Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Film Development: [Idea Part 1]

Introduction

Welcome everyone! Today I will be introducing our idea for our film opening! So, this idea was one our first ideas for our film before we changed into our current idea! 

What was our original film idea?

Our original idea was: Piper High has all students under mind control (by pills, a video they have to watch, and morning announcements). In this mockumentary, it demonstrates the symptoms of this zombie-like state. The mind control is supposed to make people submissive, but a few anomalies are bad & seek to destroy/take the sanity of the main cast, who are the only ones who know the truth of the mind control  and refuse to take it. They decided to try and warn everyone about it. The villains are prejudiced (sexism and racism is obvious), however all the mind controlled people are racist and sexist as well, but are more subtle (in a Get Out kind of way). Through much compassion and creative skills, nonconformity, wisdom, and influence/charisma, they are able to successfully release people from mind control. 

Work

 Film Development

Teammates Names:

Marley B, Lexi M, Peyton P, Khloe R

Period (s):

5th Period

Production Company Name:

Milagros Studios

 

Date:

1/26/2024

 

Identifying Genre

Identify the genre of your movie: Drama

Hybrid/subgenre (s): Dramedy/Mockumentary

Identify the iconography of your film based on your genre:

Common elements of drama are exaggerated plots and situations, typically have happy/satisfactory endings, the main characters navigate the highs and lows of life, while having an ardent desire to do good and overcome adversity, incorporates relatable issues, elements of sensitive struggles/topics are explored, and are meant to share lesson about a universal theme that all can possibly identify with.

 

Identifying Audience

Identify the audience type and their demographics and psychographics.

Type of audience

(Mainstream or Niche Audience)

·         Mainstream teenagers to young adult audiences (from ages fourteen and up)

 

Market Segmentation Analysis

Demographics (In the US)

Psychographics

Age(s):

·         Gen Alpha: 2013-2025 (eleven years old and younger)

·         Gen Z: 1997-2012 (twenty-seven to twelve years old)

·         Millennials- 1981-1996 (twenty-eight years old to forty-three)

 

Race/Ethnicity(s): Majority White, Black, and Hispanic population

·         Gen Alpha: 71% White, 15% Black, 7% Multi-racial, 6% Asian

·         Gen Z: 51% White, 25% Hispanic, 15% Black, 6% Asian and Pacific Islander, 5% multiracial, 2% American Indian/Alaskan Native

·         Millennials- 20% White, 27% Asian, 24% Black, 27% Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander, 24% American Indian/ Alaskan Native, 25% Hispanic/Latino, 22% multiracial

 

Class(es): (lower middle class to upper middle class/wealthy)

·         Gen Alpha- Middle Class

·         Gen Z- Lower Middle Class

·         Millennials- Upper Middle Class

 

Sexuality: (Heterosexuality and Bisexuality)

·         Gen Alpha- N/A

·         Gen Z- approximately 80% Straight or Heterosexual, 23% gay or lesbian, bisexual, and other sexual orientation (5% Bisexual, 3% Gay or Lesbian, 2% other)

·         Millennials- 11.2% identifies LGBTQ+, roughly 80% are heterosexual

 

Religion: (Agnostic and Christian)

·         Gen Alpha- N/A

·         Gen Z- 34% non-religious

·         Millennials- 29% non-religious

 

Goals:

Gen Alpha- to forge connections, build communities, and shape their identities

Gen Z- to have purpose and accountability

Millennials- time, money and energy all at once.

 

Fashion style:

Gen Alpha- bright colors, graphic tees

Gen Z- baggy jeans, crop tops, oversized

Millennials- skinny jeans, high waisted

 

Personality Traits:

Gen Alpha- socially aware, technology connected, growing up fast

Gen Z- competitive, financially focused, self-reliant

Millennials- ethical, creative, connected

 

Values:

Gen Alpha- honesty, egalitarianism, personal responsibility, and innovation

Gen Z- experiences and purposeful purchases

Millennials- authority, achievement, and influence

 

 

Favorite Genre (in film):

Gen Alpha- Singing and Dancing (i.e. musicals)

Gen Z- Comedy (an example is The Office)

Millennials- True Crime and Drama

 

Mental Issues:

Gen Alpha- Anxiety and Depression

Gen Z- Stress, Anxiety, and Loneliness (higher than other generations)

Millennials- Depression (higher of other living generations) and Anxiety

 

Habits:

Gen Alpha- Technologically-wired and savvy

Gen Z- Social media consumption and meditation

Millennials- Convenience, shopping, paying bills, taking trips, eating out, online shopping.

 

 

 

Film Idea Theme

List at least 3 themes for your film and why. Be specific. Think about your audience.

q  Coming of age story about Love vs. social control (empathy) and self-discovery and character development in early life, because our group not only intends to communicate these universal themes to our audience, but we also want to make it relatable to teens and young adults (drama element).

q  In drama, it is common to incorporate themes such as discovering self-knowledge, which will most likely trigger emotional responses in our audience (relatability), and may even represent different types of people, and if possible, we hope that our audience can resonate with our characters on-screen (to a degree) and learn traits about their selves. A good example of this is in the movie Clueless by Amy Heckerling, where a privileged, wealthy, and entitled protagonist learns the value of personal growth, how to better treat others, while appreciating what she already has, because of her previous superficial worldview and ignorance.

q  Social themes/sensitive societal topics such as sexism, racism, classism, abuse of power, and materialism to name a few are what our group intends to incorporate in our film, due to our passion on educating and highlighting these topics that heavily reflect our society/ current social climate, which can be eye opening to our audience and can evoke them to ponder and take a stand against the agendas (even subtle ones) that are pushing those narratives. In a way, we intend to counteract possible preconceived notions/or beliefs planted in our audience’s minds, which may apprise our audience to have a change of heart towards themselves and the world around them.

 

What does the audience should expect from your film’s opening?

Key Media Studies Concepts

Representation invites audiences to understand your media text and agree with the message in preferred ways. Depending on the audience, different interpretations are to some extent possible. As a group identify the following:

Ideology

What ideas/ issues do you find important to your audience, to illustrate in your film? Provide 3 specific examples.

-Our film is meant to reflect societal issues that are very real and are important to discuss for any hope/effort of change in the future. Three specific examples that are prevalent, and commonly seen issues that we will explore in our film are:

 

-Racism

-Sexism

-Abuse of Power (while authority, law, and order are responsible for the function of our society, at times those in high position of power may have their own agendas, ideologies, and misuse their position to control others)

 

Who are the individuals/characters that you would like to highlight in your film?

Think of positive or negative stereotypes ……….

Positive

The main characters in the film are the ones who are warning everyone else of this controlled and horrible society. They are rebellious and are often hated and discriminated against for being different.

Types of character types are: The Dreamer, The Rebel, The Peacemaker.

Negative

The rest of society are the discriminators. They are the ones that are hating on the main characters for being “different”. They are prejudiced, and are racist, sexist but in a subtle way. They believe that being mind-controlled is the “norm”.

What social groups will you be focusing on? Think of the demographics and psychographics of your characters.

Demographics: gender, age, ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability/ability, etc.

Diverse ethnicity, teenagers, feminism, ranging from lower middle class-upper middle class.

 

 

 

 

Psychographics: Attitude, interests, lifestyles, beliefs/values, and personality.

Mind control, everybody is the same,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Identifying Mise-en-scene in your film

Where is the setting of your story? Think of a courtyard, classroom, grocery store, cafeteria, home, etc.

The setting is in a school; school hallway, school classroom.

When is the story told?

Think of the period, past/ present/ future. Day/afternoon/evening/night

The story is told in the Present, most likely in the morning and the afternoon (during school hours; 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.).

Props

-Weapons such as scissors, rulers, staplers, pins, or books, which all signify the horror genre.

-Phones

-Backpacks

-Computers/ Laptops

-Television or large screen (for mind-control programming)

-Food (for extra mind control)

-Intercom (for administration to chant mantras)

Set Design

-Classroom settings, with desks arranged in rows to signify mind-control and order

 

-Vast outside settings, to emphasize the vastness of the mind-controlled population in the school, versus the small percentage (the protagonists) who are not mind controlled, and to establish how small the protagonists are versus most of the school. To add, our school is one of the biggest campuses in our area, and we could use vast stairways, our large buildings where the protagonists could run from antagonists, or where possible scenarios where the protagonists could become lost or cornered by the antagonists, because of running away from them.

 

 

 

Colors (Add the meanings associated with the colors.)

Instead of following character conventions, the colors listed below are used for character archetypes that are seldom shown the following color, to further shock the audience in later scenes:

 

-Light blue signifies calmness and humility/ neutrality, which we would cast the antagonists of the film to wear. It is notable to mention blue in horror could also signifies coldness, death, uneasiness, or depth such as the ocean (so our production team could regularly broadcast a range of different shades of blues to complement the scenes that they are captured in).

 

-White would also be worn by the antagonists to not only contrast their negative, extreme personalities, but to reveal that their characters believe they are good and pure. It is worthy to note, that white is also a color of innocence, and numerous MK Ultra themed movies included white being associated with mind-control programming.

 

-Dark and neutral colors would be worn by the protagonists to signify balanced, and a relatable/ conventional personality type, as neutral colors are worn by modern everyday people, and these colors are not too overwhelming, nor stand out.  

Composition

 

 

 

 

-We plan to mainly use shallow focus, as our location is crowded with many students, and it would be challenging to capture shots without students from our school in the background (to add, we want to respect the privacy of those who may be uncomfortable being recorded on camera).

 

-Deep focus would be used for intense scenes, so that the audience could pay attention to details in the surroundings of the characters, and to see the characters more clearly (for instance, their costumes, hair, and other physical attributes).

 

-Symmetrical balance for shots that have the characters doing casual everyday activities (going to class, going to the park, or in a classroom setting doing their work).

 

-Unsymmetrical balance for dominating, or intimidating scenes, that are meant to highlighting shocking or devious actions from the film’s antagonist, which would establish the film’s horror genre.

Tone of Film (Describe in full sentences and why would you use them.)

 

 

 

 

 

The tone of the film would be eerie. This is meant to subconsciously unsettle viewers to take the issues discussed in the film (such as a mind control, sexism, and racism) more seriously, while adding a suspenseful tone to keep the audience engaged/ interested.

 

-Upbeat tone in the beginning of the film to juxtapose the message of the film, to further contrast how disturbing the true meaning behind the film is.

 

-Comedic/ Humorous tone to establish our films partial comedy genre, and we could make characters from the main cast comedians or make the antagonist do embarrassing or extreme actions (for example, chanting to themselves awkwardly in silence, while staring into the mirror) that would shock the audience to laughter.

Camerawork (Shot size, angles, framing and camera movement.

 

 

 

 

 

Shot sizes: Establishing shot, master shot, wide shot, full shot, medium shot, medium close up

Angles: Low angle, high angle, Dutch angle, eye level, shoulder level, knee level

Framing: point, lines, shapes, space, balance, deep focus, shallow focus

Camera movement: Static, Dolly in, dolly push out, zoom out, zoom out, tracking,



Reflection

In conclusion, our film was originally going to be a mind-control based film, with zombies, and a main cast of rebels trying to regain society back to normal again. But, we scrapped the idea because we believed that it would be difficult to try to do. We also didn't feel so comfortable with the idea because we didn't have time to do it. If we had the correct resources and enough time, I think we would've been able to execute this idea well! Thank you for reading, P is signing off.

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