Evaluation – Main Task

Introduction

For the main task of our AS Media Studies coursework, the assignment brief for our chosen pathway was “You are to create the title and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of 2 minutes”. Having chosen the video pathway too for the preliminary task earlier in the year, me and members of my group already had basic knowledge & experience of the cameras, and also the editing software that we used [Final Cut Pro] at the beginning of this project. In response to the brief given, the first task that was required to be conducted was the creative ideas [See Final Creative Ideas – Main Task] where we had to propose a few ideas of what we would like to base our main task on. Out of our 4 original ideas, we felt that the best idea, in terms of effectiveness and also availability with the resources that we had to film our task with. This idea spurred much research into similar film, and even in one case, games of the same genre. This research has proved extremely effective in terms of ideas for our footage, capturing our footage, and particularly creating tension by editing the footage. An extensive amount of research was also conducted into the costume, which was extremely integral to the audience’s perception of the antagonist in our piece. Our main, almost only source of research on our project was the internet, due to the vast amount of information that is accessible in many different forms using YouTube to view the core of our research, being similar films [and games].

In terms of planning our piece, we used documentation including scripts, storyboards etc. in order to establish the plot, setting, dialogue and even editing effects of what we intended on being our film. Of course, although trying as hard as possible to keep to these original plans, we did make numerous changes throughout the creation of our piece. The most major change that we made would be the removal of dialogue throughout the whole piece. We discussed and decided as a group that, seeing as this film is a psychological thriller, it should have minimal dialogue to both establish and emphasise on the tension within our film and also to highlight the visual side to our piece, which was by far dominant, but not completely over ruling, of the sound included. The sound in our piece comes from both digetic [the knife-dropping, footsteps, and beating sounds] and non-digetic [soundtrack] sources which elaborate on the tension and engage the audience more in the on-screen action. Another change that we made to our film was to exclude a shot panning behind a tree, because this went against one of the most integral principles of filming – The 180 Degree Rule. The final major change that we made to our film was removing the scene of the antagonist twitching in shock and terror, as it did not match the on-screen action and was an unnecessary, slightly irrelevant scene to include.

Overall, in terms of the construction of our piece, we have made a considerable amount of agreed changes in order to keep our film more relevant, abide to the principles of editing and film capturing, create more tension within our film, and emphasize on different issues within the piece to generate a better audience response.

Finished Product

In terms of the principles of capturing film and editing, we have integrated many of these into our film. Throughout this paragraph I will be referring to times in our video e.g. [1:42 – Meaning 1 minute 42 seconds in] to discuss the editing and filming techniques used. The first rule, that we manipulated deliberately was the rule of thirds. For example, in the first flashback [0:43] the protagonist’s eye level is in the top third, and he has plenty of breathing space via the centre and right third. However, at [0:45] the antagonist invades this breathing space, suggesting an invasion of his personal space and violation of the physical barriers deliberately to cause harm. Also, at [0:15], [0:36], and [0:49] the ghillie is at the centre of all thirds on the screen, which is where the viewer’s eye is naturally directed. This clarifies that he is the centre of attention and action at these points, particularly his eyes which are establishing a connection with the audience, by looking directly at them.

We also obeyed the 180 degree rule, as mentioned earlier, by removing any scenes which went against this. If these scenes were left in, then it may discombobulate the audience and lead to them being distracted from the narrative. We checked the film to make sure that all scenes obeyed this principle, and they did quite well indeed.

To enhance the originality and impact of our film, we used quite a vast combination of camera angles and movement. The first shot showed slow panning and zooming, which created tension and a sense of mystery to the audience. This conformed to a typical convention of this genre, to maximize the use of tension throughout. In one flashback, a scene towards the middle, and the ending we used POV [point of view] shots. Other various shots were used too, and this helped not only to make our product better quality, but also to keep the viewer engaged whilst watching it, and to not be distracted by repetitive shot types, movement and angles.

Reflecting on the preliminary task, our finished product in this task was a vast improvement in nearly all ways. This piece was not as long, however, had a lot more action within it. In our preliminary task, there was a lot of walking at the beginning, in an attempt to create tension. In truth, this did not really work and only added a very tedious and boring effect to the opening minute or so. In our main piece however, it is a much more subtle tension that is created through camera movement in the first scene [slow panning, slow zoom] which is also emphasised greatly by the music, in contrast to our preliminary piece. As mentioned earlier, there is also more action within our main film, in contrast to our preliminary where there was just one incident at the very end. Our main task also combines camera techniques more effectively, and also editing techniques. In the preliminary, there were a lot of straight cuts and cutaways, whereas various dissolving, crossfading and jump cuts used because this again gives a more effective feel to our piece. The mise-en-scene was also a lot more effective in our main piece, due to the fact that our preliminary was filmed within college grounds, and we actually carried out deeper location scouting and found very good locations in which to film [meaning actual locations, in contrast to the preliminary corridors used] which greatly added to the verisimilitude in our piece.

In summary, our main task is better than the preliminary in almost all areas, including camera techniques, sound and editing techniques. Through making this second piece, I have further developed both my filming and editing skills by using certain technologies, including the camera itself, but mainly, Final Cut Pro which I am sure will help me in the future too.

Product with Regards to Audiences & Institutions

In this section, I am going to be evaluating our piece in many different ways, considering the target audience,  audience effect, audience feedback, representation of particular social groups, the kind of institution which would potentially distribute our film and finally the way that we have used, developed and challenged various typical media conventions.

Firstly, our target audience for this piece had to be considered, in order to incorporate this into the narrative of our film. Considering the genre, we decided that our target audience would be males, between 15-30 years of age, of any ethnicity and of mainly working class and perhaps middle class people. We chose males, due to the stereotypical ideology of entertainment for men, being that they would enjoy a relatively violent, complex thriller more than the majority of the female population. The age that we decided on was mainly due to our chose BBFC rating of 15 minimum age, and chose 30 as our maximum due to the action elements within our film. And ethnicity could view our film, due to the fact that it can be understood and interpreted by any ethnicity. The final factor, social class, was chosen because we concluded that the upper classes would, stereotypically, not hold any interest in a thriller film, but would be more interested in perhaps a more sophisticated narrative.

The effect that we were going for on the audience, would be to create a sense of tension, and almost shock for them. This was developed from a typical thriller convention, however we challenged it slightly too, by focusing more on the psychological side of the ‘thrill’ than the physical side which is an emphasised convention in typical thrillers.

To see if we had targeted the correct audience, and to see if we had created the desired effect we were required to gain some feedback. To do so, we created a questionnaire and handed it out to 10 people post-viewing our film as a group on YouTube. The questionnaire consisted of the following questions;

1. What gender are you?

2. What age group do you belong to?

3. What is your occupation?

4. Did you fully understand the narrative (storyline) of the film?

5. Would you like to see anything added, removed or changed from the film?

6. Do you feel that having minimal dialogue (speaking) was effective?

7. If this film was to be fully produced, would you want to see it?

8. What age rating would you give this film?

9. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being lowest, 10 being highest) what would you rate this film?

10. [This was a space for additional comments on the questionnaire]

The majority of participants were 16-21, and students. We deliberately used 5 males and 5 females, to conclude if it was suitable for our target audience of males. We found that a lot more males fully understood the narrative and also had a higher average rating – of around 8, which provides evidence for consideration of our target audience. Almost everyone felt that minimal dialogue was effective in creating tension, as we aimed. However, the minority who found that the minimal dialogue was not effective, felt that they would have understood the narrative better if dialogue could have been integrated. We have also gained a relatively high average rating – of around 7 or 8 for our piece, which also suggests that our target classes were interested in this piece, and perhaps the higher classes would not have been.

In summary of the audience feedback, we have concluded that we have targeted the correct audience however we could have mad the narrative more understandable, perhaps through the use of dialogue, or even on-screen writing [maybe using a typewriter text transition effect, or a cinema verite narration technique] to outline the connotation better.

Within our piece, we had to consider the representation of particular social groups, both in connotative and denotative aspects. Although we did not aim to represent any social groups on a large scale, there are 2 groups represented within our piece. The first is a British Soldier, who is portrayed in contrasting ways. This is because within the forest scenes, he is the antagonist, whereas in the flashbacks he becomes the protagonist. This challenges a convention of thrillers, because they normally stick to the ‘roles’ originally allocated to the characters, i.e. protagonist/antagonist. He is not represented stereotypically either, because we left a sense of mystery and did not associate any form of identity with him, not even a name. This could be considered development of a convention, because mystery is certainly an aspect of thrillers but we have taken it slightly further, but we also challenge the stereotype of our armed forces, portraying him almost as a cold-blooded killer, not as the ‘heroic’ soldier represented within popular culture in today’s society. The other group being represented would be an ethnic group – middle eastern, mainly a terrorist association – the ‘proscribed group’ as they are referred to by the UK Home Office.  This group is relatively stereotypically represented, mainly portrayed through the costume, which consists of a plain coloured but patterned shirt, neutral shoes, and a turban, representing social class, but mainly ethnicity and religion. Our film also represents wider groups, being males between 20-30 years of age. However, this is not extremely clear, due to the mystery about the character’s identities, and also possibly due to the fact that the actors [Me & Nick Barritt] are 16/17 years of age.

Finally, we were asked to consider, if our film was fully produced and made operational, what kind of institution would distribute our film. We thought of many potential institutions which suit the genre and issues within this piece, but came to the conclusion that the best choice would be Lionsgate, a major Canadian distributor. We chose Lionsgate because they are normally associated with films which consist of a mature, perhaps complex narrative, have distributed many films of the thriller genre before [for example, American Psycho], and also share a very similar target audience to our group. They also certainly establish a sense of verisimilitude in almost all of their films, which we can relate to ours, particularly by the mise-en-scene.

Conclusion

In summary of this whole project, I can certainly say that it has been a much greater success than the preliminary in many ways, including the final piece, the planning, locations used, narrative, audience effect and regarding to institutions. However, the preliminary has infact helped quite a lot in the making and developing of this film, including continuity, the 180 degree rule, rule of thirds, camera angles, camera movement, digetic and non-digetic sounds and editing skills. These have all been applied as much as possible within our new film, and to a deeper extent than in the preliminary. I feel that all of the changes made within this piece has helped greatly in terms of the actual film and development of the narrative, and by using, developing and particularly challenging media conventions it has created a unique piece of work up to a very high standard. Overall, I can truly conclude that this film has been a great success.

Production Log – Main Task

8th January 2010

Today, we have researched into our main idea and looked at similar films using YouTube. These have influenced many editing ideas which can be applied to our film, as well as potential ideas to include in our narrative. The evidence for the research into our ideas can be found within the Research – Main Task section of my blog.

15th January 2010

Today, we have researched deeper into how scout snipers are portrayed by the different YouTube videos that we have highlighted, which are clips from films. We discussed the schedule and potential locations for which to film our piece, and finally agreed that we would location scout on 12th February.

22nd January 2010

In today’s session, we have completed our script for the main task. The script details dialogue [which has in fact been kept to a minimum], location of each scene, and actions to be performed by the actor(s). This will be taken with us on every day of shooting the film, in order to keep as strictly as we can to the original plot, but may have to be manipulated slightly in order to account for the location and conditions of where we film.

29th January 2010

Today, using the script as a basis, we have completed the final storyboards for our film. These show a more visual representation of our plot, but conduct a similar duty to that of the script. The storyboard, much like the script, will also be taken with us when we film and also is open to change in order to account for other variable which may limit the production of our film [location, conditions etc.]

5th February 2010

Today’s session has been completely focused on individually creating a 1st draft treatment for the main task, which details many various important aspects of our film. This can be updated at a later date, but only if necessary, in order to account for change in our film.

12th February 2010

As mentioned in an earlier production log, today we have been location scouting for the 1st scene, at Epping Forest. Images have been uploaded as evidence of this, and we, as a group, have concluded that it will be a very suitable place to film the majority of our piece in and would provide good mise-en-scene. However, today’s work could have been improved if we scouted for another location in which to film the ‘flashbacks’ of our film in, so we will need to do this another day.

19th February 2010

Today’s session consisted purely of completing all pre-production documents, to allow us to film all of the forest scene next week. The documents can be seen as images in the Pre-Production Documents – Main Task section of my blog. This was quite a successful day, as we managed to achieve our target and complete all documents necessary, thus we plan non filming next week.

26th February 2010

This session was used to complete all filming of the forest scene, and, despite a couple of faults [being – it had rained the night before, therefore extra equipment was needed in order to ensure completion of filming and the occasional pedestrian interrupting our filming schedule] went according to plan. Once all of the desired filming was gathered, we logged & transferred it onto the college Mac that we plan on using for editing our piece.

5th March 2010

Today we have completed the filming of our torture scenes, at the North Weald ‘Dungeons’ [see Location Scouting – Main Task] which has a very intriguing and suitable mise-en-scene, meaning that we did not have to alter the set at all to gain the desired effects. Our primary spot for filming at this location was unfortunately flooded, but luckily we found an extremely similar, almost identical location around 20 meters away from our original location. The bus ride however was longer than expected, taking 40 minutes rather than the predicted 20, meaning a slight time constraint for the filming itself.

12th March 2010

Today we have logged & transferred the rest of our footage onto the Mac that we are going to use to edit our piece. We also began on editing our film, but only managed to edit the first 30 seconds of our piece in 2 hours. Although this sounds very negative, it was completed to a very high standard and went completely according to plan. Next lesson will also be used for editing, however we plan to fully complete all editing and finalize our piece.

19th March 2010

Today, we have managed to complete all editing of our film. This has gone hugely more successful than last session. We have had a bit of difficulty in terms of the non-digetic sound, matching it to the action on-screen. However in the end we managed to sort the music completely in time with the video, and the music chosen adds a lot to our film in terms of tension. In conclusion, me and my group are extremely happy with our final product, despite the odd editing ‘hiccup’.

Final Product – Main Task

Below is an embedded video [Source – YouTube]of the final product for our main task;

Treatment – Main Task

The genre of our piece is primarily a thriller, but emphasises and focuses on the psychological action rather than the actual, physical action that the antagonist experiences. In terms of our target audience, we would give this film a BBFC rating of 15, due to the violent episodes within this film. This age rating is also chosen because viewers of this age will, typically, gain a better understanding and interpretation of the narrative better. The narrative is based on an ex-sniper, discharged from his duty in the army due to extreme post-traumatic psychological distress which he has experienced as a result of being held captive as a prisoner of war for months and months. His stress is so severe, that even extreme rehabilitation processes would not treat him effectively. He still believes that he is in a hostile environment, which causes him to hunt and kill those who cross.

Our assignment brief detailed that our piece should be no longer than 2 minutes long, which, considering it is only required to be the opening scene, is an adequate amount of time. We plan to film 2 main scenes for our piece, one being the antagonist in the forest, rural environment [Epping Forest] armed with only a knife, seeking to kill anyone who crosses him. The other scene will be used as flashbacks of the months where he was held captive and tortured, which needed an appropriate mise-en-scene to work effectively [North Weald ‘Dungeons’] and will also need appropriate editing effects applied [Film Noir will be used, meaning a black and white. high contrast effect] which will create the atmosphere and tension needed to enhance these scenes.

In terms of the equipment needed to gather footage and edit our piece, we do not have a large budget to utilize, however our educational institution will provide with the following – Camera [Sony HD Handycam], tripod, and editing software [Final Cut Pro]. In terms of the costume, one of our group members owns a very effective and appropriate ghillie suit. We would however need a small budget proposal, which was agreed to be £30 to allow for travel expenses and food during scheduled shooting days.

The production roles have been assigned, but are flexible within the group depending on what is being filmed and edited at a particular time. This allows for flexibility and negotiation within our group, thus creating a more ‘agreed’ piece. However, the basic main roles are as follows;

Actors – Nick Barritt, Darren Brace

Producer & Camera-work – George Whitworth

Director – Darren Brace

In conclusion, our film will have a relatively complex, but well-thought out narrative, will be filmed at 1 rural location [Epping Forest] and 1 old WW2 ammunition storage facility [North Weald ‘Dungeons’] to also aid in creating a sense of verisimilitude, we will be using effective editing techniques as well as a combination of camera shots, will be according to the main principles of editing & production [particularly the Rule of Thirds], we will be supplied with the equipment needed, and we have fully assigned the production roles, yet they remain very flexible. There are no apparent ethical issues portrayed within our piece, however some viewers may find it slightly disturbing.

Pre-Production Documents – Main Task

These are the documents which need to be completed retrospective to the filming of our piece. The following documents include: Call sheet, location scouting, personal release, production budget proposal, talent release and risk assessment forms. Photos of the mentioned documents are shown below;

Research of Main Ideas – Main Task

In order to gain an insight into what our film should be like, and how to emphasize the effectiveness of our piece, we needed to conduct some research into films of the same genre. Our primary idea was creative idea no. 2, the sniper. This is where the sniper, wearing a ghillie suit, is suffering from post-traumatic stress issues, from his last tour of duty. He decides to live in the forest, killing any bystanders, regardless of age, gender etc. due to the deep psychological problems that he is experiencing, thinking that anyone is the enemy. Throughout the film will be flashbacks of moments that have lead to the traumatic experience.

To find out what these moments should be like, we researched into many similar moments in other films of a similar genre. These include;

Shooter – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa2ENgXVrvg – This clip was the core of our research, because it was extremely similar to the types of places we would shoot our film and had a relatively similar theme and narrative to our piece. This also demonstrates how the ghillie suit is applied and the effects of it.

Sniper – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdl_WK7F0gU – This scene also demonstrates the ghillie suit particularly well, and shows the role of snipers within the forces. This also includes some of the mise-en-scene that we hope to replicate within our piece.

Saving Private Ryan – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxElnjaWiQE – Although this film does not primarily focus on sniper in contrast to the first 2 research ideas, it still has sniper scenes within it. Due to the era that it is set in [WW2] there is no ghillie suit present either, which in fact helped us establish that we would have to set our piece in contemporary time periods, even the flashbacks.

Jarhead – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubWikbzBcTE – The end of this film was of particular interest, as it subtly emphasises on the psychological harm that can occur from being a sniper, from 1 quote about how a sniper can wait all the time in the world for just 1 shot.

Wanted – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duezsigmSiM – Although this film does not create the verisimilitude that we desire in our film, the sheer distance and effects of this scene have inspired other potential elements for our film. It also emphasises on the ability needed to be a sniper, and can thus establish a link between the occupation and stress/psychological harm.

Call of Duty 4 [All Ghillied Up] – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeJrB5L2TvA – Although this is strictly speaking not a film, it again demonstrates the ghillie suit very well. It also has some very intriguing editing effects at the beginning, which has inspired up greatly to add a similar effect to our piece. It also is very useful in terms of both digetic and non-digetic sound, which can be applied similarly in our piece.

Location Scouting – Main Task

This section includes evidence in the form of photography for the locations at which we wish to film our piece in. We wanted to film the main scene in a rural area, to add a naturalistic effect to our piece. The photos are shown below of our costume, possible locations and also potential shots for our filming. We decided on going to Epping Forest, because this was relatively accessible and would prove a good location in which to shoot the piece. It is also a public, open area, meaning that we would not necessarily need strict permission to film. For the flashbacks, we wanted an almost derelict, quite urban, but with ‘traces’ of rurality area to show the poor conditions that the main character suffered during his years of torture. Shown below are self taken photos of location 1 [Epping Forest], and a link to a website showing photos of location 2 [North Weald ‘Dungeons’] – http://www.derelicte.co.uk/north-weald-redoubt.

As you can see, the locations chosen are quite accessible, permission is not needed to film, and the costume is extremely suitable for the forest location, gaining the camouflage effect that we desired. A member of our group already owned the costume, therefore this would not pose any problems for our production budget.

The photos that we took of Epping Forest show that this is an extremely suitable place to film our piece, and would be accessible and easy to gain permission to film. The photos of location 2 [North Weald] provide an excellent mise-en-scene which would greatly enhance the effectiveness and audience response of the flashback scenes.

Storyboard – Main Task

Shown below are 3 images of the storyboards that we have developed and are going to accord to when producing our film;

Script – Main Task

Script

SCENE 1

FADES IN, BLACK TO WHITE CONTRASTING INTO COLOUR:

EXT. FOREST/WOODLAND

Open natural forest landscape showing surroundings of grass, trees and bushes, The CAMERA ZOOMS IN (From EXTREME LONG SHOT to MEDIUM SHOT) revealing The ANTAGONIST laying on the floor wearing a GHILLIE SUIT staring forward, into the CAMERA. The CAMERA CUTS to a CLOSE UP SHOT of the ANTAGONIST, the CAMERA focusing PRIMARILY on his HANDS (Covered in blood, and shaking).

ANTAGONIST: “War doesn’t dictate who is right, but who is left.”

The CAMERA CUTS to an EXTREME CLOSE UP of the ANTAGONISTS face/EYES.

SCENE 1.1

FLASHBACK

INT. OLD BUILDING IN BLACK AND WHITE/FILM NOIR

OVER THE SHOULDER, TWO SHOT fully showing the ANTAGONIST standing up wearing normal clothing facing an unknown male character, pointing a pistol point blank range at the ANTAGONIST’S HEAD.

SCENE 1

EXT. FOREST/WOODLAND

The CAMERA CUTS back to EXTREME CLOSE UP of the ANTAGONIST’S face/EYES. A GUNSHOT goes off in the background, The ANTAGONIST TWITCHES. The CAMERA FADES OUT and FADES IN to an EXTREME LONG SHOT (Showing the Forest) revealing a walking WOMEN/MAN travelling towards the CAMERA (The ANTAGONIST can be seen in the CORNER of the SHOT).

SCENE 1.2

FLASHBACK

INT. OLD BUILDING IN BLACK AND WHITE/FILM NOIR

MEDIUM CLOSE UP SHOT of ANTAGONIST wearing normal clothes, sitting down against a wall in an empty room, head down (COVERED in BLOOD) HOLDING a KNIFE to his Wrist threatening to cut himself ( His HANDS SHAKING).

SCENE 1

EXT. FOREST/WOODLAND

The CAMERA CUTS to an EXTREME LONG SHOT of the forest/woodland, With the WOMEN/MAN walking along the side of the CAMERA, on HIS/HER pathway. The CAMERA PANS ACROSS, following the WOMEN/MAN. The CAMERA SHOOTS past a tree (The walking WOMEN/MAN being blocked out) until the CAMERA clears the tree to continue showing the WOMEN/MAN walking, only for the ANTAGONIST to be directly BEHIND THEM. The CAMERA CUTS to an EXTREME CLOSE UP of the ANTAGONISTS face/EYES.

SCENE 1.3

FLASHBACK

INT. OLD BUILDING IN BLACK AND WHITE/FILM NOIR

CAMERA shows BEHIND THE SHOULDER SHOT of the ANTAGONIST tied to a chair wearing normal clothes (evidence of his blood can be seen on clothes and side of face/neck). INSWINGING WEAPON comes towards the ANTAGONIST/CAMERA and THE screen BLACKS OUT.

SCENE 1

EXT. FOREST/WOODLAND

The CAMERA returns to a POINT OF VIEW SHOT of the WOMEN/MAN walking, HE/SHE stops, turns around. The CAMERA CUTS to a LONG SHOT of the ANTAGONIST centred in the middle of the screen. The ANTAGONIST suddenly strikes across the screen with his KNIFE (Effectively killing the WOMEN/MAN and covering up the camera like in the previous scene). The screen BLACKS OUT. The END TITLES AND CREDITS roll.

Final Creative Ideas – Main Task

Our assignment brief for the main task was – “You are to create the title and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes”. The first task that we needed to carry out was to think of and develop some creative ideas for our film.

Our original idea took the genre of a action/thriller, gangster film. Our plot was this – 3 mob bosses are put behind bars, but offered a chance to gain back their freedom by carrying out a ‘dodgy’ piece of work for a top secret governmental agency. Their task would be to infiltrate and break into a vault, containing extremely explicit video footage which would cause chaos throughout the nation, but avoiding the authorities and other mobs at the same time. This would be aimed at a rather mature audience, and would have a relatively complex narrative. The inspirations for this film came from other films such as ‘Lock , Stock & Two Smoking Barrels’, ‘Snatch’, ‘Scarface’ and ‘The Godfather’.

Our second idea was also of the same main genre, but the sub-genre was a sniper film. The plot is – There is one man, on the edge of insanity due to experiences of torture within being a prisoner of war, seeking only one thing in his epic quest: Revenge on those who have, both mentally and physically, terrorised him… This idea was inspired by films such as ‘Rambo’, ‘Shooter’, ‘Sniper’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’.

The third idea took the genre of a typical football hooligan film, such as ‘Green Street’ or ‘Football Factory’. The plot would be where 3 brothers attend a West Ham VS. Millwall game, where there is a certain tension between the 2 teams throughout the match, however get caught up in the violent riot that erupts after the game, and encounter the horrific aftermath that results.

Our 4th & final creative idea was a youth-culture centred action film/drama. The plot would be where a youth is dragged into a gang, and the drug-related, gun-related crime and issues that come with it. He finds himself stuck in this subculture, with only one way to escape… This idea was influenced by films such as ‘Kidulthood’, ‘Adulthood’ and ‘Bullet Boy’.

In conclusion, we decided that ideas 2 & 4 were the strongest and would be our primary ideas, because they would be easiest to make, with the resources to make and potentially the most effective pieces to compose. They also offer an alternative narrative to the typical film, especially idea 2 which we could find no contemporary parallel for.