Evaluation

http://prezi.com/gt4yw1jqpdcy/nazir-ullah-evaluation/

Audience Feedback

I made a questionnaire for feedback from after watching my film opening, and gave it to teenagers this is how they filled them out..

From this feedback I have learnt that everyone liked my opening and if i carried it on they would like to view the rest of my film, also as they are teenagers they have said that the may not personally themselves relate to the events that occur in the opening but they have friends that can relate to this. Also from the feedback I have got, my audience feel that I have successfully met the requirements that need to be met in order for my opening to be the genre that I intended which was 'Teen Urban Drama'. They have also said as a whole, the production was successful, but there may be a few changes that can be made to improve it for example, the lighting could have been better, the actors could have spoke louder etc, so in the next production I do I will make sure these aspects of the production will be better. 

I have also uploaded my opening to youtube, so other people can view it, which will also hopefully give us feedback. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBHR8Jx1Kb8

This is one of the comments that has been, from Youtube.

''This has the same grittiness as "Kidulthood"-it makes you feel the same way when you watch it. You really feel for the characters. I like the mix of camera shots and music-creates the sense of foreboding.''

This also back ups, that we have been successful in this production as the feedback we had from a comment made on the video, from youtube, has said that they can sense 'grittiness' when watching our opening which was what we intended and makes them want to watch it, and also makes the audience involved as they start to feel the characters emotion maybe due to past experiences so they could relate. Also they liked the camera shots that we selected as I chose those shots for effect which clearly has been successful, also they liked the music I integrated into the opening as it created a sense of 'foreboding' so the non diegetic music that I added also had effect.

FINAL CUT

This is our final cut of our 2 minute opening after we gave edited it and are happy with the changes we have made.

Story Change

We disccused in a group and got story where a naked picture of a girl called 'Eve' gets sent round by a boy called 'Omar' his girlfriend then finds out about 'Eve' letting 'Omar' take a naked picture of her this then leads to Omars girlfriend confronting Eve, and then consequently leads to Eve being attacked. I then thought that this would take to long to film and would go over the time limit that we are intended to film for, So we cut the film down considerably so we could film an opening within the 2 minute. We made the taking of the picture stretch out, to be our 2 minute opening so if we ever carry the film on we already have story to carry it on with.
What happens within my 2 minute opening, is that Eve is putting make up on in the mirror, getting ready for Omar, then he texts her that he is coming, she then opens the door and finds him standing outside her bedroom, they then go in the bedroom and hangout, but it awkward as Eve likes Omar, but Omar doesn't really try as he is an egotistical person who doesn't care about anyone but himself, he then asks for a picture which he gets and then he leaves her straight after he gets it, which makes her sad as he she likes him but he doesn't like her and just uses her.

Locations

Locations

This is Character Eve's bedroom, we felt that this was a typical teenagers bedroom so we filmed most of the film here. We choose this as our setting as it is realistic, as the girl would feel comfortable taking picture in the privacy of her own bedroom so this gave a realistic effect.

This is an outside setting within the school both characters attend, we felt this was an ideal place for the pan shot, as the camera can be on the door and as Eve walks out she walks past this wall where Omar and his friend will be standing, so the camera can follow Eve in one motion.

Camera Shots

Even thought I didn't film the production itself as I was acting within the opening of the film I helped co-direct which enabled me to give some ideas of different types of camera angles which would add effect. 

This is an over the shoulder shot, we felt this was a good angle to film from as you can see the reflection of how 'Eve' is feeling which i felt was good.  

This was an extreme closeup of the phone, this showed the audience what the text from 'Omar' said so it kept the audience involved in the story as they know whats happening from each aspect e.g. how Eve and Omar are communicating, and what is said.

This was a pan, we used this shot to finish the opening, as it showed how she has been humiliated and then Eve walks past Omar and her friend as they laugh, which i felt was an effective shot, as you saw there facial expressions. 

This is a head and shoulders shot of Eve after Omar left with the picture, we used this shot as it showed her facial expression which was sadness, due to the events that occurred.

I thought a over the shoulder shot was ideal for this part of the film opening, as you could see Omar taking the picture, the phone itself which enables the audience to see what is on screen, and also Eve herself.

Inspiration

'Kidulthood' was a what gave me and my group inspiration as it is a very 'gritty' team urban drama, the film itself deals with problems that teenagers face in real life, so we felt that we could adapt our film opening to this, which inspired us to make our opening something that teenagers can relate to themselves as they might have suffered the problem that is included into my film opening, so it would make teenagers want to watch the opening.

We also got inspiration from the TV episode 'Skins' as this is a teen urban drama, so i felt aiming for opening to be something along the lines of skins would make our opening better.

This is how Skins showed the cast so it gave us the idea to do the same...

This is the whole of our cast that we initially going to use but then I felt by introducing all this characters would take to long, so we got the main ones, Eve and Omar and used those within our opening and then in the development after of our opening we could introduce these characters.

Log & Editing

Scene 1Eve played by actor Charlotte Elliot is doing her make up in the mirror and then recives a text from omar played by actor Nazir. She then walks towards the door to open it for omar.

Shoot 1 - Initially in the first shoot we used another actress Laura Walters to play Eve however we felt the position wasn't suited to her.

Shoot 2 - This scene was ruined due to the fact our second actress Charlotte laughed.

Shoot 3 - The text message in this shoot didn't send in time.

Shoot 4 - This shoot was to be chosen because

Scene 2
Eve opens the Omar & greats him.

Shoot 1 - The wrong dialogue was used in this scene so therefore it could not be used.

Shoot 2 - Actor Nazirs voice was not loud enough

Shoot 3 - This shoot was successful dialogue was correct. Nazirs's voice however was not loud enough

Scene 3
Omar enter Eve's bedroom

Shoot 1 - The first scene seemed unnatural and actors were unable to compose themselves resulting in unpredicted laughter.

Shoot 2 - This scene started of acceptable, voices where clear, dialogue was correct. However Nazir stared at the camera, making it unrealistic this clip had to be removed.

Shoot 3 - Actor charlotte laughed during this scene, so it could not be used.

Shoot 4 - Actors voice Nazir's was not loud enough to be heard

Shoot 5 - This scene worked well so was kept in the film

Scene 3 Part 2
Eve is convincing Eva to strip, Eva moves to the other end of the room

Shoot 1 - This scene was ruined due to the fact the actor Charlotte forgot what she had to do

Shoot 2 - When the camera switches to Nazir, the light was not sufficient, meaning he wasn't very visiable.

Shoot 3 - This scene was unsuccesful because the phone power down before the actor Nazir was able to take the picture.

Scene 4
Omar leaves the room and Eve is left vulnerable on the bed.

Shoot 1 - Actor Charlotte wasn't ready to be filmed, she was unable to composed so as a result laughed throught the scene.

Shoot 2 - This shoot was successful, this scene only required 2 takes.

Scene 5
This scene is located outside in school grounds. Actor Charlotte walks past Actor Nazir and Jordan Brown, whilst they laugh at her

Shoot 1- The sound of the wind was overpowering so this shot could not be used

Shoot 2 - This shoot was successful

At the beginning of the 2 minute opening sequence the first piece of music is 'Tomba-Symphony 666'. This genre of music is called Gorestep. Gorestep is very popular among teenagers so I felt integrating this piece of music within my 2 minute opening would attract the target audience we aimed for. 

The second piece of music that we put in our film was Rihanna- Skin this is a very sexual, provocative song so we felt this was the perfect song for when the picture is being taken. 

The last piece of music that we put in was, Lady Sovereign-Jigsaw, this portrayed a song that shows sadness and felt this would be a good song to edit in when there is a close up of Eve's face and she is sad after what happened to her.

The last clip of Eve walking past Omar and his friend was initially not going to be put in but I felt by adding this part would be good as you can see how she has been broken due to what has happened, so we edited this and added it to the opening.

The total time of what footage we filmed came up to 8 minutes 35 seconds from this we edited it, and made it shorter and made the film more liquid to enable the flow, to make it look more professional. 

From this footage we extracted the clips that we needed, and got 2 minutes 27 seconds for our opening.

CopyRight Restrictions

Before I can legally use someone else's work , I will need the permission of the copyright owner. The best route to follow is to contact the publisher of the work. The publisher will  know who to deal with, and if they cannot arrange permission themselves, they will know who you need to speak to.With widely published, commercial music, film or literary works, it is common for the copyright owner to use a licensing agency to handle such issues, but again, the publisher will know who you need to contact. For content that appears on the Internet, for example, content and images appearing on a web site, then this should simply be a matter of contacting the webmaster of the site. The person responsible for the site should be able to respond to your request, or forward your request to the relevant person. Depending on the type of work and how you wish to use it, you should be prepared for the owner of the work to refuse to give you permission, or charge royalties for your use. Copyright work is someone’s property and  should not be used without the consent of the owner. If you use work without permission, and the copyright owner does appear they may wish to take action against you for infringement and you may be required to pay damages for any lost royalties and legal costs.

So to not break any copyright restrictions I emailed the production companies that produced the music and asked them whether I could feature their track on my film opening, this was so I had permission from them so I wasn't breaking any laws and consequently be prosecuted and sued.I made sure my email contained the sole purpose of why we needed there music, for example, our film was of the 'teen urban drama' so I said if I integrated there music within my film opening it would help me fit the genre. Also I said it was for educational purposes so they know I wasn't making any money off the film so they wouldn't ask for any royalties. But with this email being sent there was no reply. 

Sound

This is 'Tomba-Symphony 666' this is a piece of music that i recommened to put into our film as im very filmiliar with this type of music 'gorestep' and it is very popular among teenagers so I felt by recommending this piece of music and intergrating it into my film opening  it will make it fit the genre 'teen urban drama' more, and also add a slight grittyness to the film which I intended for effect. This music will be played from the start of our opening and then fade out when dialouge comes into our film, and then another peice of music will replace it.

This piece of music being 'Rhinana-Skin'. We felt that this piece of music is a very sexual peice of music and it would fit in where we put it in the opening, this being the build up to when the picture is taken.

After 'Omar' gets the picture and leaves we intergrate another piece of music, this being 'Lady Soverign-Jigsaw' this song fits how 'Eve' is feeling at the moment in time as she feels used and heart broken which this song is about.

Lighting

The lighting we used for our opening was unnatural we used the light in the room as we didn't have any other lighting devices so we made the most of what we had, if we have natural light then it would be even more low key than it was, I would of preferred a high key lighting but the low key lighting adds a gritty effect.

Acting & Co-Directing

I starred as 'Omar' within the opening sequence as Omar as I felt i would be able to adapt myself to this role, as I am a teenager myself and and met some of the characteristics Omar had, but acting isn't my strong point and felt I had more to offer to the opening scene so I also help co-direct the opening scene and felt I did this successfully.
As we improvised the script etc, as a co-director I had complete flexibility when contributing my ideas as there was no solid camera angles or ideas that had to be in the opening sequence so the ideas that I contributed throughout the opening scene, for example the way we acted out the scene and also the nomination of certain camera angles were integrated in the opening scene.

Script and Story Board

I felt that we didn't need a storyboard or script and we should 'go native' as if we worked off a script and storyboard it wouldn't feel natural so in doing this we could adapt and fit the role more which would add a realistic effect to our opening scene. I think as teenagers ourselves we didn't really need the script as the way we talk isn't formal so if we wrote the script it would have been formal so that would take away a realistic aspect from my opening sequence and add an artificial one. I also felt we didn't need the storyboard as if we did, the movement that came with the acting would also be artificial and wouldn't add the 'gritty' effect that I wanted with opening scene, so I felt the absence of the story board would allow us to add a natural aspect to our film and as we are teenagers this would be ideal.

Plot Development

For our plot we felt it would be essential to focus the main plot on a very realistic, gritty story line that teens would be able to relate to, adding verisimilitude when possible. In order to achieve this we decided our plot was going to be based in a school or college as straight away there's an element that teens can relate to. A female character is going to send an innapropriate picture to a fellow peer mate. This boy has a girlfriend and so therefore when the boy begins to send the picture to people it immediately causes controversy. This will then result in the girl becoming very unpopular with her friends and people within the school. The girlfriend of the boy who recieved the pictures will then physically assult her. The scene will end with the girl who got attacked contemplating her revenge/response to what happened to her.
1. Leaked pictures
2. Corridor scene, peoples reactions to the girl as she walks down the corridor. She's unsure what everybody is whispering and looking at but she has an idea.
3.Walks into a situation where everybody are viewing the picture on either a computer or posters stuck around the school.
4.She's humiliated, everybody is laughing at her.
5.Boy comes down the corridor she confronts him about it in tears. He shows now remorse and dismisses her and walks to his girlfriend who has a go at him.
6.The guilty girl looks on at this situation in embarrasment and fear and walks into the classroom.
7.Girl is attacked by the girlfriend, no one intervenes. It is essential we see her isolation and embarrasment.
8.Ends with the girl contemplating revenge in a drastic manner. Knife? Pills?

This was initially what was going to happen during our 2minute opening but we realised as a group that we wouldn't have enough time so we stretched out the picture sequence, as the opening,  and then the rest of this would come after the Opening scene.

Planning Notes

Opening Sequence- This was a brief idea of what might happen during our opening scene, me and my group all contributed to this brief idea.

Camera Shot Ideas-This was a brief idea of what kind of camera shots I could adapt to our scene, our first general idea of what might happen in the opening scene was to contain a fight scene so we discussed and came up with fast paced camera angles like pans the go in a circular motion which gives a dis-orientated effect but as our planning stages went on our opening scene developed and we missed this fight scene out.

Character Roles-This was the character role, it was the name of the character and what role they would play within the opening sequence, I deliberately missed out some of the cast within the opening sequence as this was only our opening to a film, so the other members of the cast would come in later in the film.

Cast-This was just a brief idea of who may star in our opening scene and who they might star as, due to the personal aspects of each person I suited each person to a role they might understand. 

General Ideas of what might happen-This was just a breakdown of what might happen during the opening scene.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Date & Time	Description	Location	Cast	Crew
16thFebruary 2011	Begin shooting of intro.	Laura’s house	Nazir Ullah Charlotte Elliott Laura Walters*	Nazir Ullah Charlotte Elliott Jordan Brown Laura Walters
2ndMarch 2011	Final shooting of intro.	Laura’s house	Nazir Ullah Charlotte Elliott	Nazir Ullah Charlotte Elliott Laura Walters Abigail Cross Joshua Holmes

1st April        Additonal add        Pendeford  Nazir Ullah      Nazir Ullah
2011              to the ending.        School       Jordan Brown  Jordan Brown
                                                                  Charlotte         Charlotte Elliot

                                                                  Elliot               Joshua Holmes
 

*Initially started as cast but did not work out due to misunderstanding of role.

We only filmed on three separate occasions as this is all we needed, we did this over 3 days. We used a camera without a tripod due to the complexity of our angles and also we didn't have enough room to put a tripod up so I had suggest to the camera operators to try and adapt there camera work, but this resulted in the camera work at times being 'shakey' but we discussed as a group that it would add a 'gritty' effect, but when it comes to the editing stage I will try and smooth it out and make it look liquid, but I may leave some unsteady shots within the opening sequence for effect.

Cast & Character Development

For the Opening sequence we first had to create the characters, there were:

Omar: Boy who receives picture
Eve: Girl who sends inappropriate pictures
Alesha: Girlfriend of Omar
Sharnelle: Alesha's Best friend
Hannah and Chloe: Eve's friends
Lewis: Omar's best friend

Actors:
Omar: Nazir Ullah/Nathan Lewis*
Eve: Charlotte Elliot/ Laura Walters*
Alesha: Lauren Evans
Sharnelle: Lauren Daley
Chole: Abigail Cross
Hannah: Laura Walters
Lewis: Ryan Bennet

*Original proposed Actors

During the discussion of Characters my Contribution as was coming up with the name Omar for the male protagonist, and also nominated myself to take the male lead and star within the 2 minute opening, but also discussed with the fellow members of my group to have back up actors incase something engaged an actor so we had a replacement. I felt this was a good idea as the actor that was going to play Eve didn't suit the role well enough so Charlotte took the female lead.

Treatment

Treatment

Exposed: A teen urban drama filmed in the social realist style.

There are two protagonists within this film: Omar and Eve. Two typical teenagers, the female being Eve having intimate feelings for Omar, which makes her vulnerable, so when he asks for a picture she gives it him willingly, even though she is out of her comfort zone. Omar then abuses her trust, this is because as soon as he gets the pictures of Eve, he says ‘Thanks for the Picture’ and then leaves her room, leaving her naked which denotes, how he has stripped her of her dignity and leaves her emotionally broken as well as more vulnerable. This represents the stereotypical view of boys, being ‘Players/Heartbreakers’ and not caring about anybody else but themselves. This is due to the current fears of bullying in schools/teen angst as being nice etc is sometimes classed as a weakness so people take advantage of you this is why males feel the need they need to be arrogant and cold, so people don't take advantage, but this leads to females being treated badly and without respect.

This sets up Eve as the main actor being a victim of misconception as she puts her trust in the wrong person and this leads to a tirade of bullying and abuse by other pupils further into the film. This is very common with the ‘teen urban drama’  for example, Kidulthood, as there are male leads, but usually there are sub-plots within the film e.g. the ‘main’ boy may be in crime but may be involved within a sub-plot to do with an obsessive girl, e.g. Kidulthood, this is where we got our inspiration for or 2minute opening, reason being it was exactly what kind of example we needed to work off for our opening scene.

So as a whole, our 2 minute opening represents the typical life of teenagers and how exploring their feelings for the opposite sex can lead to not only heartbreak, but also the breaking of trust, which leaves you vulnerable and also embarrass you as you could possibly lose you dignity, as your feelings for other people can make you come out our comfort zone as you feel pressured and do things you wouldn’t normally do.

The target audience for Exposed is teenagers between the ages of 14-19, as this is the common age group for films like ours, e.g. Kidulthood, age group is similar to ours, so we used the same age constraints for our film, as our film will relate to this age group the most.

I took it up upon myself to write out the treatment, as I felt I understood clearly what it should contain as I starred within the film and also help direct it so I felt I had a clear understanding of role and how and why someone would do this in real life, due to the pressures of society and being able to fit in.
Also me and Charlotte felt that we were 'going native' as we felt we fell into the role as we are teenagers and could adapt ourselves to the role so we improvised the dialogue within the opening scene which meant that our treatment had to be all the more coherent and specific. It was also a way of figuring out the story for ourselves and not working off a story board, which was good as we could film what naturally came to us which made it all the realistic.