Final Titles List

In our first draft we had some feedback about there being too many titles and that they were all bunched up in the middle area of our film opening. To improve this for our final opening we spread out the titles and made sure that were more subtle by being smaller and fading in and out gently.

• In association with

Film Four, Focus Features

• Actor

Alesandro Campoccio

• Actor

Antonio Ferelli

• Title of film

Traffic Light

• Screen played by

John Burridge

• Produced by

Brian Earp

• Director of photography

Bart German

• Production designer

Will Davis

• Editor

Aimee Chaser

• Visual effects producer

Rachel Walters

• Associate producer

Sian Field

• Casting by

Kathrine Brookes

  

 

Final Script

Once we looked at all the footage we had on the scenes with dialogue we noticed that they seemed really staged. Therefore we felt the need to change this and this meant changing the script slightly:

*Shots of scenery/setting*

*Character 1 walks into the dark alleyway and meets Character 2*

*Hands over the goods*

Character 1: "sorry I'm late"

*Character 2 shakes head in disappointment*  

*Character 1 walks away*

Character 2: "If you get caught... you don't know who I am"

*Character 1 is at the station about to depart*

*Calls Character 2 on his phone*

Character 1: "Hello? ... I don't think I can do this..."

*Phone Call is ended*

*A security officer enters (character 3)*

Character 3: "Oi!"

*Character 1 runs out of the scene and the camera cuts*

This new script is more of a natural conversation between two people which makes it appear more realistic in our film opening.

Presentation Techniques

There are many ways in which you can represent your ideas and presentations. Here are some examples:

- Prezi

- Emaze

- PowerPoint

- SlideShare

- SlideRocket 

- Present.me

 

Personally I have never used Emaze, SlideRocket or present.me so they would not be my first choice when choosing what presentation tool to use.  PowerPoint and SlideShare come hand in hand as after producing a PowerPoint to post it anywhere you need to put it through SlideShare. This can become useful as it is a basic software meaning everyone is able to use it no matter what skill bases they have. Finally Prezi, this is my favourite tool as it is simple to use yet produces an excellent presentation at the end of it. It takes a long time to process and get everything in the correct position but it is worth it.  

After deliberating it with my team we felt that we should vary our presentation tools we used. throughout my blog I have used prezi and slideshare to present my work along with the normal blog posts. so consequently, when presenting our final film and all of the information to come with it we are going to produce an emaze. This is because it is different and makes our blogs more interesting...

 

BBFC Certificate

When researching about the aging certificate we came to the conclusion of our film being of an aging 15. We chose this because it has content that would be inappropriate for younger ages and felt that that age group upwards would be the audience most interested in our film.

 

During our research we looked up the certificate that the BBFC class their films under. I selected the themes that we included in our film and included the pain points from their description:

 

Discrimination: The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language.

Drugs: Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse (for example, through instructional detail).

Language: There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification.

Nudity: There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail.

Threat: There may be strong threat and horror. A sustained focus on sadistic or sexual threat is unlikely to be acceptable.

Violence: Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.

 

We thought that our film fitted in with these guidelines and therefore would be given a 15 certificate...

 

 

 

Our First Draft

This is our first draft, it is unfinished although through producing this we found out many improvements we could do/use to make our sequence better...

Marketing Campaign

To make sue our production is successful we need to produce a marketing campaign to get the word out about it.
Here are the sort of things we are planning to do:

Editing

Today I spent six hours editing our film opening to make sure we were ready for our deadline on Monday. whilst editing I realised we were behind on a lot of filming as we had missing shots. therefore re arranged our shooting schedule to make sure we got all of the footage we needed...

Music Research

Music Research

Song Option 1 

One song that instantly caught our attention once we had agreed on the idea to create a crime drama is "Blinded by the Light" by The Streets. We feel as this is a very appropriate song to feature as a backing track because the song itself is based on drugs which is already relevant to the narrative in our film opening, and for this reason it would be a suitable pairing.

This is a scene from the music video...

Song Option 2

Our second song option is "Playing With Fire" by Plan B. This song is very similar to the first option in terms of the message that both songs send out to the audience. In this song especially, the message focuses on the dangers of embarking on life of crime and gang culture. In our film opening it shows the main protagonist ready to trap himself into a world of drug-use and crime because he has nothing else to offer to the world.

Final Decision

Our final decision was purely based on the preference of the songs and this meant that we will use "Blinded by the Light". This song has a good variation between the chorus, sung by a young girl and the separate verses sung by a male rapper. The chorus has a sense of vulnerability because of the soft voice combining with the ambiguous lyrics. This is exactly the effect we desire because we want to show the naivety of the protagonist who is far too inexperienced to perform the smuggling process.

Script: First Draft

*Shots of scenery/setting*

*Character 1 walks into the dark alleyway and meets Character 2*
*Hands over the goods*
Character 1: "sorry I'm late"

Character 2: "Here's everything you need" 

"What time is the flight?"

Character 1: "Half One"

*Character 1 walks away*

Character 2: "And just remember, if you get caught... you don't know who I am"

*Character 1 is at the station about to depart*

*Calls Character 2 on his phone*

Character 1: "Hello? ... I don't think I can do this..."

*Phone Call is ended*

*A security officer enters (character 3)*

Character 3: "Oi! Get back here!"

*Character 1 runs out of the scene and the camera slowly dissolves*

Risk Assessment

In and job there are risks and hazards that need to be thought about. This is where a risk assessment comes in and this is the one we produced for our production.

 

Shot List

Monday 28/11/16:

-          Packing of the drugs scenes

-          Antonio riding along on his bike

-          The ally scene (may not have time)

Tuesday 29/11/16:

-          The bathroom shot

-          Train time laps

-          Shots of the high street

Wednesday 30/11/16:

-          The airport shots( train station)

·        Him checking in

·        The police officers looking cautious

·        Antonio getting caught

Traffic Light Story Board

 

Prop List

  Cigarette - This is used to show in the first scene that the drug dealer is
The Bike - This is used for the character to travel to get the drugs from the dealer and to travel to the station. It shows he is travelling via a bike showing he is moving around many places for this to happen. '
The drugs' used - This is the main key prop which the film evolves around in the opening showing he is smuggling drugs so therefore had to use ' fake drugs' to represent this. 
Alcoholic drinks - This prop is used when he is around the table to show he is rough and this is all he has in his life as this is what is taking him through what is happening. 
The Candle - This prop is used to create light around where he is sorting out the drugs with the background light off to provide a small amount of light to show the intensity of what he is doing. 
Credit Card - This is used to line up the drugs which he is packaging ready for him to smuggle.

The incense stick - This incense is lighted during the packaging scene, we use this prop to create smoke and to also produce a hostile atmosphere

Distribution

We researched into various film distribution company and we discovered a company called Focus Features, LLC. We feel our film fits into the conventions of this company because they distribute independent films in America and also internationally. Focus Features recently worked alongside the new film called American Honey. This film is a British-American drama road film which focuses on the journey of a young teenage girl who travels with new friends she meets selling magazines and partying hard. This film is closely related to our film as it follows the life of a young man who is lured into a life of crime, smuggling drugs earning money for his dangerous work. 

Institution

Our film is independent and we produced on a very low budget, our target audience is specific therefore it doesn't fit the conventions of mainstream film production companies and distributors. Here are the three film production companies founded by Me, Ale and Pip and these will feature in the start of the film opening for Traffic Lights.

 

Representation Of Our Film Opening Task

Our film opening contains various representations, all of which relate to class, age, and region. The protagonist in our short opening is a vulnerable, disengaged man in his mid-twenties. The reason he turns to a life of criminality is because he has no other leads in life, he has no family or friends who can give him some help. The man is presented wearing old clothes similar to someone you would see lying on the streets at night. On the contrary, the location is a very civilized and suburban area and extremely tranquil, this allows for the audience to see the reality of today's society where criminal activity is inevitable in any place no matter how attractive it may seem.

The other main character in the film is a wealthy man who's success has all come from high-risk, illegal activity where he recruits desperate young men to perform these dangerous acts. This wealthy man is dressed in formal clothing juxtaposing with the appearance of the man carrying out the smuggle. The reason we decided to portray a man with huge wealth and success is to tell our audience that he was once a desperate man in need of some care, yet he escapes this situation by offering himself to a life of dealing illegal goods to addicts across the nation.

The audience will immediately feel empathetic towards the man because he has nothing left in life and if he performs this act he will break free and re-discover himself and his qualities that he can give back to the world. With this connection between the character and the audience it creates suspense because viewers want the man to escape the authorities and re-build his life. 

We chose not to portray a representation of a certain ethnic background, sexuality or disability as it would only cause controversy and some viewers would turn away from our production is they see a negative portrayal of a certain race or someone with a disability. We took out some research into some politically controversial films made in this particular millennium, one film we encountered was 'The Interview' starring Seth Rogan and James Franco. We noticed how this film caused controversy in North Korea as the producers decided to display a contentious image of dictatorship in North Korea. When the film was released it received criticism as it shows a graphic death scene, as a result the film was not released in some cinemas and it gained a bad reputation despite trying to show the reality of living in North Korea.

Codes & Conventions

Drugs

Ways they are smuggled:

  "Banks banks on his Johnson; gets busted"

Antoine Banks was so desperate to smuggle drugs across the boarder that he decided to store them in his fore skin. 

"Don't eat the brown lollipops - They're Heroin"

Instead of chocolate at the centre of these treats, DEA agents found mid-grade heroin when they cracked the candy shells. Among the thirty-one pops some were three quarters of an inch in diameter and some were a full inch. A total of 520.1 grams of heroin was found within the pops and was certified to be roughly sixty-four percent pure heroin. 

  "Lemmie have my coke or i'm gonna wrap it full of lead"

It was assumed that the packages were wrapped in lead to avoid detection by the x-ray machines.

DEA was quick to supply a much better idea for next time stating that “the reasoning behind this concealment technique was unclear” as the bricks were not actually encased or sealed in lead, just wrapped up in sheets of it.

Main Icons:

The drugs 

Table that the drugs are wrapped up on

Train used to transfer him 

Tin foil & Tape 

 Sun glasses to hide his face

Rucksack he caries them in 

His bike to get from A to B 

The police mens uniform

Setting 

We are setting our film opening at various locations. The first being at Antonio and ales house to give the impression of a crack den. The second being the toilets at school, this will be for the scene where Antonio is stressing out and tries to relax himself. Our finally setting for the film is at chelmsford train station as it is the closest representation we can get to an airport. 

Themes

The themes of our film are drugs, forgiveness, crime and justice. The films aim is to give across to young people or anyone that has had or is in a hardship that there is always a way you can turn it around. 

Characters

Jonny is the main characters who smuggles the drugs and is imprisoned Jonny represents desperation as this is the only way he can make a living. 

Vinny is the dealer who supplies the drugs to Jonny to smuggle. Vinny represents the hierarchy of the criminal world and that he is untouchable as never gets caught. 

   

Evidence of Planning

This image shows ale and me working hard making sure we got the planing all sorted...

Film Pitch Feedback

 

 

Clear genre, themes, message?

Drama

Struggles and hard life - try to help people aim high and not be put down.

Crime, drug smuggling, turning life around

forgiveness

Justice 

what is the narrative?

Drugs and airport

train

crime and smuggling

What drugs?

first crime even committed

Realistic Storyline. 

Interesting character?

the main characters

just close up

Italian characters

 

The target audience?

Young people

uneducated

teenagers and adults

15+

Institution

low budget

social media (free)

enigma codes

Independent production company

 

Any comments about the film, would you watch it, it is doable and interesting?

Yes because it is raw and hard hitting- you want to know what happens.

yes again building intensity essential to build up tension. Close ups so you want to know what he's doing. Concentrate on mise en scene.

Opening scene looks capable of being done at a high standard and realistic.

 

 

Titles Research

For this task ale researched the type of fonts we could use in our film opening...

 

After deliberation, the top font would be the one we used as our titles.