Research

TARGET AUDIENCE RESEARCH:

By Hana
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TARGET AUDIENCE SURVEY RESEARCH:

Who our potential target audience would be and how to attract them-

Sumana

SURVEY on audience:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3GZTKBX

SURVEY on Coming Of Age:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7VLQKN8

SURVEY on Advertising Methods:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/77N2ZWL

Dione

Audience - of different ages.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PW73FKR

 SURVEY Monkey - By Sumana

I took a SURVEY of 100 students in Brentford School for Girls. I chose to send the survey within our school because after feedback, our movie was said to be more attractive to girls, and the school it was sent in is an all girl school.

Target Audience:







 Many people that answered were the ages of 13-15, 

After seeing the statistics, it's clear that many people within our targeting group, like to watch coming of age films. 

One person said she watched Silver Linings Playbook which was one of the videos we analysed. Other's listed the coming of age films they've watched, from which some were familiar to us.

When we analysed the results, we chose to analyse the results between two students.

One girl was in year seven and she said she doesn't watch coming of age films (obviously because of her age). Whereas one girl was in year twelve and she said she watches coming of age films and her favourite is Silver Linings Playbook. 

Many people said the main thing they look for in a coming of age film is good storyline. This increased my confidence as our storyline (in our view) is quite strong. 

Coming of Age:

Many people (of our target audience ) said that they watch films every month. This shows positivity because once our sequence is made, many people have the chance to watch it depending on the month of 'release'.

Many people who completed the SURVEY were of our target audience, making the feedback more realistic for us. 

Out of the people who answered, at least half of the people said they would watch a movie about the overcome of a mental illness - Positive! And the majority of these people were 15

Nearly all people said they would watch a movie with an illness narrative because they can either relate to the character, understand what they've been through, or have said that it's interesting. 

Advertising Methods:

This links to Target Audience because on the basis of our target audience, we can chose advertising methods appropriate to our audience.

Many responders said that they find out about latest movies through trailers, which is a good thing because we made a teaser trailer to help us promote the movie.

By Sumana

Target Audience Survey

By Dione

Target audience conclusion:

 We decided that judging from the surveys and research from BBFC we concluded that our target audience will be from 15-18, the reason being is that form the survey the younger children (12-14) didn't understand the concept of our coming of age sequence, we realized that they wouldn't understand the convention of a coming of age films either, as well as that we found out that they done usually go for that genre.

Regarding the BBFC, we looked at the guidelines of a 12 and a 15 rating and ticked of the things our opening sequence would go under, from that we found out our sequence would be considered a 15 as it has strong language, use of drugs and reference to suicide and depression.- Marwa

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OPENING SEQUENCE ANALYSIS

Boyhood Review

By Sumana 

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Scene opens with non- diegetic music in the back ground with black screen which creates a sense of mystery and confusion, it follows with voice over of a male speaking this creates enigma as we don't know who it is yet suggest its the protagonist, there is written text on screen saying 'karel psychiatric facility- Baltimore' which gives the audience a bit of hint of where the first scene or may be even the whole movie is set, it also states where it takes place. Black screen fades to a medium shot of man with his back facing towards us, voice over turns into dialogue, dialogue suggests he is going through relationship problems, the man is disrupted by another voice in the background telling his that 'the doctor is waiting' which connotes he is seeking medical attention plus going back to the text written on screen backs it up further, we only see half of the protagonists face. There are a few shots of the protagonists room, in one of the shots the camera tracks into a piece of paper stuck to the wall with the word excelsior written on it, the track suggests it's an important part of his life maybe a word he lives by, non- diegetic music starts again this time the music is more up beat which may mean it give him motivation. The camera creeps around the right hand side of the protagonist and we finally fully see him, camera pans away from protagonists face giving us only a short amount of time to have an emotional connection with him, this connotes that may be we shouldn't get too attached to him and creates a sense of foreboding.

High angle shot of protagonist, tempo of the non-diegetic music changes. Mid shot of medication denoting he is on medication for some sort of illness/ disorder. Close up of medication that had been spat out by the protagonist connoting he cannot be trusted. Camera tracks towards a group of people sitting in a circle, the fact that the group are sitting quiet close to each other suggests a personal relation and emotional attachment. The sound bridge that occurs as the camera is panning around the inside of the circle denotes that are talking about their problems and as we saw in the previous scenes (the doctor and medication) we connote that it's a support group. The tilt, pan and low angle medium close up of the protagonist as he is exercising creates a sense of focus and determination of some kind. A shadow appears over him as someone walks over to him suggesting that it may stop him achieving what he wants to.

The camera cuts to a high angle shot of protagonist looking up at the camera/ shadow horrified, the lady is seen through a low angle connoting she is superior to him. The non- diegetic music deepens almost mimicking the actors feelings.

Things that we could use for our opening sequence...

• The creep (hand held to show emotional state).
• Movement of the camera linking to protagonists feelings. 
• Tempo of the music changing depending on the intensity of the moment.

By Marwa
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By Dione
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(Found opening sequence clip from Youtube)

Submarine

  By Hana
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DISTRIBUTION RESEARCH

(Video found from Youtube)

FILM 4

For 'Behind Blue Eyes' we decided to use Film4 as our distributors. After a lesson on Film4 we realised how our film would really suit to be distributed by Film4. This is because it is a British Drama film based on a novel which Film4 loves to work with. Examples are' Never Let Me Go' and 'Submarine'. Both of these films I've researched and analysed into for BBE and coincidentally are associated with Film4 therefore I think Film4 is the best choice.

By Hana

Our Research for distribution companies - Marwa

Lions Gate films is a Canadian/ American production/ distributions studio, it is the largest and most successful mini-major film studio in north america. Cinepix film properties (cfp) was founded in 1962 by John dunning and Andre link and was based in Montreal. Lions gate entertainment corporation was formed in 1997 by Frank Giustra, LGE purchased cinepix and kept it's leadership, cinepix was renamed Lionsgate film on January 12, 1998. Its first famous box office was american psycho in 2000, which began a trend of producing and distributing films too controversial for major american studios, including, Saw (2004), Hunger Games (2012). Lionsgate were the distributors for the award winning coming of age film juno. The Lionsgate film The Hunger Games grossed $68.3 million when it premiered at the U.S. box office on March 23, 2012. It was the best opening day ever for a non-sequel and the fifth highest of all time. Of that total, $19.7 million was earned via Thursday midnight screenings.^[12] In its first weekend, The Hunger Games grossed $152.5 million, making it Lionsgate's highest grossing film after just three days.

Summit entertainment LLP (or formerly known as Summit entertainment LP) is an american film studio in California as well as a subsidiary to Lions Gate Entertainment, Summit was originally founded in 1991, by film producers Bernd Eichinger, Arnon Milchan, and Andrew G. Vajna, Summit was officially launched in 1993. In 2009, Summit ranked 7th among studios with a gross of $482.5 million.

Film 4 is a british film production company owned by channel four television company. Film 4 has backs a large number of films made in the united kingdom. Films produced by Film 4 include 12 years a slave, never let me go, submarine and ex machina. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982.
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FOLEY SOUND RESEARCH

Foley Sound Research - By Dione

Foley Sounds - By Sumana




Foley sounds are the reproductions of daily sound effects. When filming, sounds aren't always clear, therefore the sound lacks quality. Additionally, nothing on the set is real - the sword is made of plastic, the marble floor is painter plywood and many more. Foley sounds are made naturally. For example, in order to get the sound of footsteps, you can record the sound of people walking on carpet, floor, sand and many more. Other sound effects include:

• Clothes rustling
• Crockery clinking  
• Paper
• Doors opening/closing and slamming
• Punches
• Hitting
• Glass breaking, etc. 

It's called Foley because the technique is named after Jack Foley, who established the basic modern techniques still used today. Plus, Foley effects are more efficient to perform to picture.

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ICONOGRAPHY RESEARCH

Iconography - Bipolar - By Dione

More Iconography: By Sumana:

The main iconography used in the opening sequence is the Therapy Room.

The Concept of the Therapy Room brings connotations such as:

- Ability to think openly. 

- Can spend some time alone. 

- Relaxation

- Calm

- Peaceful. 

The idea of Relaxation connotes how Lucas' life is and how relaxing would probably be the best thing to help him. 

The idea of Peaceful connotes how Therapy Rooms can bring peace to mind and how it can allow a person to speak its thoughts. 

Another iconography would be Medicines. The medicines that we intend to show signify the d

Ilness he has. Bipolar Patients are said to have a lot of medications in order to keep their mood swings in control which is why we are planning to show some medicines of Lucas. 

Medicines connote illness and recovery. It also connotes hope. If you have hope and the right medicines, you're likely to soon recover.  

Another iconography could be psychology books.  Psychology books help the viewers understand what type of medical condition the person is in. For example, in Lucas' case, the psychiatrist Lucas would visit would be a mood swing people specialist. Therefore, the psychiatrist would have many books about different types of mood swings and their treatments. 
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CAMERA RESEARCH

Research On Shot Sizes- By Sumana

Shots we'll be using in our open sequence:

• Establishing Shots
• Medium Shots
• Medium Close-Up
• Extreme Close-Up
• Dirty Single
• Point of View (POV)

Establishing Shots:

Establishing shots are usually the first shot of a new scene. It's designed to show the audience where the action is taking place. It's useful in scenes for when action is spread out. For example, in a war scene, it can show the scale of the action. In an establishing shot, the shot is very far so the subject isn't visible and is shot to show the subject's surroundings.

Establishing shots are used for the following:

• To indicate location - may be used to show landmarks to indicate which city the action is filmed in such as the London Eye and Eiffel Tower.
• Time - helps guide the viewer as to what time the scene is shot at such as, day/night. foe example, and establishing shot of an exterior building at night followed by an interior shot screening a conversation, implies that the shot is taking place at night-time inside that building.
• Relationship - an establishing shot may be a long shot of a room showing different characters. Within a scene like this, the relationship amongst the characters may be shown through for example, dialogue and action. For example, a scene about a murder in a college lecture hall, may begin with a shot that shows the entire room, including the professor and the students taking notes. From this, we immediately know the relationship between the people sitting in the room. 
• Establish a concept - an establishing shot may establish a concept instead of location. For example, a shot of rain falling could be an establishing shot followed by a more detailed look at the rain. 

Medium Shot (Mid Shot):

The mid shot shows some part of the subject in more detail, whilst still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the whole subject. If someone was having an actual conversation, you wouldn't really pay attention to their lower half so that piece of the picture is unnecessary. The Mid Shot is mainly used when the subject is speaking without too much emotion or intense concentration. It's also good for delivering information which is why it's frequently used by TV News Presenters. The mid shot is a comfortable, emotionally neutral, and allows hand gestures with a bit of movement shot. 

It's been noticed that the division line between a long shot and mid shot is quite fuzzy similar to the line between mid shots and close-ups. Medium shots are mainly used for a scene when the facial expressions and context of the subjects' body language is supposed to be shown. 

Medium shots show the following:

• Scenery - to show the surroundings.
• Characters - to show who's in the scene.
• Body Language - shows personality of the character. 
• Facial Expressions - to show how the subject is feeling. .

Medium Close-Ups:

Medium close-ups are half way through medium shots and close ups. This shot shows the face without getting uncomfortably close to the face. It's usually chosen for dialogue and is used a lot more than close-ups. It gives a good mix of facial and upper body language. Medium shots and medium close-ups are used to prepare for the audience for close-ups or extreme close-ups - good for conversations between two characters.

Extreme Close-Ups:

This is a very close shot showing the detail of an object or the physical features of a person. The purpose of this type of shot is to make the viewer aware of some specific detail in the film. It can be used to reinforce tension.

Point of View
A shot that is taken from the perspective of one of the characters is called a point of view shot (POV). It is used to make the audience see the scene from the character’s own eyes. A POV shot forces the viewer to intimately connect with a particular character and draw the viewer into the action. Often after a POV there is a reaction shot.

The crossing the line rule or 180 degree rule
This rule is applied when you are filming two people, especially if they are talking. An imaginary line is drawn through the two characters. The director must decide from which side of the line the filming of the characters is to take place. If shots are taken of these characters on opposite sides of the line the audience becomes confused about the action.


By Sumana
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Therapy Scene Camera research:

 (Clip from It's Kind of a Funny Story, found it on Youtube)

 Before the therapy scene began, we hear the therapist talk. There is a transition of voice over to dialogue because in the next shot we will realise Craig is looking back on that particular moment - which was the last shot.

The conversation between the therapist and Craig is seen as a dirty single medium close up. For instance at 0:09 seconds, the medium close up makes it more intimate as Craig is revealing his personal thoughts. As it is a dirty single we can see the therapist's shoulder (blurry) so the audience may feel like a therapist too and feel involved with finding out more about Craig. Also can feel sympathy towards him.

The idea of a medium close up remains when the shot switches over to the therapist in between the conversation. But it is not a dirty single as we do not feel the sympathetic connection with the therapist. Instead we are looking in on Craig's life just like the therapist.

At 0:39 it is a long shot; we can see the mise en scene of the room. There is a book shelf filled with books suggesting intelligence relating with the therapist role, it is a browny white tone; white implying purity and brown meaning holesomeness and earthiness, it does represent dependability and friendliness. Both represent simplicity. This should come across in a therapy session to create a cam atmosphere.

At 0:57, the medium close up of Craig is not a dirty single for the first time. This is just before he remembers a happy memory of his suggesting it is such a great memory he doesn''t feel as if he is being questioned by the therapist. Also he may be more comfortable since no one else is in the shot to crowd him.

Next is a montage of his memory.

In the therapist's dialogue she uses a quote, showing wisdom and care. So in our opening sequence we decided to do the same; usually C.S Lewis's quote - "Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny" except we changed "destiny" to 'journey'.

This is helpful because in our opening sequence there's a therapy scene. So researching the type of camera shots used is important so I have an understanding of how to construct the shots for the therapy scene.

 By Hana
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BRITISH BOARD OF FILM CLASSIFICATION

BBFC

By Sumana.

BBFC classification for Behind Blue Eyes.

On the BBFC website it says if there are any of the following areas are involved in the film it will be a 15.

•   strong violence: we don't have strong violence in our opening sequence.
•  frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***'): we have aggressive strong language in our opening sequence which fits in to this classification, then again this is could also be within the classification of 12/ 12A.
•   portrayals of sexual activity: no portrayals of sexual activities occur within our opening sequences therefore does not apply to us. 
•   strong verbal references to sex : there are no strong verbal references to sex with our opening sequence.
•   sexual nudity: there are no signs of sexual nudity with in our opening sequence. 
•   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence: no signs with in our opening sequence. 
•   discriminatory language or behaviour: no signs.
•   drug taking: there isn't any drug but there is a use of drugs within our opening sequence. 

As well as the things above our film portrays a metal disorder which normally aren't in 12/12A, judging from the fact our film opening contains the use of strong language a and drug use we classified it in the 15 category based on the BBF classification and how thought the rest of the film will be like. Then again most of the coming of age films we have case studied and seen have been 15 due to the psycological issues as well things like depression and disorders E.G. it's kind of a funny story. 

By Marwa 

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MUSIC RESEARCH

Research on Different Types of Music

By Dione
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Showing the Link Between Music Choices and Genre

By Hana
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COMING OF AGE CONVENTIONS 

Common Features

By Hana
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Film Opening title conventions in Coming Of Age:

All films below are Drama, three are Coming of Age. But all are similar to our film.

Submarine:

4film

UK Film council 

fades to black

Tilting all in capitals, makes the shape of a square - Film4 and the U Film council present, in association with The Wales Creative IP Funds and The film agency Wales, in association with Optimum releasing and Protagonist pictures, in association with Red Hour films, A Warp films production

Voice over, interior panning shot of room

cut to exterior shots of Wales, name of film Submarine appears

Silver Linings Playbook:

TWC logo, humming music, all black, 

voice over, 

title of location 'Baltimore', 

fades to shot

The Perks of Being a Wallflower:

Summit Entertainment logo

All black, hear diegetic music of a typewriter, titles appear in an old typed way. 

(not in capitals)

summit entertainment present, a Mr Mudd production, Logan lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, 

A be rings from the type writer

the perks of being a wallflower, non diegetic music begins

It's Kind of a Funny Story:

There's diegetic sound going on for about 10 seconds for the Focus Features and Wayfare Entertainment logo. Then non diegetic music begins as it fades to black (voice over appears) then a cuts to the first exterior shot. 

At the end of the opening sequence the titling appears when it fades to black.

Name of film

All the films share a common concept - that the titling does not continue throughout the opening sequence. It's at the beginning then goes straight into the narrative. My interpretation is because the story is so significant to portray the protagonist - who the audience is attracted by and has a relate-able connection with. The audience's emotions and feelings go towards the protagonist so having titles throughout  builds a fourth wall and makes the audience feel like they're watching a film instead of witnessing a boy's life journey.

By Hana

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Codes and Conventions of Coming of Age- 

By Sumana

https://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png

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TITLING RESEARCH

THE ORDER OF TITLES:

  By Hana

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FILM POSTER RESEARCH

Example 1:

These following film posters inspired us:

Submarine is a coming of age Comedy film adapted from a novel (with the same name) by Joe Dunthorne. It is based around the protagonist Oliver Tate played by Craig Roberts.

The film poster has the main character centre and in a single frame. Implying he is the main focus in the film.

At the bottom if the poster there's credit-like text - has the actors, production company, institution.

It is very simple, not much is revealed about the film or character. The background is plain white and there's a blue going across to represent sea water;   Reflecting on the name of the film. The water is above his mouth suggesting him to be drowning. This could emphasises how he struggles in his life so much because when people are drowning they might die as they can not breathe. 

The name is all in capitals. And in three colours, at first I thought it's in three colours to show the colours of their home  flag. But this was not true. 

There is no direct address from Oliver. Suggesting no connection to the audience. He isn't looking directly at the camera (more beyond the camera) which put up a barrier between the audience and the actor creating a fourth wall. Also Oliver is a teenage boy however his costume is very mature -e.g. A tie. Connoting him to be different from society' view of teen boys; also connoting him as a mature character. Which contradicts the genre coming of age since they are growing up.

Example 2:

Next is Blue is the Warmest Colour. This film is a French romantic Coming of age Drama.

It revolves around a teenager called Adele who finds out about freedom and desire after meeting a blue-haired aspiring painter - reflecting on the text type as it looks painted, scruffy. The name is in a different colour - blue to the other text, which is what we wanted to achieve with our poster as well. 

The protagonist is centered and is looking behind her shoulder and again no direct address.

By Hana and Marwa

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I liked the idea of the bench in the poster it creates a sense of lack of stability which we want to portray in both our movie and poster, although the actual movie forrest Gump isn't a coming of age I really liked the poster and got ideas from it. The positioning of hanks's hands creates an un-natural position.

By Marwa 

Inspiration for drawn/painted background.



In BBE, Lucas the protagonist is a drawer. The idea was to have the background drawn in the style of his drawings. I had this idea after watching a specific scene in Its Kind of a Funny story.  The colours are water based pastel colours. The background is a creamy colour

And as in Blue is the warmest Colour, perhaps the text should be painted too.

This video is a clip from It's Kind of a Funny Story which I found on YouTube.

By Hana.

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DOCUMENTARY

Our whole crew (production group and actor) watched this documentary in order to gain knowledge and understanding of the illness which will be portrayed in our opening sequence.

VIEWS -
Marwa: Watching this documentary really gave me an insight on the affect of bipolar in general and to the people who have it. The documentary gave us real life situation which was very beneficial. It also creates a persona of a bipolar person in our mind and how we could apply it to the character Lucas, such as the mood swings (manic and depression episodes) and the things they do in them. It surprised me how little people know about bipolar as a mental disorder, it shocked me to see that there are 5.7 million people with bipolar disorder and that some well known historical figures such as Vincent van Gogh and frank Sinatra.
Hana: Watching the documentary was great because it allowed us to understand how people see patients with Bipolar and how the patients felt about themselves. These emotions were important for us to perceive as we would like to create these feelings of depression and disturbance in our opening sequence. There was scientific factual knowledge which was useful.
Dione: From watching this documentary, I now have a clear understanding from a person who suffers from Bipolar on how they feel and how they cope with the illness. It gave us an opportunity to be able to pick up traits of their personality and put it towards the acting for our actor. It also just gives us an insight rather than us just guessing on what Bipolar is.
Sumana: After watching this documentary, I got a clear insight of the disorder and how it affects the patient's mentality and many other things to do with how the disorder affects their thinking. The emotions and facts said within this documentary are important to us and how bipolar patients are portrayed within society. According to this, we intended to portray our protagonist in a similar manner as shown.
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