Task 3 Target Audience- British Board of Film Class Research

The BBFC also known as the british board of film classification, was set up in 1912 and has been classifying films since. The BBFC is responsible for determining the age ratings to all films in the UK. They were invented for the purpose of giving a classification to all films however they was not always followed, local councils could overrule their ratings. This meant that, although the BBFC’s opinion was valued, it was not always listened too. By 1984, when videos were first coming out, the parliament made it a law that all films would have to be reviewed and rated by the BBFC before being release. 

When determining an age rating for a film the BBFC take many factors into consideration including Language, Horror, Drugs, Imitable behaviour, Nudity, Sex, Discrimination, Theme and Violence.
Below are the following logos which show the different age ratings BBFC give; 

We decided our film is best suited to a 15 certificate. We made this decision after looking at each of the factors below:

Discrimination

The work as a whole does not feature discriminatory language or behaviour.

- Our film does not contain any discrimination in either a physical or verbal manner.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

- We are aware that drugs are allowed however there are no drugs in our film.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

- As our film is a thriller so it will not contain any elements of horror however it features some elements of threat.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

- The person shown in our film will not have any serious weapons, but there will be dangerous behaviour but non of it will be shown in detail. 

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language. The strongest term may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

- There will be no use of strong language in our film.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

- There will be no nudity in our film.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

- There will not be any sexual scenes in our film.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

- As all themes are allowed our film will be suitable for our 15+ audience.

Task 4 The Pitch- Stage Makeup for How To Kill a Dead Girl

Here are some images we took when practising the "stage makeup" for our film. 

For our opening scene, we needed to include bruises and blood as it is about an abusive relationship, without the bruises the scene would be less effective. Our opening scene involves our character lying on the floor, inferring that she is hurt/injured meaning that we would need to make it visible she had been in a violent situation, this is when we decided to use stage makeup to create bruises.   The bruises were also used in a bathroom scene where the character had  bruised shoulders to look as though someone has grabbed her from behind with force. Before we created the bruises we planned a test patch to check that she is not allergic to the fake blood/products that we used.

To create the bruises we used purple, blue, black and green powdered shadow and stage makeup. We started by adding blue patches and blending them out so that they did not look too obvious, we then added a purple shimmer over them and added black parts to the more hollow parts of her body to add emphasis.  We decided to keep the makeup as simple and subtle as possible as our opening scene aims to be quite realistic and emotional so that it has an effect on the audience, we aimed to keep it looking realistic and subtle. The conventions of a thriller generally are very ambiguous and subtle, therefore if the bruises were too obvious it would be too much like a horror. 

Task 8 Casting for "How to Kill a Dead Girl"

Our film is indifferent as it only actually features one character, therefore whoever we cast to play this particular character had to give an interesting and convincing performance in order for our film to appear intense. As we are producing this film in a group of two, the sensible conclusion was that ideally we need both of us behind the camera to help ensure the clarity of the shots as well as ensuring the correct shots are used and the rules are followed e.g. 180 degree rule was maintained. So this meant that we needed to cast someone outside of our group, we decided to use a mutual friend Erin Kellyman to play our character. Our reasoning for this is that Erin is experienced when acting, she currently studies at a performing arts school and has been in the popular channel 4 series "Raised by Wolves". Erin played a young girl in Raised by Wolves therefore our character perfectly suited her, she was able to deliver the intense facial expressions we wanted in our film in order to give it the "thriller" factor.

Task 9 Filming- Production Schedule

Production Schedule for Filming-

1) WHEN- We plan to start filming our opening scene on Wednesday 6th January. 

WHO-We will film our main character (Lucy). Our aim is to complete the first three scenes, these include pans on our characters arms & legs as well as filming scenes as she wakes up and scenes within the bathroom. 

HOW-We plan to use a pan, a close up, a long shot, medium shot, P.O.V shot, medium long shot and then a over the shoulder shot. We will use these shots over the course of the first three scenes. 

WHICH- The equipment which we will need will include a HD camera, a tripod for panning shots as well as the mise-en-scene elements of the film such as stage make-up/latex/body paint to recreate the bruises and marks on the characters body. 

Health and Safety Issues- When filming these scenes before applying the special effects we need to do a "test patch" to check that our actress will not have any reactions to the products we plan to use. 

Permission for location- Our location is an ordinary house, therefore it can be any particular house with a good amount of space and lighting. As the house we plan to use is owned by a member of our group we will not need permission to film there, but to be sure that we avoid having any background noise we will make the other members of the household aware of our filming to ensure they do not appear in any shots. 

2) WHEN- We plan to continue our filming on Friday 8th January.

WHO- We plan to film our last scenes of the film, this involves our character Lucy conducting her morning routine, we will carry on filming from the bathroom scene up to the final ending scene. 

HOW-We will use worm-eye view shots, medium shots, long shots, POV shots and several zooms and tracking shots.

WHICH- We will need to use a HD camera and tripod as well as using props such as a glass (for drinking water), a key for the locking of the door scene as well as using more make-up/latex/body paint to create bruises when needed.

Health and Safety Issues- There are no health or safety issues within our film. 

Permission for location- The remaining scenes of the film will continue in the location we used previously, this means that we will not need permission to use the location. 

Task 5- ScreenPlay for Film (How to Kill a Deadgirl)

For our final film we created two storylines that shared the same narrative but had slight differences. Our first screenplay focused on flashbacks and highlighting that the flashbacks the audience see have already happened to our character, therefore creating a hook where the audience want to find out how and why it happened. 

TRANSITION IN
STUDIO LOGO FADES IN/OUT
INT. House/living room. The room is dark but the lighting is natural. Camera pans on to features of a dead body (lucy) -covered in blood. [Title screen begins]
Her arms are bruised and her legs are cut. 
Camera then pans to her face and slowly gets closer until it is just focusing on her eyes - they are closed.

Transitions to her opening her eyes, but she is in a different room - appears to be waking up. (rewind to before she was dead.) 
She puts her feet over the side of her bed, turns off her alarm and puts on some slippers. (shows normality - how her morning routine is the same as anyone else. She appears to be a normal, average girl.) 

Forward tracking on camera - follows her into bathroom. She plays with her hair and turns around so that she can see that she is not bruised to then transition into a filtered shot which appears as a flashback. We see the character covered in bruises and clearly upset, SAME FILTER AS OPENING. [title sequences here]

Filter returns to normal, signifying back to normality. 

We next see her in the kitchen, she is fully dressed with her hair tied in a tight ponytail and has make up on. She proceeds to get a glass out of the cupboard but puts it down onto the counter with a thud. 
[Sound effect of glass banging].

[FILTERED SHOT] - flashback
She falls to the floor - a loud bang (the same as the sound of the glass). she tried to get up but is disorientated - Slow motion for added tension.
[Sound effects - sound of a hearbeat in the background with a buzzing noise to show that she is frail and in pain.]

Camera fades to black. FADE IN - she grabs the key off the side but hesitates/pauses before she picks it up. Another flashback [FILTERED] Character is being strangled and her throat is being cut with the same key - clearly a male strangling her. Blood is pouring down her throat.

Black screen

[Back to reality] character grabs key and locks door

Mother/Unkown Voice shouts "Be back before 5"  - as the door closes the shot ends. 

Our second story focuses more on the reality of how the abuse happened and the lead up to it through the declining of calls, voicemails etc.

TRANSITION IN

STUDIO LOGO FADE IN / FADE OUT.

INT. House/room with laminate flooring. Natural lighting. Camera pans to features of a dead girl (lucy) who is covered in bruises and appears to have very pale skin.

Camera pans to her legs and then individual shots of each of her arms and hands the camera then zooms in to a close up shot of her closed eyes. 

TITLE SCREEN SHOWS

Next shot shows her in a bed – phone alarm sounds. Two separate shots, one from above her and one to show her exiting the bed. Close up shot of her putting slippers on. (Her morning routine is the same as any other person – shows how she appears to be just like anyone else). Next, she is sat on a dressing table – she is putting on makeup. - Her phone rings but she sighs an irritated sigh and ignores it.

One shot from over the shoulder so that it is from her perspective and also a medium long shot. Forward tracking on camera – follows her into the bathroom where she brushes her teeth and puts on a jumper. Forward tracking of camera again, follows her downstairs (Camera is handheld to show it from her perspective) - She stops midway on the stairs as her phone rings again but she ignores it.

She walks towards the door and her phone rings again - this time she answers it: 

'What now?' - she says with an agitated tone. 'You better not mess this up, BOTH of our careers on the line and you know what i'm capable of' 

Mumbling sounds from a male voice from down the phone

'OK i'm leaving now, just get this done and you're of the hook'. 

She hangs up the phone and leaves the house.

Close up shot of her opening the door, Long shot of her behind glass closing the door.

She then walks out of the door and the shot slows down as she walks past the camera.

FADE TO BLACK