The production brief outlines a short film project focusing on a troubled teenage girl. The film will be a social realism drama approximately two minutes in length. It will tell the story of a 18-year-old girl who feels unwanted by her family and begins hanging out with a bad crowd, until she nearly gets hit by a car and meets a man who helps repair her family relationships. The filmmakers will create a trailer, poster and magazine cover to promote the film. They have researched comparable social issue films and plan to vary the trailer's pace and match music to editing to engage audiences. Representations of teenagers and family dynamics will conform to stereotypes initially but subvert expectations by the end. The filmmakers will test screen

1. Production Brief
Project Name We have currently not thought of a suitable name for our film.
Medium/Format Social realism trailer with accompanying poster and magazine cover
Length Approximately two minutes
Deadline Research and planning = 20th October 2016
Filming and editing and ancillary tasks = 16th October 2016
Evaluation tasks = 10th February 2017
Group Members Rebecca Withers: Editing and director
Emily Cooke: Camera work and director
Brief Overview An 18 year old girl feels unwanted by her family. She starts to adapt bad habits when she
begins to hang out with the wrong crowd. She stays out late one night and gets left behind.
The girl nearly gets hit by a car. She meets a guy who helps to rebuild her relationship with
her family.
Target Audience Female teenagers – the film will most likely have a 15 age certificate so the audience will be
those 15 and up but the trailer should appeal to a general audience.
What comparable
products have you
researched?
• Fish tank – British social realism film
• Boyhood – American fictional documentary/social realism filmed over 12 years
• Shifty – British social realism film
• Selma – American drama about racism (social issue)
What is the rationale
behind the text?
In our film trailer we will use a range of shots and will vary the pace in order to keep the
audience’s interest. We will also use music which mirrors the content of the film and fit the
editing to the music.
What representations
will be in your text?
The main representation will be of teenagers. They are usually seen as ‘trouble’ and we will
be conforming to the stereotype for the first part but the main girl will then go against the
stereotype as she tries to rebuild her relationship with her family. Another representation is
that teenagers don’t tend to get on as well with their parents in these years. Therefore, this
also conforms to the stereotype at the beginning but not the end.
How will you test
whether the product is
successful?
After creating the trailer, we will use test-screening to gather feedback with our target
audience through using a questionnaire. In order to make sure that the trailer will hopefully
be as successful as possible we could also do initial questionnaires to gather audience
feedback on what they like and dislike.
What generic codes and
conventions will be in
your text?
The codes and conventions that we will follow will be the generic length of full theatrical
trailer which is roughly two minutes so that it doesn’t become boring from being too long.
Settings in social realism films tend to be in towns which we mostly likely be a main location
for us. However, we might look at more rural areas too. The social realism genre tends to
look at social issues, emotions and overcoming problems, all conventions that we are
following in our own narrative.
What are the overt
messages?
The overt messages are that being a teenage can be difficult and there are several struggles
that come with this part of growing up.
What are the hidden
messages?
The hidden messages are that there it is easy to go through life holding a grudge against
someone and not sort out the problem.
What are any possible
resource constraints?
We have a limited budget for the trailer, so will not be able to buy lots of props and
costumes to use. We will also have limited availability of actors in the time frame that we
have.
Possible
scheduling/publishing
suggestions
The trailer will be shown in cinemas. It may be shown with films of the same or similar genre
but as it is not he most popular genre as many people aren’t as aware of it as they are other
genres, it could also be shown before other genre films to create a larger audience. The
trailer would also be shown in advert breaks on television and would also be on YouTube to
access a large audience. The poster will be shown in cinemas and on buses.