Final Coursework: "Upload Complete"

FINISHED COURSEWORK PIECE! (It's over, it's finally over...) - James Huxtable ft. Annie Powrie

Many thanks to Anna Jordan and Dominic Edmunds, couldn't have done it without you!!

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 3 from jameshuxtable

Question 4 & 5

Evaluation Question 4 & 5 - Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/address your audience?

Apologies for the few grammatical errors in the piece, hopefully you will still get what I'm saying aha!!

Question 6

Evaluation Question 5 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 7

"Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?"

Absence of credits in our opening - explanation

In our two minute opening, we do not have any opening credits mentioning the director(s), cast or production companies.  This was NOT a mistake!

In most thriller-crime films if something important, such as a murder in our case, occurs it is standard procedure to not show the credits until the next part of the film.  This is mainly because this kind of opening really sets the tone for the rest of the film, and therefore the filmmaker does not want the audience to be distracted by the credits, and therefore show them at a less vital part of the movie. We have emulated this in our own opening.

Filming Date Update

ALSO, due to a few minor complications we are going to be filming our piece one week earlier than we originally planned.  That's this Saturday!

We hope to get everything filmed that morning so we can then spend the rest of the two weeks editing and perfecting the footage to make it perfect.

Casting Update

After some thought and consideration we chose the following cast for our film:

Youtuber - Anna Jordan

Man - Dominic Edmonds

Casting video

This is our casting video.  We auditioned four different girls for the role of the youtuber in our film.

We decided not to audition the role of the stalker since he has no lines and we already had a good idea of who we wanted to play the role.  A little bit of an inside job!

FILMING DAY SET!

Providing that all of our actors are available for this date, we are planning on getting a large chunk/all of our filming done in the morning and early afternoon of January 31st.  We believe that this should be sufficient time to film the segment of our film and that after that date we should be ready to edit and finish our two minute opening.

Script

SCRIPT

(Camera flicks on revealing Youtuber from the point of view of the camera, as she begins making her video.)

YOUTUBER

Hi guys!  I know I haven’t been able to post loads recently so today I’m making a little video just to update you all on everything that’s been happening in my life over the last few weeks!  

So, as I’m sure many of you are aware, me and my family moved into our new house last Tuesday and I’m relieved to say that it is lovely and we are all settling in great.  The move was obviously a little stressful but we are all glad to be that twenty minutes further down the A11! [laughs]

***

(Cross-cuts to the hand of a man scrolling through the Instagram account of the youtuber and liking all of the photos on her account.  He then gets into a car and slams the door shut)

***

(Cross-cuts back to the youtuber’s bedroom.  The camera is focused on the mobile phone on her bedside table which is flashing from the man liking her photos.)

YOUTUBER (in background)

…we want to say a massive thank you to all of you who helped us with everything!  We are so extremely grateful.

***

(Cross-cuts back to the man who pulls up in his car behind bushes of the youtuber’s house.  As he leaves the car and walks towards the house, the audience can see various photographs taken of the youtuber, as well as videos and other things related to the youtuber left on the passenger seat and dashboard of the car.)

***

(The shot cross-cuts back to the youtuber who is still filming her video)

YOUTUBER

Now, on to more important things. [laughs]  I have been no stranger to all of the rumours surrounding me lately about me starting a relationship with another, let’s say “quite well known” youtuber in the last month or so…

***

(Cross-cuts back to a close up of the man’s fingers as he opens the front door and walks into the house.)

***

YOUTUBER

…And I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you all that me and Jack have indeed been on a couple of dates and I’m very happy to say that things couldn’t be going any better!  And I-

(A smash is heard from downstairs, the youtuber stops and pauses for a moment before shrugging it off)

[To herself/out of character]  Hmm, I’ll need to edit that out…

***

(The shot cuts to a shocked and frantic man downstairs as he attempts to push the smashed vase underneath a drawer.  Once he does this adequately, he hears a laugh coming from upstairs, and looks up the staircase.)

***

(The youtuber is reaching the end of her video.)

YOUTUBER

So then, I think I’ve said everything I wanted to say!  I should be posting regularly now from here on, and I want to say a massive sorry yet again for my inactivity over the last few weeks, but yeah!  I shall be posting more makeup,

(In shot, the door slowly begins to open behind the Youtuber.) 

hair and beauty posts over the next couple of days because while I was away I found loads that I just

(The man slowly walks towards the girl menacingly, who is unaware that he has entered the room.  He gets closer and closer until he is only a few meters away when she says the final line.)

think are great and want to show you all!  But yes, I just want to give an enormous thank you to everyone who helped and everyone of my subscribers who have followed me on this adventure.  I love you all!

(Shot cuts to black.)

(An upload bar fills up on the screen.  When it reaches the top you hear a small ‘ding’ and the words ‘Upload Complete’ appear on the screen.)

Fin.

Audience Research

For our two-minute film opening coursework, we are required to get audience research from at least six people.

This is the result of these interviews:

Audience research is important because it allows you to see the ideas and feelings of your target audience before you start making the film.  By doing this audience research, we were able to find out many different things about what people look for in films and what they would be expecting to see early on in the movie.

Storyboard

This is our completed storyboard, it does not include all of our shots but this is due to the fact that we are undecided about what footage we will need and use for certain shots:

Target Audience

 Who is your target audience?

Our target audience will been teenagers and young adults. This is because our two minute opening will have a specific focus on the topic of social media and people in these categories are most involved with this.

Where would they watch it and how?

This type of film could be played on television, in cinemas, on a dvd or streamed from Netflix.  Our plan is to create an entertaining yet informative film opening, warning people of the things that can happen if you share too much of your private information online.

What is it about your idea that appeals to this audience?

This idea appeals to my audience because of the rising power of social media. A film about the way in which most young people publicise their lives can be a very personal thing as it reflects the everyday lives of viewers.  It is very relevant to the ideas in the modern world around the internet and therefore is a very new and interesting topic of interest.

Coursework Update

As of today, we still need to complete...

New casting, storyboard, scriptwriting, audience research videos and deciding on filming dates. This will be our focus for the next week before we are able to start filming.

Location - Locations we will use & why

Bedroom -

We have decided to use my own bedroom to film the Youtuber's scenes in.  Annie's room has plain white walls and is easily interchangeable in order to make the setting more believable. This location fits in to my idea so well because it is close to what a real Youtuber may have as their bedroom and it is also beneficial in terms of ease, we can easily redo shots etc without having to ask permission or travel very far. As it has white walls it helps to create the correct mise-en-scene as it draws focus to the actors rather than their surroundings yet at the same time the audience will be aware of the simplicity of the room, giving it an especially creepy feel when the Stalker enters it.

Town/Streets -

We have decided to continue the theme of ease and we are using Annie's hometown of Attleborough,  to film the Stalker's scenes when he is walking the streets. My town will be effective as I know from first hand experience that it can be quite creepy when walking alone at night and we am certain that we can recreate this feeling for the audience when we begin to film.

.

Prop List

• Camera x2 - We'll need one camera for filming and another to use as the Youtuber's camera while she is filming her videos. I will obtain the camera I film with from the school and borrow the other from a member of my family in order to make it look like a more realistic youtube setup. 

• Tripod x2 - We will need one tripod for filming and another to use as the Youtuber's tripod while she is filming her videos. We shall be obtaining both of these from the school media department as we do not have any between us.

• Vase - We will need a vase of little value so that it can be smashed on screen without costing an extortionate amount.  It can be pretty plain or have decoration, whatever's available for the money.

• Fairy Lights & White Sheet - We will need these for the background of the Youtube's videos to make them seem more innocent and professionally set up. Annie has both of these items at home and available to her so that's all covered.

• Photographs, fake scripts etc - We're going to need to take photographs and things of and related to the youtuber we choose in order to be in the film.  Therefore we are going to have to take several stalkerish photos and make fake scripts and create other 'keepsake's' to make it look believable

• Mobile devices x2 - One belonging to the stalker and one to the youtuber, we need two mobiles to show that the stalker is after this particular girl and to show that it is her photos that he is liking on instagram.

Ideal Locations

What are the ideal location(s) for your two minute opening?


In our piece we plan on using two specific openings.

1.  Youtuber's bedroom

This should be an open space with plain white walls so that the filming can be focussed on her and not her surroundings.  Also, by making the walls white, it gives off connotations of her innocence and purity when the intruder enters her room.

2.  Outside the house

This area should be filmed in the day as so easy to film and shows off the impression that this can happen at any time, and highlights how bizarre the invasion is, as well as how crazy the man is, that he wouldn't even think to commit the crime under the cover of darkness.  The street would be pretty normal and realistic, meaning there is no reason to find a secluded or empty area without traffic.

 



 

 

 



Coursework: General Overview

Obviously, with the new plan of action, there is a new series of events which we need to capture on screen.

Our 2-minute film opening idea involves two characters; one young female youtuber/vlogger and one quite frightening, almost psychotic older male stalker type character.  For the purpose of saving time, I shall refer to them in this post as 'youtuber' and 'man'.  A technique used in our piece is cross cutting between the two characters and how they eventually come together for the conclusion.  To make this post easier to read, whenever the scene has cut to the other character, we shall use a ' \\ ' symbol.


Synopsis / Our Vision:

The youtuber is filming a new video in her room for her channel.  This is not said, however it is made evident by the screen layout, which shows her talking about makeup into an in-shot camera whilst a laptop showing the recording is also visible on screen.

\\

There shall be a close up on the dirty hand and phone of an unknown man.  On the screen of this phone he shall be scrolling through and 'liking' all the photos on the girl's instagram account.  He then gets into a car.  As the car door slams shut, the shot changes.

\\

A close up of the youtuber's phone flashing on her drawer, as the man is liking her photos.  It is evident that she has not noticed since her voice is still audible from her appearing in her video.

\\

The man is parks his car outside the driveway behind some bushes outside a house.  As he exits the car, the camera pans around the inside of it, revealing many photos, scripts and other disturbed things he has collected over time.

\\

More youtuber (undecided)

\\

Close up as the man wraps his fingers around the door handle and opens it, walking into the house.

\\

More youtuber (undecided)

\\

You can see the hands of the man looking at decorations/vases on a cabinet.  His clumsiness accidentally knocks a vase over and it smashes on the floor.

\\

The youtuber pauses, obviously hearing the smash, takes a moment, but then dismisses it and continues.

\\

The man is quite frantic as he tries to sweep the vase pieces under the cabinet.  He then gets up and sees the stairs, he looks up them.

\\

The youtuber is reaching the end of her video and there and she is saying the closing parts of it when the two characters finally appear at the same time in shot.  The man approaches the youtuber, as he gets close, the movie cuts to black.

\\

The word 'Uploading' flashes onto the screen in white and the bar underneath slowly fills.

\\

'Upload complete' in red.

COURSEWORK UPDATE

Due to technicalities involving my original idea and the difficulties I have faced in trying to find a suitable location and actors for my crime piece, I have decided that it would be better for my grade and my piece that I end this project unfinished and instead look to collaborate with Annie Powrie (anniepowrie-asmedia.blogspot.co.uk) on a new idea for a Thriller.

More to follow...