Character Development

Originally I thought of using just two main characters throughout the trailer. These are:

Character 1

Will: main character of creating Twitter.

Role and Importance in the trailer:

Wills role emphasizes that this is a biography drama genre. He will be shown in the majority of the scenes throughout the trailer where the audience will connect to him straight away and find clues about the concept of the film.

 Will will be the most important character with the most screen time. He will be shown that he is the unique character in the film which is all about him. Jim Carrey always plays a role where the film focuses on him. Will will be a similar type figure.

Character 2

Ed: the bad guy only making friends with Will for the money.

Role and Importance in the trailer:

Every film needs to have the bad guy to make the viewers like a certain character (Will). Ed will get this sense of selfishness and smartness given through his dialogue and expressions. He will create tension in the trailer to get the audience engaged and draws them in by wanting to know who comes out best at the end.

James Franco is well known for playing the role of Spidermans friend, though eventually he turned into the bad guy. Ed will come across in a similar approach, where the viewers won't identify he is the bad guy until later on in the film.

Development:

Now, I feel that the use of two extra characters will be needed to strengthen the overall storyline and appearance. Here are the next two characters:

Character 3

Sam: Wills best friend in college.

Role and Importance in the trailer:

Every teenage boy has a close friend in which you can go to for advice or company. Even though he is the main characters best friend, he will not be shown as a key part to the film; however he will be shown in a positive manner when communicating with Will to show their close bond with each other. Sam’s main role is to show how Will slowly doesn’t need Sam in his life as Will gradually becomes famous.

Character 4

Emily: Wills student friend.

Role and Importance in the trailer:

The main reason for this particular character is to show a different type of gender to appeal to both sexes. In every film, both male and female are present. Emily is important in the trailer to show that Will is hanging round with new friends because of his promising idea, creating a strong impact to the audience’s feelings and opinions. There will be a scene where they are both celebrating with each other, Will forgets about his best friend Sam who will be absent in the scene.

Genre conventions and how these meet audience expectations

My trailer is a modern Drama Biography genre. I will need to put genre conventions to meet the audience expectations. In the trailer, I have mainly shown genre conventions using written white text in a black background between clips to inform the viewers and add an impact to the rhythm of the trailer.

Written text e.g. “at 16 he came up with an idea” and “from nobody” “to top of the world” gives a sense that this film is about this particular person (Will), hence the biography genre. This is because these texts indicate that the film is about Will making him the most important character. It tells some background information, portrays the characters experience and his personality; this meets the audience expectation of it being a Biography genre.

Written text e.g. “you don’t get to the top...”, “...without making enemies” and “but you find out who your true friends are” gives a sense that this film is also a drama genre. This is because these texts imply that there are going to be emotional themes, in this case it is Power, Friendship and Money issues. The main character Will seems that he is in conflict at a crucial moment in his life and it feels that he will have a tragic or at least a painful resolution but eventually will survive this hard moment. This is what a drama genre is all about. This is shown in the cafe seen deliberately towards the end of the trailer to create a stronger impact to the teaser trailer. This meets the audience expectation of it being a Drama genre.

Auditioning Actors

We short listed 7 actors and actresses which could take part in this trailer and informed all of them that they could be in this trailer once we have cut down the number to 4 characters:

Will Jewell

Amy Robb

Emily Bryson

Ed Price

Me

Beci Lee

Will Grimsey

Ed Price: He is a good friend of mine who has a history of acting in his drama club and was very enthusiastic to be part of my trailer. He isn't camera shy and has said that he will be very professional during filming so we can get the best end product possible. He was also the only person who was very keen to play the part of the bad guy so my selection to put his in my trailer wasn't hard.

Me : I decided that I would be the camera man throughout the production, because I am camera shy and have a better knowledge when it comes with the camera, as I do photography for an A-level. Being the camera man enables me to produce a trailer which is inspired by the Social Network trailer, as I understand the overall concept of the story and what will happen for the trailer. I will put my input in from behind the camera with such things as camera angles and how long each shot should be. I will deal with  the timings and dates for shooting as well as locations. I also have all the locations at my expense so I would need to be included in order to use them.
Amy Robb: She is a friend from the media class who is a girl and we needed a dominant female part in this trailer to be one of the main characters friends. Amy is an attractive girl and isn't camera shy so would be good to have in the trailer. She said she would try her best to be professional on set and give any ideas where they are needed. The only downfall to having Amy on set would be her availability because she has to work a lot so she wouldn't be able to make many of the shooting dates. This is why I couldn't include her in the trailer.

Emily Bryson: Emily is a friend of mine who I share a few classes at college with so I have got to know her and believe that she would be perfect for the role of the female friend. She is attractive, good with cameras and is available for all of the shooting dates that we have set. She was also very enthusiastic to be a part of the trailer so I had no hesitation in casting her as the female friend in my trailer. She is also very committed to her work so wouldn't mess about on set and would want to get the shooting done to the highest standard.

William Jewell: Will is my partner on this task so I thought it would be good if he was in the trailer so he could get everything in order. He is experienced in Drama getting a good grade at GCSE level. He has an idea of what all the lines to sounds will be like and where everyone will be sitting so he could direct people as well as act.

Beci Lee: Beci is a good friend of mine who is in my class for PE. She is a lively person and I think could bring a spark to the filming and is very enthusiastic. She could make some of the shooting dates but not all of them so she wouldn't of been my first choice over Emily who could make all the dates. She is attractive and punctual which we look for when filming. However with the fact that she couldn't make most of the dates I cant put her in the film.

Will Grimsey: Will is a friend of mine who I have know for ages now and is also a media student. He was enthusiastic to be in this trailer even if he has the smallest part. He hasn't had much acting experience before so I decided that if he was to be in our trailer he wouldn't do much speaking. He was available for all of the shooting dates and I thought that with his knowledge of media and shooting, he should be able to put a good input into the trailer. This is why I made him as my male friend in the trailer.

We decided on using Will Jewell, Will Grimsey, Emily Bryson and Ed Price.

The main reason on choosing the two Wills, Emily and Ed is because they all have background knowledge of Drama at GCSE level, which I feel is essential to use reasonable quality actors for our trailer. Ed has the best Drama grade, so I will decide to make him the Bad guy as he is the best able actor to play this role. Will Grimsey is mainly chosen because of his easy access to Will Jewell’s house so we can shoot a scene at his home. Emily is needed as the female actress in our trailer to get this realistic feel to the story. In addition, we felt that these 4 actors are good looking, trying to avoid unattractive actors.

Organisation of Actors

I was always in contact with my friends who were happy to act for me. I sent a message from my phone to each individual on when and where it is and did not push them to be in the trailer if they didn't want to. I sent this message a week beforehand so they could have time to think if they can do it or not. If I had left it short notice, then maybe I wouldn’t have got my actors to come. We met up in College before going to the cafe to do some filming. I felt this was a good meeting place as we all lived in different places.

Here are the timings for the organisation in Cafe Rouge:

1:20 = Everyone arrive at Cafe Nero
1:30 = Begin shooting
2:20 = Finish shooting
2:25 = Review what we have shot and see if we need to re-shoot anything
2:40 = Leave cafe

Organisation of Props with Images and Written Justification

This Laptop was used as Wills laptop for the trailer. Scenes are shown when he is in his bedroom creating Twitter. This Prop is a very vital part of the trailer as it suits the Drama Biography genre of Will and his laptop. Many scenes have Will and the laptop together giving a sense that the laptop is part of him, highlighting a key aspect to his life which suits the biography genre. It gives an indication of his personality. Furthermore, this further attracts my ‘Rah’ target audience as they are into their latest technology. The presence of technology needs to be evident in the trailer, as this is a modern film indicated from the title, “The Tweeters”.

This Mouse was used in a quick scene in the trailer. It is mainly used to give a feel of continuity editing following the clip of Will on the laptop to show his use of gadgets creating a sense of a biography genre. We wanted it to be linked with the laptop by the colour choice. The main reason of choosing the mouse instead of the touch pad was that I could use an extreme close up of it; also the clicking noise seems better to create a stronger effect.

Photographs of locations considered and those chosen with written justification for appropriateness

For the opening scene, I thought of choosing either the BBC building or a Modern Building in Town as the background to set the scene.

This is the BBC Building which I have easy access to because I play football every week in the site.  I have not chosen this as the background for the opening scene, mainly because it doesn’t fit in with the mise-en-scene of representing a place where the youth will use. This Building gives an adult feel as this gives a sense of working which will not appeal to my target audience.

This is a modern building in town which is a 15 minutes away walk from my house, so this place is very convenient to film. I have chosen this as the background for the opening scene because it relates well and fits in with the mise-en-scene as the modern building appeals to my young target audience. In addition, and this will be used as a College location to further attract our target audience. It will be shot at night to make the opening scene as interesting to look at as possible, especially because it is the first clip being shown in the trailer.

Locations for Trailer

Cafe Rouge: We used this cafe to shoot a scene on a table about money deals. I felt the mise-en-scene given off through the cafe gave a rich, professional look and fitted into the genre. This will also fit in with my target audience ‘Rahs’ as they have money to afford the expensive coffee. It gives a stereotypical look of where youths will hang out in their spare time together socialising which again appeals to our audience.

Garden: We used this garden to do a short scene of Will talking to Sam about Twitter. This really fitted into our trailer well as this makes the viewers come into a stereotypical teenage world. This will be shown at the beginning of the trailer, to show where he once was, before getting famous. It gives a feeling of the main characters life which links to the drama genre. Also, the garden is a colourful quiet place creating the mise-en-scene a pleasant warm feeling in the scene; also the quietness made it easier for me to do the filming.

Bedroom: We used the bedroom to shoot a variety of camera shots of Will creating Twitter which relates to the drama genre. This is where my target audience spend a lot of their time here. It is an easy place to get together and meet up. In addition, I am able to change and control the placement of the lighting. The mise-en-scene is very effective as it seems like a stereotypical messy look of a teenage boy bedroom. The bedroom seems quite large which will appeal to my ‘Rah’ audience.  

Location Recce

ACTIVITY	IS THE LOCATION SUITABLE FOR PRODUCTION?	ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Look around the location.	Yes	I am using Wills bedroom and a scene in a cafe.
Talk to people there, organise filming permissions.	Yes	I phoned up the cafe the night before to ask permission if we could do some filming.
Identify the equipment you need to use.	Yes	I am going to use a video camera given from the college and use my own tripod to get the best quality footage.
Examine and identify any potential health and safety issues	Yes	In the cafe, we will be aware of other people around us and try not to interfere with them. Everything will be safe.
Check the position of the sun and lighting conditions.	n/a	Most of the filming will be taken inside therefore the sun has no effect. The lighting will be adjustable for the shoot.
Look for interesting shots and camera angles.	Yes	I will make sure I will use a variety of shots appropriately
Check the electricity supply. (For the majority of exterior locations you will be using battery power)	Yes	Battery on the video camera will be fully charged to insure a long time to take the footage and get the best results.
Confirm times and dates with technical crew/actors or anybody you are interviewing, etc.	Yes	Everyone has been told the times and the location for the shoot. I have given them a text and spoken to them beforehand about details
Make sure everybody concerned with your video production knows what is happening and what is expected of them when on location.	Yes	Everyone involved has been informed and they understand what is happening.

Storyboard

Original First Draft of Shooting Script Treatment

  

 Name of Film - The Network Followers

Opening shot of night location to set the scene...

 Keyboard shot (close up) and hand on mouse shot.......dialogue ‘this is looking really good, should be a hit’ (in shot of two people) 

 Shot of twitter with people connected on screen

 ‘Who needs to meet the star when you can tweet the stat!’

 ‘From farm boy’ (black background and white text followed by video of farmer) ‘to the top of the world’

 (black background with white text again followed by video looking up of someone on top of a car park or high building)

 (shot in restaurant of people talking of money and deals) ‘A million pounds isn’t cool, you know what is cool? A Billion pounds. ‘You’ says guy.

 ‘you don’t get to the top’ (straight cut of main character sitting at desk on laptop and walk through people in office getting clapped)

  ‘without making enemies’ (black background and white text) (shot of tantrum and broken mug)

 ‘but you find out who your true friends are’ (black background and white text) (shot of friends clanking glasses together in celebration)

 (Argument ‘you think you know me) ‘I know enough’ ‘I know more about you’

 ‘You made twitter’ (in front of college) ‘YEEEE’ hands behind head chilled out. ‘you connected the world in a matter of hours’

Shot List

Final Draft of Shooting Script Treatment

Treatment and Script for Teaser Trailer

Characters:

Will; main character of creating Twitter

Ed; the bad guy only making friends with Will for the money

Sam; Wills best friend

Emily; wills student friend

Plot:

Will is just an ordinary 16 year old boy, but one invention will change his life. He creates a new invention during his time at college called Twitter. He wanted to make a website where you don’t have to go and see your celebrity, instead go on the website where you can speak and follow your favourite celebrities online, creating a whole new way of interacting with them. Sam thinks it’s a great idea and that he should carry it forward. Ed wants to be part of this as he sees Twitter becoming a potentially huge success and therefore is only here for the money. Will doesn’t realise this at first and is stuck in a situation of losing friendship he wants had with Sam. Can Will take the pressure from having this promising invention?

Name of Film - The Tweeters

Ø  Opening shot (long shot) of night location of the College to set the scene with two people walking past.

Ø  Will sitting outside in his garden (medium shot) “Who needs to meet the star when you can tweet the star”. His tone is of a positive attitude.

Ø  Sam and Will (2 shot) on the laptop in bedroom. Sam: “this is looking really good, should be a hit”. Sam is looking impressed shown by the way he is nodding his head.

Ø  Black background, white text: ‘at 16, he came up with an idea’.

Ø  Twitter website with people connected on screen (Extreme close up shot).

Ø  Keyboard shot (extreme close up) and hand on mouse shot.

Ø  Will sitting on his bed with his laptop (medium shot) looking lonely.

Ø  Black background, white text: ‘From nobody’ 

Ø  Will and Sam looking at the laptop (camera is behind them showing the back of the heads in a close up shot) Will seems that he’s created something good with his best friend Sam on his side.

Ø  Black background, white text: ‘to the top of the world’

Ø  Ed shakes hands with Will for a meeting in a restaurant (medium close up shot) Ed: “Hi, I’m Ed Price”. He says this very confidently.

Ø  Black background, white text: ‘you don’t get to the top’ 

Ø  Will and Emily sit down with Ed in the restaurant to talk about money and deals to do with Wills new invention of Twitter (3 shot) Ed: “A million pounds isn’t cool, you know what is cool?” Will and Emily looking at Ed (close up shot) Will: “you?” responding to Ed sarcastically. Ed: “A Billion pounds” They raise their cups all looking content. Will and Emily seem very happy shown by their smiles (close up shot)   

Ø  Black background, white text: ‘without making enemies’

Ø  Later in the afternoon, Ed and Will have an argument (medium shot, camera low, tilted up). Ed: ‘you think you know me’ Will: ‘I know enough’ feels intimidated and worried shown by his expressions. Ed: ‘I know more about you’ Ed seems mean to Will.

Ø  Black background, white text: ‘but you find out who your true friends are’

Planning of use of soundtrack and how it will fit into script

Looking at all the copyright free music soundtracks from the websites I have found a suitable one to fit the genre of my teaser trailer.

Where did I get it from? 

http://audiojungle.net/

This was the website we found the right soundtrack for our trailer. The soundtrack is called vocal slam.

Why that particular music? 

It is a hip hop beat with this female vocalist singing. Our trailer is all about the latest technology and focuses on the modern aspects which the youth use. We wanted an up to date soundtrack to emphasize this. I feel this beat will connect to our young target audience.

How does it contribute to the teaser trailer/atmosphere of the film?

This soundtrack fits into the teaser trailer of the film due to the upbeat tempo. It brings the whole rhythm and creates a good flow to the trailer. Without it, there would be a dull mood. The atmosphere creates this sense of thinking towards the audience which is what a trailer tends to make you feel, making this as a convention for the drama genre.

This hip hop tune gives off this ‘cool’ feeling which can appeal to the teenage male target audience where it is stereotypical of boys listening to this type of genre. Overall the upbeat tempo gives off a pleasant feeling, comforting the viewers.

Evidence of drafting for layout of film poster

This is the original image taken from my camera. I will use this photograph for my film poster.    

I used Photoshop to edit this picture. I started by unsharpening the mask to give the picture more details. I then adjusted the levels, and changed the brightness and contrast to make the photograph much stronger. Then I used a ‘quick selection’ tool to select the two characters.

Then I erased the whole background leaving the two characters so I can add a different background.

I added a new background of written text about the film, coloured in grey and blue which links to the main colours of the trailer. This gives a technological feel to it.

I added the title of the film on the bottom. This is the draft of the film poster, though my final poster will look different to this one. I feel I can develop this poster for the final version.

Choice of Colour:

The colours I have decided to use for the poster are Blue, Grey, Black and White. As I am attracting a young audience who enjoy their latest gadgets, I feel that these colours connect to my audience. These colours give a feel of originality which would appeal more to a male audience.

This is a draft of what the final film poster will look like.

Number 1 shows that we will add an Ipad to act as the border of the film, to make the poster appear as if it is actually an Ipad. This will be done to get the viewer’s intention immediately. Also it connects well to what the trailer is about giving a sense that technology is a key part of the film.

Number 2 shows where the image of the two main characters will be. It is a picture of them shaking hands giving an indication of negotiations that could happen in the film. Will is holding an Ipad with ‘Twitter’ written on it, linking it to the poster as the poster acts like an Ipad.

Number 3 shows written text about the film coloured in grey and blue. We chose grey as a colour which brings the rest of the poster to life as it doesn’t stand out as much. The most important information will be coloured in blue to give an indication of what the film is about and it is the colour of Twitter. This technique will further engage the viewers as they will have to look right into the poster much more. Overall it makes the film poster seem like it’s on an Ipad representing to what the film is about.

Number 4 will show where the title of the film and reference of producers will be placed. This follows the codes and conventions of film posters. After analysing them, most of the titles were placed at the bottom of the poster with the institutional reference underneath this. This will give our poster a professional look. Also, the title connects with everything else in the poster. Twitter is coloured in blue as this is the colour associated with Twitter and stands out from the rest of the page.

Evidence of drafting for layout of film magazine front cover

This is the original image taken from my camera. I will use this photograph for my front cover of my magazine.  

  

I used Photoshop to edit this picture. I started by unsharpening the mask to give the picture more details. I then adjusted the levels, and changed the brightness and contrast to make the photograph much stronger. Then I used a ‘quick selection’ tool to select the two characters.

Then I erased the whole background leaving the two characters so I can add a different background.

This is the draft of the front cover magazine, but the final one will look different to this. I feel I can develop this further for the final magazine.

Choice of Colour:

The colours I have decided to use for the poster are Blue, Yellow, Black and White. As I am attracting a young audience who enjoy their latest gadgets, I feel that these colours connect to my audience. These colours give a feel of originality which would appeal more to a male audience.

Font:

I used the website Dafont to find myself a font to use for my Masthead. For the rest of the writing I will choose to use the Calibri font as I feel it is clear to read.

I decided to choose this one as it is simple and easy to read and due to the large font, I feel it will stand out well.

This is a draft of what the final front cover magazine will look like.