MEST4 Linked production: Research and planning

1) Confirm your production brief.

Brief: You are to create the opening five minutes or a section from the middle and end (both 2-2.30 seconds) of an arthouse, independent short film. The film is inspired by Irvine Welsh's 'Trainspotting' directed by Danny Boyle and is going to focus around an all female cast. The narrative is to revolve around drugs and the film is to be set in London - you should explore rural (squatters) and country side, independent style landscapes. 

2) Research: notes on at least THREE similar texts to the one you are creating. What are the key conventions? What can you learn/borrow from the examples you have looked at?

Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) 

- set in the 70's, coming of age film, revolves around a female protagonist and teenage life from her perspective: being introduced to sex and drugs. 

- features quirky artistic animations, comic book style, which is presented during the time that she is "high", visually accentuating the drug experience.

Heaven Knows What (2014) 

- focuses around a female protagonist, who is a young heroin addict and portrays her unstable relationship with her boyfriend. 

- hot pink lighting visuals, very independent cinematic aesthetic - glamorising the drug experience through sound and visuals (warm connotations).

Trainspotting (1996) 
- Strong sense of cultural awareness embodies the lifestyle of the addicts - Scottish male cast. 
- Highly hyper-realistic animated illustration of drugs and drug culture - an audience embody the metaphorical journey of a comedown.

- "Ah want tae see Mother Supeior n ah dinnnae gie a fuck about any cunt or anything else, Goat that?" - colloquial natural diction, smooth and responsive to true thoughts - thinking out loud for audiences to directly engage with four main characters. 
- Could introduce characters by writing on the screen and pause medium close ups as done in the opening of Trainspotting - in the midst of the narration of the leading protagonist (Renton). "Chose life..I chose heroin" 

4.3.2.1 (2010) 

- All female cast, drug related narrative

- Set in London, very British, strong female leads - all very individual characters - great inspiration to span off in Trainspotting style. 

Opening sequence analysis: One of the four girls is presented through a medium close up, exposing her emotions (tense start), followed by long, establishing shot and close up of diamonds in her hand and her falling into the river thames - established location, established narrative and established one character. Then returning to the title sequence and a montage of the different protagonists - introducing their juxtaposing character profiles - girl on a driving lesson smoking marijuana, girl exiting a swimming pool and girl playing the piano - then returning to the initial character and her facial expression, still looking sombre. - the music is the same playing over all of the different shots of the characters, uniting them together and conveying their relationships to an audience. 
- Within each shot there is a strong character profile polishing each female, they are all completely different and unique - posh blonde, cute brunette, saucy mixed race girl and lastly the other depressing brunette. 
- Inspired by this, each of the females within my production will have an individual and unique speciality of some kind. 

3) Project schedule: when will you film and edit this production?

• Monday 1st February - Come up with a strong narrative and story line, sort out actress' and casting locations (sort out all planning documents) 
• Friday 5th February - Finish investigating locations and preparing the acting with my cast and team.
• Saturday 6th to Wednesday 17th February - filming
• Wednesday 17th February to Saturday 20th February - First Stage Editing
• Monday 22nd to Thursday 25th February - additional filming 
• Monday 29th February - Friday 4th March - Second Stage Editing
• REFINEMENT - 4th March to 25th March (halfterm starting date)

4) Script - see the BBC Writers' Room for advice/script formatting. If you're making a music video, you'll want to write a treatment instead. This is an example treatment that I provided for GCSE Media students studying this topic.

5) Storyboard - sheets available in DF07 or you can use this AQA storyboard sheet.

6) Shot list - use Microsoft Word or a template like this to help you.

- When on shoot, the inspiration will come to place. 

7) Mise-en-scene: casting details, location scouting with photographs, props, costume and make-up, lighting.