Proposal of Ideas

This is a scan of a spider diagram that I made to help me come up with some ideas for a storyline for my products. I wanted to think of something that would hopefully be quite unique and challenging to do, that would be different from the majority of things that are available for 15-24 year old's in the C1 socio-economic group. To think of something that would do this, I tried to think of something that people would be able to relate to, but still find new. I thought about a few products that appeal to trendies and I thought of books like "The Catcher in the Rye" and "Absolute Beginners". The things that these products have in common is that they are about thoughts and feelings of young people and begin to reveal their insecurities. I then thought about "Nowhere Boy" and "Control" which appeal to my target audience with a strong musical thread and a strong thread of nostalgia. So, I thought it might be a good idea to think of something to incorporate all of these factors. I thought a reality-based, gritty drama about trying to be different and interested in past era's, and trying to make something new whilst pulling away from the norm may be good. Then I thought about the insecurities of growing up and the feeling of loneliness, which I think everyone can relate to. Since starting college I have noticed a general unspoken peer pressure on people to get drunk and go "out on the town". I've also noticed the pressure to be "one of the gang" and not dull. Personally, I think this pressure is a bit childish, so I thought that it would be good if my products had a deeper meaning, and I could try to break down this boundary. There's a stereotype that someone who is a loner is "uncool" and not desirable (or that is the impression I get). But I think there are a lot of young people with ideas and attitudes that they haven't got in common with anyone, or haven't found anyone to connect with. So, I've decided to make my film about someone who maybe is lonely or a loner, but who is very interesting, with inspiring ideas, attitudes and thoughts. In a way, this is kind of the "anti-thesis" of Hollywood blockbusters; there may be no happy endings and I'm trying to make it look entirely reasonable and plausible.

Whilst incorporating these ideas, I really like the look of older, iconic films. Books like "The Catcher in The Rye" and "Absolute Beginners" are like cult icons, which I would love my film to be like. I would like some of my film trailer to be filmed in grey scale like "Control". I think this gives the film a more edgy and gritty look, enhancing the storyline. However, I'm not entirely sure yet as to whether all of the film will be in grey scale, or just bits. I really like the film "If..." which is a kind of mix of colour and black and white cinematography, so maybe that could work or be a possibility. This made me think about the subject of nostalgia again. I plan to research which era appeals most to my target audience and to try and recreate this look within the character. It would be too hard to recreate the past in locations, so I thought that I could use music and costume and grey scale cinematography to create this feeling as the past is something that you think about as a young person and seems strangely appealing. However, using modern locations and old clothes will make the character be in contrast to his surroundings, which is what I want the film to be about, and his individual thoughts being different to most peoples. This element could also link in with the "individual" character as quite a few of music legends have been sad or on their own, and most music legends have been individuals; Nick Drake, Ian Curtis, Syd Barrett, John Lydon, Bob Dylan etc - (Music has a massive draw/appeal to my target audience). I could also bring in the "coming of age" element with the character having to come to terms with growing up, getting a job and daily mundanity. Because of all of the ideas I want the film to include, I have decided to call it "Rise" as it has lots of connotations and suggests a posotive movement for the main character. (It has been taken from the Public Image song, and I would like my character to be abit of a modern day John Lydon type, so it fits in.)

However, I have to consider what I have available to me in terms of resources. For example, I don't know of many friends who would be willing to star in my trailer. Because of this, I researched films without a large cast;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twuScTcDP_Q

"Moon" has a narrative thread running through it about loneliness and the stark landscapes and lack of other characters really hit home this idea, which I really liked. This made me think that perhaps having this lack of resources may not be a disadvantage. I thought it would be very hard to make something like this not look boring, but it may be fun to try. Obviously, there won't just be one person in every scene of the trailer, but I would really like to do this in atleast a couple of scenes.

I decided to make the main character male, because most of the main characters in the films I looked at during my secondary research are and this is obviously a structure that works. It will also probably have more of an effect as there are still media stereotypes which put pressure on men to not cry and be "hard", whereas women are always in touch with their emotions. I think it will be interesting to try and subvert this view within what would be a whole film if I were to really make it.

In the trailer, this narrative will be structured by an initial voiceover monologue by the main character, which will "set the scene", and then the sound will change into a music soundtrack. It will be non-linear and flit back and forth throught the storyline, with faster edits to reflect happier times and slower edits to reflect sadness. I think it will be fast at first, after the scene is set, and then it will gradually become slower and more heartfelt. I could even film some teenagers drinking or at a party, doing what "stereotypical" teenagers do in like a "Skins" fashion, and then slow the footage down when it comes to my character and what it is actually like to be young. I want to use different songs to reflect this. I think it would be good for some shots in the trailer to be of writing to help reveal the narrative, and the bulk to the credits will be at the end, with a few institutional logos at the beginning. (I still want to make my products be produced by independent institutions). I am really interested in art videos where everything is unconventional and distorted, so I think this could be interesting to experiment with when producing the film. It may be safer to stick to conventions for the majority of the film as an art film might not be very successful in the cinema, but it would give me the opportunity to make something new and invigorating, which I would love.

I will make the film poster and film magazine cover only contain my main character; continuing the solitude, and I think I will make them in both greyscale and colour (if this is what I eventually do in the trailer). I would like them to look quite rough and edgy. I think I would like to make my film poster be mainly a photograph of my character looking isolated on location at somewhere which they will be filmed in. I would like the title to span beneath where the character is pictured and be in a rough font. The logos and credits that I will use will be along the very bottom in a small font. (Despite these ideas, I find it quite hard to propose the ideas for the film poster without making flat plans which I will do soon.) However, I still want to change the typical conventions, so the photo could be an extreme close up of the main characters face to make it look imposing and really personal. If the film poster was to be made really, it would probably be A1 sized, but I wouldn't want it to be glossy, I would want it to have a matt finish, to make it look more raw and gritty, this would probably fit my small budget as well as being what I want.

I want my magazine cover to be quite arty, and so I might refer back to old magazine covers (inkeeping with the retro theme) and make on that looks like it has been "cut and pasted". So, I would like it to have a matt finish, rather than a glossy one, like the poster, making it look a bit retro and gritty. I also like the effect of old magazines where everything appears to be printed on a paper that looks as though it's yellowing, which I would like to incorporate. The title of my film magazine will be "Studio 28", which is a cinema in Paris. I think it sounds quite "cool" and very different from magazine titles like "TotalFilm", which will appeal to my target audience who like things that aren't mainstream. It's also a kind of spin on "Studio 54" (Andy Warhol's studio), as I want it to look really arty and appealing. I doubt it will be covered in sell lines and typical conventions because I want it to be minimal and reflect the isolation of the film as effectively as "Little White Lies" does. I don't want the size of the magazine to be A4, as I want it to be different, so I would like it to be smaller in both width and height by about 2 or 3 centimetres.