CSR Productions - Coursework

For my A-Level Media Studies coursework I had to create a two minuet introduction for a moving image film. I decided early on in the project that my film would be based on the genre Social Realism. This genre shows the naturalism in society and carries a lot of meaning throughout the texts which is sure to touch audiences. It is also a low budget and easy genre to produce which would help me as I do not have the money or budget to create a film in expensive genres such as fantasy, history or horror.

At first I began researching many social realism films, such as Sweet Sixteen and Last Resort. It became clear that the majority of social realism films focus and explore situations of the working class and people living in poverty. I believe the reason for this is that generally stereotypical exciting stories happen to those who are living rough. Intriguing stories with themes involving sex, alcohol and drugs would appeal more than a story featuring rich people, who are seen to lead boring and planned lives. However, I did not want to create a film introduction which would just follow the same themes as the rest. The definition of Social Realism is ‘a piece of art which represents and depicts a society of people,’ and although it was obvious that this is usually the poor, I wanted to challenge myself and create a film representing the rich side of English culture. I researched in detail the ‘2008 Recession’ and how it challenged and affected the leading business men of our country. I decided that I could create a film introduction inspired by these recent events, which would be different, represent and appeal to a whole new audience.
I wanted to mix the two classes together and show how a top rich business entrepreneur could fall victim to a fanatical global crisis and lose everything through bankruptcy. Throughout my two minute introduction I felt I could show his power and wealth, followed by his downfall, which would lead to the rest of the film showing his struggles surviving in unfamiliar territory on the roughest estate in Britain. This is much like the flash back style opening of the hybrid social realism film, ‘The Full Monty.’ Without realising it my introduction, which was now a flash back account of my characters history and how he came to be poor, was representing two different social groups, which proved to be a huge challenge. I had to change some regular distinctive conventions seen in a Social Realism films, most notably in mise-en-scene. Instead of using moody and dull lighting as featured in Sweet Sixteen and Last Resort, at first I could use bright and flamboyant lighting to show the happiness and wealth of my character. When I reconnoitred my locations I scouted for impressive state of the art buildings which my character would be associated with. I used expensive looking costumes and gave the opening scenes a complete rich feel.
In contrast, the second half of my introduction depicting the characters downfall resembled typical social realism films and featured the original conventions which I had researched. It went back to the basic colorization and depressive atmosphere of film making.

I have been considering what type of media institution would distribute my film if it was made into a feature length film. I have researched many production companies which produce for social realism films. The BBC and Sony Picture Classics are main producers of the genre. Film4 Productions has backed films such as ‘Trainspotting,’ ‘East is East,’ ‘Sexy Beast’ and ‘This is England.’ These films are very versatile and depict many different societies and issues such as extreme poverty, middle class, hooliganism and difficulties in cultural backgrounds. It is obvious that Film4 Productions often ventures away from the stereotypical issues involving poverty in social realism films, and into other issues revolved around other societies. As my film looks at a whole different side of English culture, I feel that Film4 Productions would be great to produce it.

I had made it clear from day one that my film was to attract a whole new type of audience rather than the usual audience targeted in a social realism film. To appeal to the right people it was important that I began different audience research questionnaires and discussions which would lead to the making of my film. I began with questionnaires which asked people about the social realism genre and their personal opinions towards what makes the best film. As I expected the majority of participants thought that films involving issues linked to poverty, such as drugs, alcohol, abuse and bullying, where the most entertaining films for an audience. My argument to this was, ‘does the audience just enjoy these typical issues represented because that is the only thing they have seen in a social realism film before.’ I believed in my idea and that it was still an exciting story, I just needed my audience to open their eyes to topics they have not seen represented in a film before. I produced and released a new questionnaire which challenged the participant’s minds. After giving them a very detailed definition of social realism and what issues it stereotypically deals with, I then encouraged them to outside of the box and expand their beliefs into what other social groups could be represented. This proved to work, as in the end over fifty percent of people thought a film about our countries rich and privileged people would be just as exciting to watch.
Furthermore, I arranged to lead a discussion with a group of people all under the age of eighteen. I made them believe that I had no idea for my film and they were my writers ready to inspire me. My intention was that rather than asking them questions, I could challenge their minds into thinking outside of the box and come up with other social realism stories near to the one I already had. Just ten minutes into the discussion and this had worked. The group were agreeing that they had seen too many drug, alcohol and poverty related films and wanted a film which tackled a whole different society. They discussed religion, cultural groups, tribal gangs and even Gothic, Emo and street subculture before they finally went into the right direction for my film. They began talking about the rich and how they have troubles sometimes just as serious as people living in poverty. Even more interestingly, they then went on to discuss wealthy famous faces and celebrities and how they could be affected in society. This was the inspiration for the part of my film when my main character see’s his self in a news paper. Rather than my initial idea of him just being a wealthy business man, my audience research results showed that it would be much more believable if he had been a figure in the public eye. With my new questionnaires and my discussion I had encouraged my audience to think for themselves and look forward to totally different issues represented in my social realism films.

Throughout the rest of my pre-production stage I did many other audience research questions and stunts to help in my filming. My questionnaire results showed the panic prospect that sixteen out of twenty people who took the test would be influenced to see a film because of a familiar celebrity face starring in it. Making a low budget film, I could not afford, or have the contacts, to feature a Hollywood style actor in my production. I arranged to screen the opening section of the social realism film, ‘Last Resort,’ to three people, who had previously stated that a films cast does influence their interest in the film. Last Resort does not feature a famous A List cast, however the three people were still as interested to watch more of the film, proving that although a famous actor in a lead role can help a film, it is not a compulsory element in creating intrigue for an audience.
I also asked my audience for help in character creation and location settings and frequently made small one question questionnaires which helped me to gather a range of ideas while shooting the film. In one I asked, ‘Where would two tramps be seen talking to each other?’ The results helped me to pick an accurate setting for the final scene of my introduction which my audience would be able to believe as it was picked by them.

The film itself reflects the lives of privileged people living in Britain. Throughout the late 2000’s the world’s financial crisis effected near to everyone living in Britain and hit the main business leaders the hardest. It was an uncomfortable time for every stock market, bank and general business entrepreneur. There were many businesses and banks that had to face major cut backs and many high street leaders, such as Woolworths, who were forced to declare bankruptcy in the late 2008. I feel that my film will provide a mirror image to some of the high class people unfortunately affected and also appeal to the less privileged people who were still aware of the damaging situation in the country, which in the long run was often affecting them to. I believe because of my films content, I will appeal and reach out to a wide audience of different sexes, ages and social classes.

Throughout my entire pre-production planning of my film, I often took advantage of our schools cameras and took them out to practice. I have always had a huge interest in film making and when I was young I regularly made films at home with my own video recorder. Although I always had strong views in film creation and focused a lot on writing, producing and acting, my technical abilities in film were not quite as advanced. My practice from an early age through trial and error helped me develop an eye for setting up a frame and making the content believable, however there were so many technical elements and processes that I had no idea even existed. I had never worked with such advanced cameras and I had not even heard of Avid Express Pro, or thought about editing in such great detail.
I went out with the cameras to familiarize myself with them. I began to learn different texture colour contrast techniques such as White Balance and Zebra Exposure control. I also encouraged myself to refrain from using bad habits, such as zooming and jogging, which I had picked up from family home video making. I filmed whenever I could have the opportunity whether it was just me filming moving objects and setting up shots for practice, or making a few short films with my friends. With my footage I then went to the editing suite, the part of film making for me which I thought would be the most difficult to learn. After picking up the basic steps in editing my films, it seemed that practice became the key as I soon developed more confidence in using the Avid program and began to explore different technical aspects which the software has to offer.
A huge amount of practice came from making my Preliminary Task. My short one minute conversation between a boy and a girl taught me a lot before making my actual two minute film introduction. The Preliminary was rushed and did not feature a believable story or characters. I did not consider costume, lighting or sound which resulted in a poor film. When I went on to create my final film I gave myself a much bigger scope and greater use of the technology, sets and equipment that I had. I began to link micro to macro in my camera frames and place many more representations in my final film.
Although I had learnt the functions that the cameras have to offer, I made a bold decision, in making my two minute introduction, not to use them. I decided to keep the camera technology to a basic minimum which, I believe, would allow me to keep the visual picture true to the audience. The small changes I had to make with lighting and sound I did after in the editing stages, but I tried my hardest not to tamper with what I had filmed, as I believe that is the best way to make a film true to life. I did, however, completely re-shoot my entire film, not because of any technical problems, but for my discomfort in how unbelievable the portrayal of the main character was. I organised to re-film every part, shot by shot, with a different actor in the leading role which resulted in what I felt was a much more believable representation.
Throughout creating my film I feel that I have learned a great deal and I have above all enjoyed the challenges that I have faced along the way. I hope that my film will give the audience as much pleasure as I have had creating it.