Notes

http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/kd/ocr_9646_kd_gce_spec.pdf

P70

how do they establish genre?
What are the components that make it work?
http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Production Company

Name:



Logo:
The inspiration for my logo came from the perfume 'Miss Dior Cherie'

Change of Idea

My initial idea has been changed. After receiving my feedback from doing my presentation I decided my idea will not be able to work. This is because living in a location such as Norfolk to get around five people from different racial backgrounds and to make it realistically look as though it is in a city is going to be a big challenge and with other A-levels that I have taken, I feel even if i would love to persue this idea it is hugely time consuming and from what the panel said, sticking to a simple idea would be best rather than over complicating things. Having said this, I am still going to keep some aspects of my original idea.
This is my new idea:
I am going to keep with the dance theme, as I have already done research on different types of dance and looked at various clips on YouTube for camera shots I could use, therefore I do not want this research to go to waste. Originally, I had the idea of using five different characters, each of different ethnicities who were going to a dance audition. As mentioned earlier, I and the experts that were present when I pitched my idea to them think that finding various people from different ethnicities is going to be a very hard challenge in an area like Norfolk when a very high percentage of the population is White British. Having said this, I have decided to use people no matter what their race is because this would be a must more realistic and achievable goal, however I am still going to stick with having five people at an audition. This would be shot in a dance studio, consisting of three judges, as well as the five dancers (who will be two boys and three girls.) Previously my idea what totally centred round these five characters going to an audition, now I have decided to focus purely on one dancer, who is not going to the audition. This one dancer will make her way into a city via a bus and walk to where she is going to be rehearsing, however these 'rehearsals' will not be perfessonal ones, I want to create the illusion that the girl is going their because it is a passion that she has and wishes to persue. She simply dancers for fun, yet is unaware of how good she actually is. Whilst the five other characters are auditioning in front of the judges, I am going to give the impression that the other girl should be there but she isn't. She should be the one auditioning, but the other five are getting the opportunity. As the girl is making her way on the journey to where she practises she will be dancing on her way with appropriate backgrounds for the type of dance she will be performing. For instance, at as she walks down to the subway in Norwich with graffiti in the background she will do some street dance and as goes to the ally she will do some tap dancing and the eventually when she gets to the studio where she rehearses she will take off a tracksuit bottoms and do some ballet. This is so as she goes on her journey the audience can really see the various types of dance she can do.

Presentation Feedback

After pitching my inital idea these were the comments I received as feeback from the panel:

Good:


Bad:

Presentation Evaluation

If i'm honest I didn't really enjoy doing my presentation, i'm a person that gets nervous when it comes to doing things on my own and I didn't feel one hundred percent confident in my idea. Having said this, I have learnt from the experience and it wasn't as bad as I previous anticipated. The 'senior perfessionals' listened to my idea and I felt that doing my research had paid off as I didn't feel under so much pressure whilst presenting. Due to nerves, I definitely spoke to quickly so if I was to repeat my pitch to other perfessionals I would ensure I spoke slower.
After doing my pitch it hasn't given me a good experience in knowing what it would be like to pitch a film idea and how I can prepare myself if I was to do it again. For instance, it would have been a good idea for me to have gotten some friends or family to ask me questions about my film idea so I could have anticipated what the experts might have asked and so that I could have seen any protential flaws in my idea prior to doing the presentation.
My pitch itself didn't go very well, the experts asked alot of questions that I took a relatively long period of time to answer, however I think this was due to the fact I wasn't one hundred percent sure on my idea at this time, so I feel if I was more confident I would have been happier about answering the questions given. This also means that I should have decided on an idea at an earlier stage.

Presentation Preparation

Individually we all had to express our inital idea's to a panel of three experts, below is the content of my film pitch.

My Idea itself:

The opening to my two minute film shows a wide overview of a city. My film consists of five main characters who are from a range of different ethnic backgrounds and all communicate their different ethnicities through the medium of dance. Each actor/actress introduces themselves by the means of a voice over, whilst visually on screen the audience see them performing their specialist type of dance. The characters will each look authentic and appear as though  they’re from the nationality known for the dance that they are portraying. Not only this but their voices on the voice over will have accents relating to their individual backgrounds. Furthermore, music will be playing in the background which fits with their style of dance and where they come from, in order for the audience to establish a feel for their cultures. For one of the characters there will also be a flashback of a home video clip witnessing them dancing at a young age (around 8) to emphasise the idea dancing has been a passion of theres from a young age. Once the character’s have done their introductions there will be a key/significant point in the opening, when all the characters will come together in a line. They will not acknowledge one another’s existence but it allows the audience to see visually that no matter where you come from, or the colour of your skin, you can still all share something in common that can unite you all together – which in this case is dance. The end shot will be of a dance academy with a cue of hopefuls lined up outside showing that all five characters are attending an audition.

Locations:

- Wide shot of a city landscape

- Dance school

- A street in Norwich

- Local pub

- A living room within someone’s home

Actors:

Five characters of different races who are a mixture of male and female and communicate their backgrounds and cultures through dance.

What makes your film so special?

Even though there are films that have been produced based on dance, none of the mix different forms of dance and different races to create a message. – This message being that everyone is equal to one another and can share something in common, regardless of where they come from.

Why would people go to see your film over everything else available?

Dance films such as Step Up, Billy Elliot and Fame have already proved to be successful, with Billy Elliot making a turn over of seventy-two million, eight hundred and fifty-tree thousand, five hundred and nine pounds. Although the film is arguably more catered to females of a younger generation (between the ages of 15-14) and for people of a lower class, as a variety of areas of dance are covered it doesn’t matter what area people are interested in they can come and view the film. Various races will also be interested as people of different nationalities are constantly featured. By using a common idea the film also expresses a deeper meaning, which will hopefully intrigue viewers in to watching it.

How does it express your creativity?

It’s an original movie, including original music with designed titles and credits.

How can you guarantee success?

I’ve done research and looked at my target audience. Out of 15-24 year olds, which is the age range my film is mostly focused on 73% said they were interested in dance films, which is a relatively large proportion of the market.

Sterotypes of Genre

After looking at background information about Genre's, we were then each given a piece of writing by our class teacher outlining a short scenario between two characters.
''Character A walks into a bedroom and proceeds to search the room. He/she opens a cupboard and finds a tin box. Character A places the tin box on the end. He/she then takes a small key from her/his pocket and unlocks the tin.
Character B enters the room. He/she takes the box from Character A.''

The only thing which was different about what we were given was each sheet stated a different type of Genre, mine being Sci-Fi.
Individually, we then had to come up with different idea's we gained from the paragraph which related to our genre.

These were the idea's I came up with:

● Set sometime in the future

● Environment was futuristic and unlike nothing the audience have seen before

● Characters A and B look unusual in appearance (perhaps another species of being)

● The key used for the box is a specific shape and works electronically. In other words, it doesn't need to be turned, its just placed in the key whole and changes to a different colour once the key has been accepted.


Outcome:
This task indicated how we each have sterotypical ideas of different types of genres which have been developed through the media that we have been exposed to from a young age. It also showed that a piece of text can easily be changed into another genre depending on factors such as the characters appearance, the props around them and where the text is set.

Genre - Background information

What is a Genre?
''A film genre is a rough categorization of films into genres, which describe the typical subject matter—what the film is about: Western films are about the American West, love stories are about love, and so on. This is distinct from film styles, which describe filmic conventions which can be applied to any genre (see below). Of course, the more that genres are defined, the more likely that a filmmaker will try to combine, transcend and evade categories, so not every film can be neatly labeled.''


A genre can be defined by several different components:
- A set of ventions - recognisable, usually through iconography, familiar narrative, mise-en-scene, actors and style of representation.
- Genres offer comforting reassurance in an uncomfortable world. Threate is quashed, outlaws become ''civilized'', gangsters go to prison, romances end in marriage. Genre is a way of ''tidying up'' the mess of life.
- Genre is a way of working through inportant myths and fears by repetition, variation and resolution.
- Genre functions like a language - a set of rules and a vocabulary with which to organise meaning.
- Genres are not static but constantly renegotiate between industry and audience - a combination of familiar reassurane and new twists.
- A creative strategy used by film producers to ensure audience identification with a film - a means of trying to predict risk.


Examples:
There any many different types of Genre; Action-adventure, Disaster, Gangster, Thriller, Art, Biographical, Chick Flick, Comedy, Black comedy, Romantic comedy,Comic Book, Documentary, Mockumentary, Drama, Historical drama, Family, Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Martial arts, Medieval, Musical, Mystery, Propaganda, Romance, Science fiction, Social guidance, Spiritual, Sports, Spy, Teen, War, Western.


Why is Genre important?
Genre is particularly important in a film. Genre is an essential marketing tool. It provides a means for both distributors and studios to standardise and differentiate product. Films therefore, have to provide elements of apparent originality alongside familiar.


Academic viewpoints about genre issues:
Various people including Richard maltby, Douglas Pye, Steve Neale, James monaco and Jim Collins each have different opinions of what they think about genre in films.
One persons that particularly stands out however, is Partrick Phillips (1996), he states the following;
''Genres are formal systems for transforming he world in which we actually live into self-contained, coherent, and controllable structures of meaning. Genres can thus be considered to fuction in the way that a language system does - offering a vocabulary and a sent of rules which allow us to 'shape' reality, thus making it appear less random and disordered.
at an ideological leve, genre offers a comfortable reassureance, closing down the complexities and ambiguities of the social worlds we actually inhabit, replacing them with patterns of order and continuity deriving from the conventions of genre itself.
Transforming the experience fo living into a set of predictable conventions provides a number or pleasures. These include aticipation of these predictable features and satisfaction when expectations are fulfilled. (At the same time the 'mix' of elements ins slightly different each time thus providing just enough uncertainty for the spectator to be held by anxious curiosity.)''
- I think what Patrick Phillips says is particularly good as he explains  how genre's can effect an audience. How defining what genre you choose can help to intregue those that are watching.

Synopsis

The film opens upbeat yet slightly thought provoking without the audience necessarily realising. The piece contains five main characters all from a variety of ethnicities, who all communicate their different racial backgrounds through the medium of dance. i.e. an Indian woman who is a bollywood dancer. Each actor/actress introduces themselves using a voiceover whilst the audience see them doing their particular style of dancing amongst surroundings which are suited to the stereotype area which the audience would most likely imagine them in. Music played in the background is loud and changes depending on the character and the dance that they are performing. It also links with the form of dance related to their culture. For instance, Indian themed music is being played for when the Indian woman is dancing, in order to emphasise her culture and where she comes from. In addition, the music of course, is turned down when the characters are doing their voiceover's to ensure their voices are able to be heard. As all the introductions to the characters have finished a key point in the film is shown when all the different ethnic backgrounds come together in a line. They do not acknowledge one another's existence but the audience can clearly see through imagery and visual form that whether or not you come from a different cultural background is insignificant, as everyone in the end, wants the same outcome and are equal to one another. Just because they have a different colour skin, or have been brought up with different food/religious beliefs does not mean they do not share things in common and can want the same opportunities and goals in life, or alternatively, that they can't end up in the same place. The ending shot is of a big, grand building, with a que of people outside, and including a sign so the audience are aware that they are going to a dance audition. This in turn, makes the audience wonder what exactly is going to happen in the next sequence of the film.