Actor interview

On the train on the way to our destination we wanted to interview the actor in our film, our friend Lauren, to give her an idea of our expectations of her for our film. The train journey was the first time we had fully discussed the shots we wanted to achieve however when we were at the recording studio recording the monologue this gave Lauren more of an insight into our main character in our film. This is a transcript from the interview.

Lauren: "So what do I do first?"

Molly: "So you already know that you're a nameless homeless person trying to find your parents. Do you remember the monologue? That is the sort of character we want you to be."

Catherine: "You need to make sure that you maintain your character, especially these train shots because we can't do them again."

Lauren: "Are there any lines?"

Molly: "No. The focus of the film is on our main character so throughout the opening of the film the monologue is the only dialogue."

Catherine: "Make sure that you show your emotions through your facial expressions. You need to be able to show the audience that you are upset and lonely."

Lauren: "Ok, so what shot is first then?"

Molly: "We need a midshot of you sitting on the train looking through the window clutching your sleeping bag for comfort."

Catherine: "Again you need to make it obvious that you are on you own. You need the audience to be able to symphasise with you."

Lauren: "Ok, I will make sure that I remain quite serious and solmn. I won't make any direct eye contact with the camera and I will make sure I remain in character throughout."

Molly: "That sounds great, that is exactly what we need from you."

Soundtrack we will be using

For our media piece we were not allowed to use copyrighted music, this made it hard for us to think about the type of music we wanted behind our monologue and film. We research many instrumental tracks to add to our film but in the end we decided on one.
In the end we decided to use a instrumetnal version of Katy Perry's Wide Awake that we found on YouTube. This wasnt copyrighted and was the perfect fit for our film. The piano version was perfectly steady and emotional for our film and fit right in with the monologue aswell.
We didnt want to include lyrics in the music for our film because it would get in the way of the monologue which we want all the attention to be on. We didnt want our audience to get distracted trying to analyse the meaning of the lyrics because we wanted them to be analysing the monologue and getting to know the character.
We editied the monologue with the sound and made it fit in with the tempo of the song. We made sure that as the characters voice got a bit higher and more emotional, so did the music. We cut parts out the make it match with the verbal noise and made sure it sounded perfect, ready for the film to go over the top of it.
Overall we are so excited about the soundtrack. We think it fits perfectly with the emotional monlouge and will go just as well with the film itself.

Initial shot ideas

Below is a list of all the shot types we initially wanted to achieve and the effect of them. However due to various issues we could not get the a couple of the shots exactly the way we initially wanted them to be. However we improvised, therefore we decided to create our story board after we have edited our film.

Initial Shot 1- Shallow and deep focus

The first shot type we will be using will be a shallow focus shots of Christmas lights combined with the title 'The Desperate Persuit.' This will emphasise our key theme of hope and will ensure that the Christmas lights will draw in the attention of the audience as they will want to know the significance of these lights. This shallow focus will transform into a deep focus shot creating a blurred effect which will be effective as it will cause the audience to feel as though that her dream of hope may not be achieved. The blurred effect indicates confusion which is most likely what our main character feels, the confusion as to why her parents left her. Therefore as well as looking good, these shots link in very well with our symbol of the Christmas lights and our theme of hope. We want to have the shot lasting for four seconds as we believe this is long enough to display the titles for and will make the audience think.
Shallow focus-The first image below I selected is not the exact object we will be using, however it reselmbles the shot type we will be using. The second image however is more or less what we are after. We love how the background is blurred effectively in this shot.
Deep focus- The first image shows blurred Christmas tree lights, it is not the type of object we will be using however the circle light effect is what we will be aiming for. The second image shows a street Christmas light, this shows the right type of object however it is not quite the effect we want.

 

Initial Shot 2- Establishing shot

The first shot type we want to use is an establishing shot however we will use several of these. They will take up six seconds of filming. This is to give the audience a feel of the location. We want to give an idea of what general shoppers are like at this time of year busy buying presents for their family.We want to show a festive atmosphere and the happiness of people, we also want to emphasise their wealth to be able to leisurely shop whilst all our main character wants is to find her parents. We need to point our how these people take their lives for granted so we will try to do this buy filming very close to Christmas when we will know it will be busy. The establishing shots we have selected really capturesthe Christmas shoppers walking up and down the streets. The first shot shot captures the bright Christmas lights which is our symbol in our film. We believe the Christmas lights in Guildford will be as good as the ones in this image, we want the lights ideally to be very bright to make the atmosphere very bright and festive. We want the audience to feel as though everyone is having a really nice time shopping with their friends and family all accept our main character. Her main issue right now is where to sleep tonight. The second shot is really shows the amount of people who go out Christmas shopping and reinforces the idea that her parents could literally be anyone. We know that Guildford will not be as busy as London because around 10 million people live in London, however Guildford is the main shopping location of the Surrey Hills, therefore it still should be very busy. The Christmas lights are a very important part of our film, if they are not bright enough or there are not enough of them this will make the atmosphere not seem as festive. We will also need to a few close up shots of the Christmas lights which will take up four seconds of filming. This is to reinforce the setting being near to Christmas.

Inital Shot 3- Midshot

The third shot type will be a mid shot showing our main character sat on a train. By using this shot type we aim to give the audience an insight into what it is really like to be on your own. Audiences will be able to relate to times when using public transport on your own you tend to feel lonely however you have somewhere to go to, we want to audience to symphasise with the girl and make them realise that she really has no one and she is not on her way home to be with her family. The midshot will allow the audience to get a good view of every features of the girl. They will be able to see her face so they can see her expression of longing as well as what she is wearing. We want to allow them to be able to have an insight into the characters situation by what she is wearing. A midshot is also a perfect shot type for as well as revealing the character of focus it also reveals the surroundings. We want the audience to be able to see people on the train and the scene right on the train by filming so close to Christmas as this is the time where people go shopping with their friends and families. We also want the camera to shake a little bit so therefore we will not be using a tripod. This will give a rough feel which links in with the fact that she sleeps on the streets. It will also be realistic and goes well with the motion of train as they tend to be very bumpy, therefore it will be more realistic.

Initial Shot 4- Point of view shot

We will then use an over the point of view shot of the main character getting off the train. This is effective as it focuses on the girl as an individual and shows her to be superior as she is the one who is focused on, therefore her story is of importance. It will also reveal her alienation to society as she is surrounded by people who live normal lives and have lots of disposable income to leisurely shop wheras she can barely afford a train fare. This shot will put the audience in her shoes and will able them to feel what it is like to be so lonely and therefore they will symphasise with her. It also allows the audience to see the surroundings and link them with the main characters perspective. Seeing people around her will make her feel lonely and depressed seeing people with family and friends however a normal person probably wouldn't even notice individuals around them as they have their friends or family there with them, therefore the surroundings will be blurred to them. This emphasises the importance of the girl finding her parents so she can hopefully one day feel the same as the 'Christmas shoppers.' By using this point of view shot we want to make the audience symphasise with the girl as she has to walk past people with their friends and families as she is leaving the train. We have decided to make this shot five seconds, we believe this will be more than long enough to give a good insight in the characters thoughts and feelings. From the first image I have selected it shows the amount of people we want in it. It is busy however the people appear to be dressed in Summer clothes and we want people to be in Winter clothes and carrying lots of shopping bags to show that they have lots of disposable income so can therefore afford it. As a whole the atmosphere in both of these images seems to be quite subdued, we want to try and capture people talking and having a good time to show how our main character can't have this.

Initial Shot 5- Long shot

The fifth shot will be a long shot to show the character walking away from the train station. This will be effective in giving the audience a feel of the location. It emphasises the idea that she is just a teenager in a big world. The long shot will make her look small in comparison to the other shots which we have used that make her look bigger. This shot shows her leaving the station which is significant as it indicates the start of her journey to find her parents. This long shot will allow the audience to see vehicles on the roads, buildings and pedestrians which is realistic and sets the urban location. It is important that the location is as realistic as possible because our story is based on an event which happens to many people, therefore we can't make it look like something it is not, the location can't be out of context such as an exotic location. Many drama films such as Forest Gump are filmed in Urban locations. We decided that this shot type is suitable for this particular moment in the opening because all the main character is doing is walking amongst other people, we decided that she would want to blend in with the crowd as she doesn't particulary want to stand out as being homeless. Therefore this long shot will not allow any facial expressions to be exposed. We decided that 5 seconds would be suitable for this particular shot as nothing significant occurs in this shot so it does not need to be of huge focus.

Initial Shot 6- Midshot

For the sixth shot type we will be using a midshot to show the main character walking across a road and moving out of the camera frame as she does so. We decided that this shot type is effective as a midshot allows more of her facial expressions to be shown. This is important as we believe that we don't want to reveal too much about the girl's appearence at the start. However as the film progresses we will use closer shots so the audience can feel as though they are getting to know her, and by the end of the film they will feel that they know everything about it. The fact that we will be showing her moving out of the camera frama will effectively represent her on going journey and her desire to find her parents and how focused she is on doing so. We decided that this particular shot needs ten seconds, this is because she will obviously need a bit of time to cross the road safely and we want to capture the whole of her walk as she walks out of the frame.

Shot 7- Long shot

We will be using a long shot to show the girl walking up the street. We chose a long shot to show the surrounding expanse of shoppers. This is to show what a busy location she is in and the fact her parents could literally be anyone, and even one of them. Therefore this shot is perfect to show the audience that she is on a big journey to find her biological parents. This shot will also give the audience a good view of the location as well as all of the shoppers. We believe we have chosen to film at the right time because there are the most amount of shoppers at Christmas time, therefore we believe Guildford will be extremely busy. Idealy we want to film as close to Christmas as possible so we can a huge amount of people shopping. We think four seconds is more than enough time to film this shot.

Initial Shot 8- Midshot

The next shot type we will be using will be a midshot of the girl walking up the street. This will allow the audience to become more familiar with the main character allowing her facial expressions to be shown. The point of this is to make sure our main character is the center of attention however we also want to make sure that christmas lights and other people in the background will also be shown, therefore it is important that we do not use a close up shot but a midshot.

Target audience questionaire

For this task my partner Molly and I created a survey asking the audience their expectations of drama films. Firstly we decided that we would not ask them their names as we believe it is inappropriate. However we asked them their gender simply so we can get an idea as to whether their gender effects their expectations. We believed that females prefer films which display qualities associated with drama films, such as emotion and portraying everyday people. 

 

Out of all of the people who took part in the survey,

females genuinely conformed to their stereotypes. For example out of the females I asked they all chose 'Emotion' out of all of the other options of what they expect to feature in a drama film. This indicates that they are fans of drama films (they also circled 'yes'- they are fans of drama films) showing that they have good knowledge of drama films and prefer them over other film genres such as action films. For what music they expect nearly all of the females circled 'classical' and 'slow paced', also showing their familiarity with the genre. This is also shown as they all circled for what people expected in the genre they all circled 'everyday people'.  Some females also circled softer sub- genres such as 'Comedy' and 'Romance' conforming to their stereotypes. However a couple of females also circled typical male sub- genres such as 'Action' and 'Adventure' subverting their stereotypes. All of the females asked agreed that music could be as effective as dialogue or even more effective. This represents their knowledge of the genre as many Drama films such as 'Forest Gump' and 'Titanic' start with music.

Males are shown genuinely to conform to their stereotypes as they both agree that they are fans of the Drama genre. When asked what is a key part of a Drama film they both circled 'conflict' showing that they have a lack of knowledge of the key features of a Drama film as this feature is associated more with Action films. They both agreed that you would expect to find slow- paced music in Drama films which links with emotion. They also agreed that they should feature everyday people. These two answers suggest knowledge towards this genre. However when asked their favourite sub- genres they both circled 'Action' conforming to their male stereotypes. When asked is dialog is important in an opening and is music as or if not more effective one of the males claims that dialog is important however the other argued that dialog and music can work together effectively given the right content.

 

Our findings hava made us aware of what we will be needing to include to make our drama film appeal to both males and females. We will conform the conventions in our drama film to those of the well known drama film Forrest Gump which enjoyed by males and females. They all agreed that everyday people should be involved however we will not include any conflict, simply because our film is not an action film. We will be using slow paced music. It will be filmed in an urban area because this is where the majority of the population is located. Many people claimed that dialog is important in an opening. This made us feel as though we are taking a big risk by using no dialog but instead a monologue along with music. However we are confident that this will be as effective as dialog as we put allot of effort into our monologue and went to record it at a recording studio.

Targets: write a script for your Opening Two Minutes and include it as a post. Take photographs of your storyboard and upload it as a post - you may want to add an evaluative comment.

Include a couple of video diaries of your planning - discussions of location, props, costumes and actors etc and what discussions you have made.

Recording our monologue

On Sunday 8th December Molly Jenkins, Lauren O'mahony and myself went to Spiral studios, located in Guildford to record our monologue. The staff at the studio set up the studio ready for us to start recording our monologue. We chose Lauren (who will also play our main character in our film opening) to read our monologue as she did GCSE drama at Therfield and is studying Theatre studies and Drama at Godalming. Therefore as she is familiar with monologues we knew she would be perfect for this role. When Lauren had read the monologue through the first time she was ready to have a practise recording. While Lauren was in the booth reading our monologue we waited outside and could hear her clearly. For the first time ever reading it she did it almost perfectly, however we wanted to add more dramatic pauses as they are effective in drawing the audiences attention and also filling up a bit of time.We also wanted to make her sound more angry when she said certain words such as 'parents' and 'their real kid.' The second reading was perfect,we couldn't believe how professional she sounded, we knew this was as a result of all the monologues she had to perform in GCSE Drama. The staff were also very impressed by how well read it was. Lauren sounded ever so slightly nervous however we believe this created the effect that the situation is a hard thing for her to discuss to people, therefore we found this very effective. Another thing which we chose to keep was the fact that when Lauren said 'I'm fine on my own' she swallowed. I discussed this with one of the staff and they claimed that this is effective and makes the monologue more realistic. In something professional such as a news reel this may not be accepted. We asked the staff to increase the volume when they send it to us, this is because we want it very loud because our monologue is the only dialogue, therefore it needs to draw in attention and be clear. If we have it very loud if it is too loud we can just turn it down. We also asked them to cut our any background noise, we need to make it as clear as possible because music will also combine with it so therefore we need it to be clear so the music doesn't cut it out. We were very pleased with our recording, we were told that it costs £30 to hire out the studio however as we were so quick to record it it only cost £15 so we only had to pay £7.50 each. We were extremely happy with the costs and our recording was even better than how we expected it to be. Molly and I are very pleased with our recording and couldn't have asked for a better job done.