This Is England

It's too cold outside to go out today, so I'm spending the day watching on of my favourite films and TV series This Is England! Hopefully this will give me a bit of further inspiration for my trailer as I have based a lot of the themes of my film on the ideas from This Is England.

My favourite character is Lol as I've always grown up wanting to be her and I loved the way she developed as a character throughout the series. I would have loved to have had a character like Lol in my film but I felt it would have over-complicated things as I originally based my film around my two actors that I found beforehand. This would have meant that I'd of had to find a female actor and develop a lot of my ideas even further which could have made filming more complicated, which I was keen to avoid after the mistakes we made last year due to this.

After watching the film and both series, I did some research into a song that I knew had similar themes to This Is England which I thought could reflect the style and ideas of my film.

I thought the beginning of the song would work well in the first half of my trailer with the happier atmosphere when the brothers are best friends. Before this song, I'd never heard of Missing Andy so hopefully I would be able to use this in my trailer without it seeming obviously copyrighted.

Filming Day 1

On Saturday I completed my first day of filming. I met my actors at my first location in West Wickham to film several shots there before getting the train to London to film my contrasting scenes.

The day started off slow as it took us several takes to get the first panning shot of Frankie on the bicycle right. A lot of this was due to cars coming down the road and we had to quickly jump out of the way and move the camera. It was also difficult to get the correct level of zoom on the camera to get a good shot of both of the characters as Frankie cycled past Nathan sitting at the side of the road. I may have to refilm this one last time as Frankie's head was cut off slightly as he cycled closer to the camera.

I would also like to refilm the shot of the brothers fighting as there is a window behind the characters, causing a distortion in the lighting. When I refilm this, I would like to make this scene a big changing point in the trailer to show the shift in atmosphere and relationship between the brothers. With this, I am going to film the fight from different angles to make it much more intense and a good focus point for the audience.

I discovered that once I started filming, I had some new ideas for shots that I could incorporate into the original storyboard. One of these included a long shot of the brothers running up to their house and playfully pushing each other over. I thought this would work well as the way my trailer is set out as a series of brief, unspectacular clips from the film, so I would be able to add more shots without it effecting the flow or order of my trailer.

Overall, filming went really well and I got a lot of good shots to use in my trailer. I was really happy with my actors choice as they were very reliable and proffessional and we had a really fun day in London! I am currently in the process of uploading my footage so that I can trim and edit the clips to build the foundations of my trailer and work out exactly what else I might need to film.

Music Development

I have been looking into different bands that are not very well known to find songs that I could use in my trailer that wouldn't seem obviously copyrighted.

With this, I found the band Deaf Havana who have 2 albums and play in small venues only in the UK. I really liked their music and I thought some of their songs would be perfect to use in my trailer! I also think they would appeal to the audience who would be interested in my film after researching the 'UK Tribes' and would be the type of music my characters would listen to. I asked a range of people if they had heard of them before and only one of my friends had. Hopefully this means that I will be able to use some of their songs in my trailer without it seeming obviously copyrighted.

Here are some of their songs that I think could work well in my trailer:

After I have done my filming, I will have to listen to these songs more carefully to find exactly which parts I would like to use and what songs would work best with each other. I still want to keep the contrast between the beginning and end of the trailer, so I will have to keep this in mind when choosing the music.

Film Schedule

                                   Film Schedule from JorjiHazeldine

Here I have filled out a film schedule after deciding that I would like to do most of my filming this weekend - Saturday 20th October. I have identified the scenes according to the order I would like them to go in for my trailer, excluding the titles, and have given myself plenty of time and setups for each shot to account for any possible delays in filming (this could be likely due to travelling between my locations in London).

Blog Feedback 3

I am very happy with my latest feedback as I have worked hard to keep my grade at an A-. I am already in the process of making the changes suggested and am very excited about starting my filming this weekend. Hopefully I will be able to pull this up to a solid A for my next feedback providing I keep my effort up and my filming goes well!

Plan of Action

After discussing possible dates with my actors, we came to an agreement that the best date to start filming would be this weekend - Saturday 20th October.

Instead of my original plan to film the contrasting scenes on different days to get a comparison in weather and lighting, I have now decided to try and do all of the filming in one day. A reason for this is that it was becoming over complicated trying to find a series of different days that everyone could film on, as I am working with actors from out of school. However, I am now happy with this situation as I have looked at the weather forecast for Saturday, and it should hopefully be a nice and sunny for the beginning shots in West Wickham, and will cloud over as the day goes on as we travel up to London. This will allow me to film the different scenes with constrasting lighting and weather.

I am very happy about my new filming situation as I think doing it like this will then allow me plenty of time in the next few weeks to make any improvements to my filming, rather than leaving it until then to film it for the first time.

Animated Storyboard

Here is an animated storyboard that I have made to give a clear idea of the different features of my trailer. I have tried to estimate how long I want each shot to last to give an idea of the full length of the trailer and have kept these in an order that I think flows well and teases the audience.

I have also added 2 pieces of music that are similar to what I would like to use in my final piece as I may use music covers of these songs. I chose 'Young Blood' by The Naked and Famous for the beginning of the trailer to identify the happier mood, as it then mixes into 'Club Foot' by Kasabian to contrast the difference in mood and the shift in the relationship between the brothers. To make this flow smoother in my final piece, I am going to use a voiceover of dialogue from the film between the end and beginning of the two songs.

Update

I am currently in the process of putting together my animated storyboard. I am almost finished with this and I will be able to post it on the blog once I have added the music on the mac in school.

Character and Costume Inspiration

 

This is some research I have done into indie teenage boys to get a feel of the type of characters I should portray, and the types of costume and clothing that would be effective and most realistic. I have already selected my actors based on their alternative style and I should now hopefully be able to look at some of these inspirational pictures and apply them when dressing my actors.

Here are some pictures of the actors in the kinds of clothing I would like to use in my trailer:

 

Casting Shots

As last year there were a lot of issues with our actors, this year I found 2 actors before deciding what I was going to do with my film and based a lot of the storyline and the characters around them.

Tyler Kilden as Frankie

Tyler was even more interested in taking part in my production after I showed him the film's synopsis. He said it was a film he would definitely go to see in cinema and thought the characters seemed very relatable, encouraging him to audition for the role of Frankie.

I chose Tyler for this role because I thought he was a very suitable match to Frankie as he has a very alternative style and could be seen to have similar traits to the character in real life. There are also certain aspects of Tyler's personality that he will be able to draw on this challenging role. Tyler also studies Media so he will be very familiar with the process of filming.


Jack Hazeldine as Nathan

I chose Jack for the part of Nathan because he portrayed a similar alternative style to Tyler which I thought would display a more realistic idea that the characters are both brothers and best friends.

He was interested in taking part in the film as he followed both the TV shows Skins and Misfits which I told him were some of my influences.

Jack also took part in our media project last year as a last minute reserve and so will be familiar with the process after already experiencing filming and acting and will therefore be very professional. 

The main reason I picked Jack and Tyler to play the two brothers in my trailer is because they are best friends in real life. I think this will be a great advantage as they will be able to act a lot more naturally than we found the actors did last year when they didn't know each other.

Location Shots

To show the contrast of the change of mood and the brother's relationship in the trailer, I am using a variety of different locations. By doing this, I think I will be able to show the audience a very definite distinction between the atmosphere at the beginning and end of the trailer.

Camden Highstreet

I wanted to film parts of my trailer in Camden because I feel it would reflect the themes of the film and alternative style of the characters. With this, I think it would seem like an everyday place that the characters would go. It can also be very crowded so I would like to be able to do a time lapse here of all the busy people in the highstreet. I specifically liked the grafitti around the Camden tube sign as I am shooting a shot of the characters on the tube and this will show that they are getting off at a rough stop, highlighting the key themes of the film.

Brick Lane

I wanted to use Brick Lane as a contrasting location to show the difference in the atmosphere and relationship between the brothers. I specifically liked these two walls as I think the graffiti shows how the area is quite rough which would fit in with the drug aspect of my film. I would like to use one of these walls for the shot of Frankie leaning against the graffiti, with jump cuts between his movements. Hopefully on the day I film this part, the weather will be a bit darker to give an eerier atmosphere and show an even bigger contrast between the different parts of the trailer.

Peaceful road

My final location is a peaceful road for the beginning of my trailer to show the original state of the brothers relationship and the happier atmosphere. I would like to use this location for the shot of Frankie riding the bike down the road at the beginning of the trailer. I am going to film this on a different day to the filming up in London to hopefully get a difference in weather, as I would prefer for the weather to be nicer for this part to show the happier beginning. However I do realise that this may not be possible and I will have to do my best at filming in whatever the weather conditions at the time. I will also be able to move my car when it comes to filming so the road will be less crowded.

Here is a map of my main locations that I will be filming at. I hopefully plan to get through all these locations this weekend, as I will spend one day filming the beginning of the trailer in my road in West Wickham, before getting the train up to London another day to film the rest of the footage in Brick Lane and Camden.

Transcript

Audience restriction certificate.

Untitled Productions logo (music starts).

Frankie cycling towards camera on a bike.

On Screen Text

NEXT SUMMER

Frankie and Nathan sitting on a tube.

Time lapse of people walking down Camden Highstreet.

On Screen Text

WITNESS A TEENAGE BATTLE OF FRIENDSHIP, FAMILY, DRUGS AND RELATIONSHIPS (music fades out).

Nathan (voiceover)

"What's wrong with you Frankie?! You've turned into such a-" (cut short)

Frankie and Nathan pushing each other.

Foot stamps on the ground (new music starts).

Establishing shot of a graffiti wall.

Frankie leaning against graffiti wall, jump cuts between movements.

On Screen Text

From GEORGINA HAZELDINE Director Of THE PROPHET

Frankie crouching in a running start.

Lifts head, match on action into a close up of his face.

On Screen Text

FRANK

Photos of brothers dropping onto a table.

Storyboard Development

I am currently considering changes to my storyboard in terms of re-ordering some of the titles. I would like to swap the titles of the director and the film pitch as I think it would read better and would build up the tension of the teaser trailer. I might also move the release date to the end of the trailer to get the audience excited for when they can see the film.

I also think I need to include some more establishing shots before some of my shots to improve the continuity and make it flow better. I will need to do this before my first shot of the character riding on a bike to give an indication of the type of location. This will also contrast with the establishing shot of the graffiti wall later in the trailer to show the dramatic difference in location.

The establishing shot at the beginning of the trailer of the house on a peaceful road identifies a much happier mood, compared to the much darker shot in the second half of the trailer of the graffiti wall. These shots help differentiate between the two locations to show the drastic change in mood and the relationship between the two brothers.

Storyboard

This is my first draft of my initial ideas for my storyboard. Here I have drafted a variety of different shots that I think would work well in my trailer whilst considering editing aspects that would suit these shots. I have also thought about mise en scene in the variety of locations and am currently considering possible props and costume ideas. My favourite shot from this page is the mid shot of the character crouching in a running start. As he lifts his head up, I will be able to use match on action to follow through to a close up of his face as he looks directly into the camera. I think this will be effective as it helps the audience connect with and relate to the character, and I must ensure I keep the editing smooth.

Here I have completed a more defined draft of my storyboard with the specific shots structured and in order to develop a clearer idea of what my teaser trailer is going to look like. 

     1.  A restricted certificate to let the audience know the rating of the film.
     2.  A still of the Untitled Productions company logo to show who the film is made by (music starts).
     3.  A long shot of the character cycling towards the camera and panning round as he rides past.
     4.  The release date title using simple font.
     5.  A two shot of the two characters sitting on a tube.
     6.  An establishing shot of Camden highstreet - time lapse of people walking down the highstreet.
     7.  Title of the director (music quietens for dialogue voiceover).
     8.  A medium long shot of the two characters pushing each other (dialogue from film voiceover).
     9.  A close up of a shoe stamping on the ground (different music starts).

    

     10.  An establishing shot of a graffiti wall.

     11.  A long shot of character standing against the graffiti wall - jump cuts between movements.

     12.  Title of film pitch.

     13.  A midshot of character crouched in a running start with his head down.

     14.  As he lifts his head up, match on action to move into a close up of his face as he blows smoke into the camera.

     15.  Film title using iconic 'Talk To Frank' font.

     16.  Jump cuts of photos of the characters dropping onto a surface.

     17.  Final title credits.