in the other story possibilities. Introduction

3. 10/06/09 Conventions / social groups Our chosen piece reflects probable real-life experiences of peer pressure (the title of the film) effectively so that the audience can relate to it in some way. We decided to include elements of anger, resentment and bitterness towards the act of betrayal (in our main character) because the we felt that the audience could relate to these attitudes also, especially if involving a particular bad event. Our production is set in a pretty grim environment and we felt that this associated well with the chosen mood of the story. This would be similar in feature films such as “Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels” where the portrayal of London is depicted as mundane, bleak and dangerous (the latter of which is a mood commonly highlighted in this film). We felt that our production relates well to this type of convention, and that the mise en scene notable helps to convey the mood of seriousness along with similarly-related elements within music and dialogue. Our production notably challenges conventions of other action and drama films with the montage of transitioned clips to portray the ‘flashback’ element of the story. This is common in films such as the Saw series, where events of previous films are often explained through quick flashes (adding emphasis to the horror element), and positioned between events happening in the film’s real-time. Also we felt that the usage of the sepia tone (included in our editing stage) helps to portray the ideology of a past event within someone’s mind. This tone is often associated with old events in photography and art, and we felt that it could be associated with a past event effectively.

4. 10/06/09 Distribution We feel that our production has the potential to be made into a feature film due to its effective use of montage material, non-diegetic sound and camera cross-dissolve features and cross-cutting sequences between shots. However, the production’s simplistic storyline may prevent it from achieving a wider target audience than the one specified (ideally the BBFC would categorise our film as a 15 rating) Working Title Films (owned by Universal Studios in the USA and BBC Films in the UK) could possibly distribute it, having produced successful British films such as “About A Boy”, “Four Weddings And A Funeral”, “Billy Elliott” and “Pride And Prejudice” among many others. A decent example is the film “The Blair Witch Project”; this film started very low-budget and was often doubted on its probability to its eventual success. It later grossed over $248 million worldwide, and remains the highest profit-to-cost ratio of a motion picture in box office history. What is unique about this film is that it maintains a handheld camera framing throughout the entire film, which helped to accentuate its tension by having it appear more true to life. This is a prime example as to how common misconceptions from films can lead to decent surprises in gross income. A likely media distribution for our production to be uploaded would be the popular streaming website YouTube. This leaves users of this website to leave comments and opinions as to whether the production could succeed as a feature film.

5. 10/06/09 Audiences Our film’s target audience is primarily people aged from 15 or 16 years onwards. Having an audience who can possibly relate well to the storyline increases its accountability. Moreover, it is suitable to fans of the film genres of action and/or drama (however not on a scale of violence and drug use expressed in films such as “Crank”). Despite these audience age targets; people who have answered our questionnaires vary in ages, with several above the ages of 40. These people still found the sequence entertaining and solid in a possible future. This goes to show that there does not necessarily need a specific-aged target audience to be aimed at from our production. Many of these people found the sequence enjoyable due to its clever convergence of its audience and mysterious nature. They felt that it was good to not give away too much information in the sequence as well as providing a number of questions for the audience. These viewers felt that they were attracted to the sequence with the mood that the mise en scene and editing features (such as the use of voice-overs, music, sepia video effects, cross-cutting and cross-dissolving camera techniques). We feel that our production not only provides the audience with a relatable story but also that the use of music and sound bridges help to create tension when building up to the final spoken word; “This is my story...” The silent, slow appearance of the film’s title “Peer Pressure” leaves the audience with a quiet and eerie period to gather their thoughts on the previous events.

6. 10/06/09 Ideally, this group was to have approximately 20 minutes of recorded footage. In total, from what the tape had obtained, there was approximately half of this. Modestly speaking, we have learned (and all agree) that a group does not need this much footage to produce a decent piece of edited work. In addition to this, the wide range of camera shots, positions and movements which were included in our piece all help to provide entertainment and excitement for the audience. At least that was what was interpreted from our questionnaire answerers (and from us). We have learned that if the camera’s usage is not put to its full potential, there is a risk of losing the attention of the audience. We have also learned that the location and setting (that creates the mise en scene) is important for the production’s effectiveness. Considering our group was restricted to grounds within the college, we were limited on what we could possibly use as a suitable environment for our story. However, since the story is modernised and was simple to construct using this environment, this never thoroughly became much of an issue. From this, we have learned that long and efficient thinking for choosing a story is crucial. Rather than pointing out the disadvantages the stories may have, it is more important to focus on the possibilities of all of them regardless. Learning

7. 10/06/09 What have we learnt? We have learnt a lot more than originally expected about technologies from our product. Some of us who had not done camera work before learnt to use the camera effectively throughout the course. We also learnt how to use editing software such as iMovie and Windows Movie Maker to their full potentials. Most of us would not have known how to use them if we had not taken this subject in the first place. We have learnt a lot about how important it is to choose the right camera angles, and also how important it is to look into choosing the right location for shooting for shooting a film.

8. 10/06/09 We think that we have learnt a lot since our first time filming. We have realised the importance of camera angles is the key to a good film, and the location that best suits the situation in the film is also key. Also most of us found that film editing software such as Windows Movie Maker is now a lot easier to use than we had thought in the first place. We have also learnt a lot about the general opening sequences of films and how important they are to making the viewer want to carry on watching, so had to look into different openings to films all of different genres including suspense in horror, and fast cuts in action films. What have we learnt? cont.