Urban Locations (Location Scouting)

Urban Locations
For our trailer we are looking to film in two distinct environments, urban and country. For the urban environment we are looking for areas that present a 'gritty' and 'expansive' atmosphere.

Charing Cross Station - This location will be used as the starting point of our master tracking shot, following our lead protagonist from the train, through London, to the conclusive shot of our trailer. The pictures below show some of the areas we will walk through tracking our protagonist.

London Bridge / Westminster Bridge - We are still in discussion as to which bridge we will conclude the tracking shot and the trailer. London Bridge has a 'grand' appreance whereas Westminster bridge offers a more 'open' space.

London Bridge:

Westminster Bridge:

St James Park - This park will be used as a way of portraying how our lead protagonist is missing home and her family,a piece of counrty, tangled up in the urban enviroment of London.

London Underground - This environment is regularly seen with 'buskers', so it would be an effective way of depicting our protagonist becoming involved with this culture. 

4 More London / Tower Bridge - This spot by Tower Bridge is a where we would like to do our time lapse, we felt it offered a atmospheric view of London with tall modern buildings and tall cranes. 

Piccadilly Circus - This environment would be effective at showing the chaotic and busy environment our character has dived into. 

Time-Lapse research

This National Geographic Time-Lapse is a professional example of Time-Lapse photography.

The duration time of a Time-Lapse can vary from a few seconds to several months. 

For example, a time lapse could consists of a photograph every 30 seconds for an hour. The end result being something like this:

The time lapse will be a key feature to our Trailer. Its features fuelled the ideas of how we want to shoot our footage. Taking advantage of the compositions that can be diversified, enabling the artistic feel we want, in the streets of London.

Useful Guides: 

1. http://www.learntimelapse.com/time-lapse-photography-how-to-guide/
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPeEZn0_ezs

Certificate Ratings

The BBFC (British Board Of Education) are the people behind classifying the ratings of the films we watch. 

Every 4-5 years, the BBFC carries out a major public consultation exercise to find out what the public thinks about the age rating of films and videos before they are released and whether the BBFC’s classification standards meet public concerns.

The main issues that are addressed when allocating a film (for example) are :

• Discrimination - 
  Potentially offensive content, relating to such matters as race, gender, religion, disability or sexuality.
• Drugs - 
  No work taken as a whole may promote the misuse of drugs and any detailed portrayal of drug misuse likely to promote or glamorise the activity may be cut. 
• Horror - 
  The use of frightening elements which might scare or unsettle an audience is part of a long tradition of story telling and film making. 
• Language - 
  Many people are offended, some of them deeply, by bad language. This may include the use of expletives with a sexual, religious or racial association, offensive language about minority groups and commonly understood rude gestures. 
• Imitable behaviour - 
  Classification decisions will take into account any detailed portrayal of criminal and violent techniques, and any glamorisation of easily accessible weapons, such as knives.  
• Nudity - 
  Natural nudity with no sexual context is acceptable at all classification levels, but will not occur more than occasionally in the lowest category. 
• Theme - 
  Classification decisions will take into account the theme of a work, but will depend significantly on the treatment of that theme, and especially the sensitivity of its presentation. 
• Sex - 
  The portrayal of sexual activity can range from kissing and verbal references to ‘making love’, to detail of real sex. This is reflected in the classification system, in which progressively stronger portrayals are allowed as the categories rise. 
• Violence - 
  Violence has always been a feature of entertainment for children and adults. Classification decisions will take account of the degree and nature of any violence in a work. 

Props

Here is a list of the Props we are looking to use in our trailer

• Guitar (x2) - A guitar will be used for our main character, another will be needed for the shot in which a guitar is smashed apart. 

• Fake Cigarettes - This will allow us to effectively portray the 'negative' and 'rebellious' affect that the male antagonist has on our female protagonist. 

• Medication - We will use medication purchased from a pharmacist to create the illusion that our protagonists family member is ill

Look and Feel

Costume - Girl

The costume theme for the girl will be practical but fashionable. We will focus on using layering of her clothing to represent warmth and practicality of living in London in the cold months, which is when we will be shooting our trailer. 

This picture shows a girl wearing a shirt knitted jumper and coat, this look is something we will incorporate into the girls costume as it looks warm and could be bought for minimal money, as she will have minimal money in the plot of our trailer. Also it uses the layering of clothes whist looking fashionable.

Going with the theme of layering clothing we thought about sweatshirts, we found a sweatshirt with a lion on which we fell represents her strength and courage to move to London to look after her granddad. 

We want to represent her personality and situation in her clothing whilst making her clothes look natural and practical for her life and the environment she is in. 

Themes

Drugs. Prostitution.

Drugs are frequently used in films as themes and influences representing illegal actions which therefore relates to illegal people. drugs are a simple and relatively easy way to represent gang culture, or illegal actions as they are reality easy to fake, but they are hard to make look professional and realistic when in action. The way that they are handled and used can either be realistic and give a great feel and give the exact impression they are trying to create or they can look cheap and tacky and ruin the feel of the film.

The drugs most commonly shown in films are cocaine, heroin, LSD and cannabis.

Prostitution is a theme that can be portrayed in a trailer without showing graphic detail of prostitution. This has been shown in many ways in films.

Here are a few things I have noticed that have been shown in films to show struggles of prostitution.

- Girl on street corner.

- Girl being approached by man.

- Extravagant make up.

- Crying in toilets.

- Knocking on door of apartment, man answers.

- Wads of cash being handed between man and girl.

When done well and using reflecting effects and grading on the film the impression of prostitution can be given well, giving a story line that will bring sympathy from the audience.

Music Video inspiration

STREET SPIRIT (FADE OUT) - RADIOHEAD

The blend of two shots fading into each other is fitting to our trailer as we want to use the benefits of Black and White and close up shots to escalate the discomfort and vulnerability of our Busker. The fading in and out represents the indecisive and unsure elements of her life and the choices she has to make.

JONNY CASH - HURT

This extract demonstrates the sense of loneliness and vulnerability we want our girls Grandfather to have. The framing used is something similar to what we envisioned when we discussed a shot of the Grandfather in his house, in the country.

The dark silhouette styling of the shot is also useful in delivering these themes.

MOUNT KIMBIE - CARBONATED

This music videos style uses low lighting with blues tinges to it; this colour theme is something we like however we might de-saturate the colour down to increase its purpose and impact.

The first picture features a panning shot on London, with a wide angle to include more in the shot. The lights that shimmer of the river create a pleasing view. The wide angle also adds a sense of perspective into the shot - demonstrating an immense scope of London.

The second picture is a tracking shot, moving backwards with the subject, and bobbing up and down. This creates a drained, sloppy mood - which would reiterate our characters feelings that revolve around her story.

ED SHEERAN - THE A TEAM

The music video uses all black and white shots to create a more gritty vibe to the video, portraying homelessness and the struggles the girl in the video is facing.

The shots include use of time lapse photography, which is a great way of showing time moving around the girl, and how her world stands still, staying the same. 

in thew video they have added a level of prostitution, to show how she has to make money to fuel her addictions. This is a good way of bringing a hard hitting storyline into a short film, as the cinematography is easy to portray well, without it looking cheesy, such as with a theme like drugs. 

Mood Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-9X5jbTcKA