CCR Question #2 Research

 CCR #2 Research

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

The main audience for this film would be typically older teen or young adults typically form ages 16-24 to enjoy this type of film. The type of audience that I would like to attract would typically people that have watched AND understood "Atlanta" because the film opening is inspired by the show with a suburban-type of mask on it. In this show the viewer gets to feel a sense of what the characters feel in the show and that's what I want to try to achieve in this film opening but for young viewers that are making the mistakes made in the film realize that their life isn't just about their image or their "credibility," especially around the wrong people they're trying to impress.

I would want this film to be distributed technologically because of the targeted audience and with the way society is as well now. Another reason that I would wanted promoted online is because with social realism films, they aim to really be as realistic as possible and with society always on their phones now there could be some interactive activities that could make viewers feel like they're interacting with the film. With the film also being distributed online, I wouldn't do a theatrical release because of the discomfort some of the target audience might feel and especially in a movie theatre with a lot of people so it would be better to be distribute at home where viewers can watch it peacefully or comfortably.

Script:

When recording my film opening, I knew exactly what group of people I wanted to attract. Early adults. The reason I wanted to choose young adults from typically ages 16-24 is because it's also kind of the audience is targeted to. Many privileged kids in good neighborhoods or suburban cities specifically. In today's society there's a problem where these privileged kids want to act like they're from the 'hood' or from places with high poverty rates. The reason they want to act like this is because of influences like social media, music, and many other factors. These kids have to realize that this dream that they want is not a necessity and quite frankly the exact opposite. I wanted this film to target those kids so they could have a sort of 'wake-up' call and finally learn that's not the life they want to portray.

CCR Question Research #1

CCR Question #1 Research

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

My film opening uses conventions of social realism by showing the protagonist doing activities like smoking(or trying to smoke) and him owning the (fake) weed and just skipping school while his parents think he's going.

Many times in other social realism films, the main character comes from a harsh upbringing since childhood, but in this opening we wanted to put a twist on it whereas Oliver comes from a wealthy, happy family which helps combat the ordinary conventions that ties to a social realism film.

The opening is also based around a character v. self type of scenario where the kid is having trouble balancing out both lives of his, and I think that my costumes for the character (white button up for good side black hoodie for bad side) really help the narrative of the story without much dialogue needed to back up context to the opening.

Script:

 My film opening uses multiple conventions of social realism and represents societal issues happening in suburban communities. The opening does a good job setting the tone for the opening by starting with the kid getting ready for school in a white button up and the right after trying to light a cigarette but failing. This opening also represents some of the social issues going on in suburban neighborhoods or privileged cities, where many kids that usually have everything, want to act like they come from some sort of struggle or used to come from a place like that and start doing all types of activities like skipping school, drugs, and overall doing what they're not supposed to. My opening does a good job portraying this with the activities that are implied or shown by the protagonist.

Location Scouting

 Location Scouting

For our story, the city of Weston works perfectly for locations, so I'll be going over the locations in the city that will be used.

Scene 1 Location: House

For the bedroom and house location we'll be using Noah's house which is the biggest house we could get without overexaggerating the rich characteristic of Oliver. This is where the first scene will be filmed where Oliver is getting ready and tries to light a cigarette but fails.

Scene 2 Location: In car

For the car scene where Oliver and his mom are talking, we'll be using the closest thing to a mom van so we'll be using a Jeep Grand Wagoneer for the clip. We'll record the scene while the car is stopped and make the background moving or appear as its driving through editing. 

Scene 3 Location: Library Park

For the final scene, the Library Park next to Cypress works perfectly. The walk to the library is really close to the school and the school will be able to be framed in the shot to show clearer that he's not going to school and goes to the bathroom. The good thing about it is that I'll be able to get all that in one shot.

Scene 4 Location: Inside Bathroom

For the bathroom location, we'll be using the pool bathrooms in Villas of Bonaventure. The reason I chose this bathroom is because it is a bathroom in my friend's neighborhood that isn't well preserved so it is the closest thing to a dirty bathroom.

Audio

                                                                                  Audio    

To keep the 2 faced vibe for the opening, there will be 2 types of audio like the mise-en-scene, internal and external.

External Sound

For the external sound, it will match the fake side of Oliver. For the start of the opening where Oliver turns of the alarm a annoying alarm will be beeping until he turns it off. When he does, fancy music will be playing while he gets ready to show that this side of Oliver is all 'goody goody' and would stop as slowly or slowly fade as he opens his drawer with the folded clothes giving a sense of transition to show his other side. Also a sound effect that will play if the lighter trying to light the cigarette.

Sounds: Clock Alarm, Drawer, Lighter Flickering

Background Sounds: Fancy Music, footsteps in house

Internal Sound

For the internal sound, Oliver will be wearing some headphones in the car listening to music and the music will be playing faintly in the background while he has his conversation with his mom. When he says bye to his mom and he gets out the car the music volume ramps up as he puts his headphones on. The music keeps on playing but fades away in sync with him going to the bathroom and leaving the picture. In the bathroom, suspense music will start playing to show that something wrong is happening and to paint the picture that what he's doing is bad. In the background environment birds will be chirping as he's going to the bathroom.

Sounds: Suspensive Music, car door,

Background Sounds: Headphone Music, Inside car driving, Suspensive Music

Character Development

                                                                       Character Development

For my story Oliver (the protagonist) is basically a 2 faced person where around certain people he'll act like a good kid that gets good grades, while his other side he'll be a bad kid that does illegal stuff

"Good Boy" Side

For his good side, Oliver is a good, intelligent kid that gets good grades to his family, teachers, etc. This side is his fake side where he will only put this good act around people

"Thug" Side

                                                                                                        For Oliver's other side, he is a kid that                                                                                                            does illegal activities such as, smoke,                                                                                                                steal, and bullies kids. He hangs around                                                                                                            the wrong crowd and the type of media                                                                                                            he watches that influences him to do                                                                                                                many of the things he is doing.

Production Logo

 Production Company Logo

This post will not be long since I'll just be going over the production logo. For the production logo my partner, Noah, made it in Canva, a free graphic design website, where he also found the picture of the cracked mirror in the background of the text. He told me that the name really had no meaning but if it could have one it could mean the broken reflection of reality since the production would primarily work social realism films. The double 'k' in Crakked doesn't mean anything Noah just did it to be a little different. He said that he found all the fonts and pictures on Canva as well.

Production Plan

                                                                              Production Plan

               Scene 1

    

    To start the film opening, we'll open with a long shot of Oliver(the protagonist) with him in his bed. We'll shoot this shot in a master bedroom since it's the biggest room in a house and we want to show that Oliver's room is a big room to show that he is rich or at least somewhat wealthy. When he is in bed we see him wake up and look at his alarm and turns it off. He gets ready for school by putting on a white collared button up and dress pants for school. He then goes into a hidden drawer and takes out folded clothes and puts it in his bag. The clothes appear bulky instead of flat folded clothes and he has digs everything out his bag so he could put it in deepest he can. He then opens a hidden drawer and takes out a pencil case. Inside the pencil case there's cigarettes and a lighter he opens his window and takes one out trying to light it. At the same time he's trying to light it his mom calls him from downstairs saying that he'll be late for school. He gives up trying to light the cigarette and throws it out the window.

Scene 2

For the second scene we were going to have a short scene of Oliver and his mom talking and driving on their way to school. On the drive their connecting, and then his mom asks him "Why do you always walk from the park to school? I just don't understand why I can't just drop you off at the school." Oliver then comes up with an excuse and says "It helps me get ready for the day with a morning walk. Its healthy, I saw someone talking about it online." Oliver's mom then interrupts him "Social Media isn't always reliable and people make stuff up all the time on there." And then Oliver says "But Ma, it's really helping me and I always feel better going to school that way." Oliver's mom then says "Fine. At least it's less driving for me and more time to watch my shows." They get to the park near the school and Oliver's mom asks Oliver again, "Are you sure you don't want me to take you to school?" and Oliver replies with "Yes mom, I'm sure" and then they both dismiss each other and they both leave. Oliver then pretends to walk on his way to school until he sees his mom leave. 

Scene 3

When Oliver gets dropped off he pretends to go to school. When he sees his mom leave he switches his way from school to a bathroom on the way to school. When he gets to the bathroom he goes to a stall and takes the folded clothes out of his bag. The clothes are flashy street clothes that is the complete opposite of proper dress clothes and he unfolds the clothes. When he unfolds them, a bag of weed is seen, which was what made the clothes so bulky, and he puts it on the sink. When he puts it on the sink a close up shot of the bag is shown with the camera slowly zooming out. While this is happening, Oliver is changing into the clothes that he had in his bag. On the bag of weed there's a writing that says "Straight A's" which is the title card and then the film opening ends in a black screen when Oliver throws the button up on the sink covering the camera turning it black.

This still isn't the full script since we might have some challenges while recording some of the scenes, so there might be some changes from what you see on here.