Treatment In • • • •
my treatment, I will explaining about: The titles I will use My target audience How I will use technology The representations my film will conform to subvert to • The narrative • How conventions will be subverted or conformed to • Style & Iconography
TITLE Our title is going to be called ‘Black Arrow’ as it is quite ambiguous which will create a sense of mystery and enigma to our potential audience. Therefore, it seems interesting and unique to watch. More importantly, this connotes pain which the protagonist (called Mary) will experience in some part. This relates to our themes of peer pressure, bullying and suicide which we would like to explore in our British Social Realism film as some findings in our voxpop suggested to us that these issues were a growing problem in modern society. The ‘arrow’ could also represent the pointer icon on the laptop which fits nicely with our theme of cyberbullying. We believe this title is conventional as it sets up the “kitchen sink ideology” which film four typically use to convey their gritty style approach to films. This is because the breathe of venom has many harsh connotations. We believe it will appeal to our target audience of “British 16-24 year olds” as it has a unique title which does not give away too much about the narrative and connotes a sense of death which our film will explore.
Target Audience Our target audience are young female and male of the age, sixteen to twenty four. Our film will focus on modern issues which most young people face in everyday life. The interests of my audience: • Binge Drinking experience • Uses the Internet • Teenage partying experience • Dubstep/Electronic/Indie music • In an education
Other media consumption: • Social networking platforms such as, Twitter. • British films • Youtube. Social Class: • Middle/working.
Target Audience We believe the film will be appealing for sixteen to twenty four year olds because the (sub)themes relate to modern issues which teenagers are challenged by on daily basis. For example, peer pressure, bullying, cyber-bullying, violence and suicide is something which we felt would engage them into the story as it is common for young people to witness or experience. We will also make it stimulating by using the ‘uses and gratification’ theory which states that a good film is one which: • Allows young people to achieve a sense of belonging, for example, it will use colloquial language. • Allows young people to feel amused, for example, it will have some humourous elements. • Allows young people to be self-seeking which can mean maintaining their personal status. For example, in our film, Mary starts of in a normal relationship with Jimmy which many young people today experience. • Lastly it will allow young people to gain new information. For example, we want to tackle the issues some that are mentioned in our themes such as, peer pressure and how it has a prominent effect on young people’s lives.
Target Audience The representations our film will reflect how most typical working class young people and how they behave as an everyday teenage. This will help them appeal to the different characters. However, we will make sure the film doesn’t use a great amount of stereotype as this will make it seem unreal. We think the narrative is great as it is unique and will focus on the lives of British teens on the internet and the negative impact that has on their social lives in a great detail. Lastly, the unique selling point of our film is that films tend to focus on the wider side to British life which relates to our modern industrial society we live in today – Internet is where live is for most young people socialise today, and this where growing problems take place, such as bullying.
Technology We plan to use a HD camera as they are cheap and light to use and would film our clips to an excellent quality. This also allows us to be more creative with the camera as it can be handheld or attached to the tripod and seen as our film is from the British social realism genre, it should connote a gritty feel in the shot types. The only limitations of using this camera is that it needs to be hired from our school and other students will want it, therefore, we need to use it very effectively against our time. We also plan to use a program called ‘Final Cut Express’ on the mac computer, as it has features relevant for the editing process. This will help our production come across as a real professional film. However, we will need to make sure we get the editing done in time and we know how to use the software effectively.
Representations Key Characters • •
Mary – Protagonist Jimmy – Antagonist (Mary’s easily influenced boyfriend)
For our film, we will not focus too deeply on Propp’s theory as we think it’s quote formulaic to use for a British Social Realism film genre. However, we can use the idea that there is a good character because Mary is quite irrational, in a sense that she sends naked photos to her boyfriend without considering the consequences and is an everyday teenage girl. The villain can arguably be Jimmy as he sees it as acceptable to ask her for them. Overall, we will include characters which we feel best fit in with different perception of a “teenager” which will create a verisimilitude for the sequence/narrative.
Narrative A girl named Mary lives a normal life with ordinary friends until we realise that something is happening behind the scenes...We realise her life isn’t all normal at all. Her easily influenced boyfriend, Jimmy soon tries to take advantage of for his peer’s respect. Jimmy goes through all strengths to get her to send pictures of herself with naked because he promises that it will make their relationship stronger. She soon harmlessly sends them, and, he decides to keep it as his own secret. A few days later, at a party, his phone gets stolen. Mary becomes a victim. Her pictures end up all over social networking sites - Facebook and Twitter. From here on, we went with the convention that most British social realist films use which is to have a gritty and raw ending, therefore, once Mary realises her life is no longer “normal” and becomes a nightmare – she has no friends, and everyone is sharing the pictures around and laughing at them. She loses her esteem. She looks for help but there is no one to turn to. Tragically, she takes an overdose on pills and dies. Conventions we will use in our British social realism sequence: • Modern everyday teenagers • Harsh and realistic lifestyle • Set in a working class location
Conventions I will conform to British social realist films, seen as I will have: • Normal everyday characters, for example, Mary and Jimmy are just a typical boyfriend and girlfriend couple • The shots will be very gritty and harsh to my audience. For example, some of my opening sequence clips will have hand held movement and basic camera shots and editing. • The titles shown will have a gritty connotation. • Mary and Jimmy, (the main characters) will use colloquial phrases which will be representative of everyday young people.
Style & Iconography Typically in British Social Realism films, the camerawork is very basic. In our opening sequence, this will help to reflect the simplicity of everyday life. One way we show this is by using a steadicam, as it can be used for handheld movement that can connote a gritty feel to the opening sequence. This will create a verisimilitude and make it seem very realistic for my target audience.
The editing of our opening sequence will also be very basic. Therefore, it will include lots of jump cut transitions which signifies that the clips are very raw. This will help to show that our film is very tough and challenging. We will also use a montage of different clips related to the narrative in a general sense. This will help to create an enigma as it will introduce just the themes, character and era. For our props, we will set the opening sequence at a train station in East London. This signifies that the film is quite casual. For Mary, she will be wearing black jeans and a plain top which shows that she is working class and for Jimmy, he will wear a hoodie and black jeans which connotes him to have an urban background. This will help represent them to be as regular as possible. For the sound, we will use a soundtrack of a piano playing a range of notes to draw suspense for our film which will create an enigma for our audience. This will help to make it seem as realistic as possible.
Institution The institution for our film is the independent production company film four. They are known for their gritty and controversial films such as, Four Lions which follows the theme of politics – terrorism. These type of films usually have subtle mockery, colloquialisms, violence, historical and social elements to them and challenge the viewing audience in an engaging way. Therefore, we will use their “kitchen sink ideology” approach to create a gritty opening sequence which captivates their ethos. This impact with the distribution of our film, as it can be promoted on their website www.filmfour.com. We can also use technological and cross-media convergence to promote it on their terrestrial channel, channel 4, and distribute it on the DVD. This will help for us to reach our audience in a time efficient way and also create a “word of mouth”. We also decided to create our own institution called True Cinema because it encapsulates our film ethos and the British social realism genre by capturing real life. We think it is works well for our film as it is simple and very gritty like our opening sequence..