Soundtrack

For our film opening (the chase scene) we used a song by 'J Dilla' under the record label 'Universal Music' if we could use a 30 second section of the song. The record label which the song was originally released under was 'MCA inc' however this then taken over by 'Universal music'. We felt it appropriate to at least inform the record label we were using a small section of the song (for educational purposes) to refrain from breaking any copyright laws.

Here is the email I sent the email to 'contact@umusic.com'


'To whomever this may concern

I am writing as an A-level media studies student from Oxford, I was just seeing whether I could use an instrumental under your record label for my coursework (for educational purposes)? Your permission would be greatly appreciated. The song is produced by 'J Dilla' and it is named 'Runnin' (originally on the record label 'MCA' which was later taken over by 'Universal Music'). It will merely be a soundtrack to a movie (for roughly 30 seconds) me and my classmates have made. We may have to put the video on Youtube but I must remind you we are not putting the song itself on to Youtube (it's for the film). It would be much appreciated if you were to grant me and my classmates permission

yours sincerely

George Nolan'





The other piece of music in our film opening (heard throughout most of the piece) required less effort, as we did not have to ask for permission.

Day 1 - Filming

Narrative - Factory

- Initially 'Veronica' is trying to hitchhike
- (Flashback - other scene/location seen in Day 2)
- She then comes across a rundown factory, which appeals to her
- She enters the perimeter, it begins to get more eerie
- After entering, she lays down her coat and sleeps
- Blackout (credits and audio)
- She opens her eyes - in response to the latter audio


How the filming went? and why we chose the location? etc.

For the opening 2 minutes of our film, we thought it would be appropriate to use the rundown factory near Kidlington as one of our filming locations. It is rather appropriate for our film, as it looks dark, scary and eerie, which reflects Veronica's current situation, therefore the location is perfect for informing the viewer of her situation - being chased by organised criminals. Furthermore, in our footage you will see a large piece of debris with spray paint on it saying 'welcome to hell', this was perfect for our film as subsequent to this footage she enters the factory. Moreover, it adds to the eeriness of the film, perhaps foreshadowing something bad which could happen in the film.

Perhaps we wanted to include this factory to show the audience what Veronica would have to put up with; to gain sympathy or even empathy.

On the day, the weather was cold, snowy and it was getting slightly dark. This was a great coincidence for us, as the weather did indeed match the dark and mysterious location. This enhances our film, as the mise en scene portrays the mood so clearly (due to weather and background).

We have not included any speech in our opening, which reflects the lack of voice people like 'Veronica' (escorts) have in society. The use of no speech, also helps to convey her loneliness/isolation and matches the empty feeling of the visual setting.

Influence and inspiration

The films that influenced us were 'Kidulthood' and 'City of God '. Perhaps this is because they both represent people involved in crime and are also quite realistic, based around the idea of gritty realism. Like these two films, our film targets youth and urban culture. Both of them have generic codes of an urban drama film - teenage/young actors, drug abuse, violence and sex abuse etc. Our film contains the latter themes.

Shooting Schedual

Mood-board - Target Audience

Here is a mood-board me and my group devised

Production Companies - distribution of our film

We thought that Film4 could promote and distribute our film as it represents low budget British film. The TV channel Film 4 also has a big audience as it is available on 'Freeview' so people would in turn take a high interest in it's products, due to the easy and free of charge accessibility. Film 4 has produced many critically acclaimed films in the passed such as 'Trainspotting' and 'Four Lions'. These films cover very controversial issues such as drug abuse and terrorism, so we can infer that Film4 aims to raise awareness for certain sections of society and fulfil the publics needs socially. This, we feel, is a perfect match for our particular film, as it surrounds contentious issues like prostitution, sexual abuse, drug abuse, crime etc. Overall Film4 would be our ideal production company as it has a huge and diverse audience, whilst covering a wide range of issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Revolver Entertainment' was another production company we related our film to. This is because they have produced films such as 'Kidulthood', 'iLL Manors' etc. These films are similar to ours as they represent urban youth culture just as ours does. As well as this repetition, our film offers a different twist to the above films, concentrating on characterisation and the isolation of one character. All in all we believe 'Revolver Entertainment's' audience will appreciate our film as it works from a similar platform to the films already released by the company. Furthermore, the company distributes its products on a number of different levels, through DVD's, Downloads, Cinema etc. And due to its relatively young audience, it will receive a bigger audience than most small production companies through the particular medium of social networks (Facebook, Twitter etc.).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Film ident

Myself and my group did a brainstorm of various different ideas we had for naming our production company. Our first idea was 'Heatwave Productions' however we thought this was too self-explanatory, and it also gives off a danger/action type of vibe. To add to this, we thought it lacked edge or depth. We also thought of the names 'Trap Productions' and 'Ripper Productions', again the sense in the group was that these titles were slightly overstated and may be associated with a graphic horror type genre (with films such as 'Saw' etc.). After much consultation, we concluded that our film ident would be 'Dark Feather Productions'. This is because its mysterious connotations would be thought-provoking among our audience, gaining their curiosity.



(Our rough brainstorm)

 

 

(Draft)

 

 

 

After coming to this conclusion, we immediately researched different ways of creating illustrations, we found that the website 'LunaPic' was appropriate for our ident, as it was simple and easy to use.

 



 



Then, one of the members of our group (Bruno- as he was the most skilful with technology) completed the illustration of our film ident/production company ident.

Here it is...