Feedback

We showed the first draft of our cut to fellow Media Students, both AS and A2, to get some feedback on our opening. This was some of the feedback we received:

--> Filling the silence/adding more sound
--> Lack of understanding
--> Quickening the pace
--> Red and white text didn't work

Technologies Used

iMovie
We used iMovie to edit our film as it is easy to use and we had easy access to it through school computers. There are lots of features of iMovie that allowed us to get the desired effect that we were looking for when we storyboarded our piece. This included their predesigned titles, which allowed us to choose from a wide selection of looks for our credits, and we could also change the font.

Our final font choice is American Typewriter:

Camera

The camera we used to film our piece is the Canon EOS 600D DSLR. The quality of the camera is brilliant and although its primary purpose is for photography, it is recommended for young filmmakers as the film quality is very good. This made our opening look a lot more professional than if we were to use an iPhone or cheaper camcorder, as the use of focus was very important in our piece and it would have been more difficult to produce the desired effect on cheaper equipment. 

 You can see from the quality of the stills (left) that the camera was very effective in producing footage of a professional quality. 





Sound Recording
Our opening required a lot of sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic that we needed to record separately. We used the voice recorder app on an iPhone (iOS 7) to record sounds that we could then lay over the footage. 

Costumes

The costume for the character Tim was simple. A black jumper with trousers and a rucksack that were army print, to make clear that Tim was a soldier. The audience should be able to establish this from his appearance.

Talent Sourcing

As a group, we decided that the look of our main actor was more important than their acting skills. This was because there are no speaking parts in the opening, and the requirements of the role are not difficult, so for us, getting the right look was important. 

Lead actor:
Robert St.Pierre

Aged:
20

Playing Role of:
Tim

Hair:
Short, medium brown

Facial Hair:
Short stubble

Eyes:
Blue

Height:
6"1


We wanted a young man to play the part. If he were too old, we would lose some of the vulnerability of the character, which we didn't want to happen. The facial hair made him look a rougher which worked in our favour as the character himself is a soldier and quite rough. 

Health & Safety

Our biggest concern in terms of Health & Safety was our location, as a large quantity of our footage was filmed on or near roads. There was 1 actor and 3 crew members during the filming of these shots, and this worked to our advantage, as while 1 member of the crew was using the camera, another could direct and assist in the filming and the third crew member could look out for any cars or other dangers while we were filming. We rotated these roles so that everyone had the opportunity to film and so that there wasn't just one person checking to see if it was safe to film. Our actor was over the age of 18, so we were not responsible for his safety, which means we were able to concentrate on our own well-being and not that of the actor. 

Film Classification

These are the age ratings according to the British Board of Film Classification

These guidelines are put in place to:

- protect children and vulnerable adults from potentially harmful or otherwise unsuitable content

- empower consumers, particularly parents and those with responsibility for children, to make informed viewing decisions 










According to the British Board of Film Classifications, we decided that the most appropriate rating for our film would be Suitable only for 15 years and over. 

Although the nature of our opening does not incorporate the majority of elements associated with 15 rated films, the likelihood that they will be incorporated into the rest of the film is high. For example, it is likely there will be strong violence and strong language throughout, as it is set in a war environment. 

Storyboard

This is the storyboard for our Film Opening. We created it on FlipSnack to show the progression of the opening with the individual shots, which we drew ourselves and scanned into a computer. It is in two parts, shown in the links below:

http://www.flipsnack.com/XyliaGrey15/if-i-should-die.html?b=1&p=16

http://www.flipsnack.com/XyliaGrey15/if-i-should-die-fdh3ypjuw.html?b=1&p=16

Iconic Director

Trainspotting (1996) - Danny Boyle


One of the most iconic British Social Realisms, Trainspotting surrounds the issues and influences of drugs in Edinburgh. The director, Danny Boyle, also directed major features such including Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and 127 Hours (2010), which are also both hardcore films that surround views of modern day issues. 

Genre

The decided genre of our film is Social Realism, which is a typically British film genre that focuses on current issues in modern society such as money, drugs and illness but can also delve into issues surrounding religion and politics. Although our film is strongly related to war, it focusses on the issue of mental illness, as our film follows the development of mental illness of our main character, Tim, who gets to the point of mental stability where he feels he has to kill his own sister in order to fulfil his purpose as a soldier.  

Some of the main conventions of social realism are:

- using unknown actors
- working class social status
- current issues
- political or religious views
- young actors/characters, normally between the ages of 13 and 20.









The company we would use to produce our film would probably be Film4, because they are famous for producing British Social Realisms like ours.