My finished music video:

My front digipak panel:

My front digipak panel:
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My inside digipak panels:

My inside digipak panels:
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My back digipak panel (with album spine:)

My back digipak panel (with album spine:)
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Tuesday 17 January 2017

R+P Post 10: Reflections so far and looking ahead

At this stage, I am quite hopeful for the future of the project. Despite still being in the very early stages of the project, we have already made quite a few decisions that will have quite a big influence on our film- however, we are very happy with these decisions, and can all visualise just how they will work together later on to create the opening we seem to all be able to see in our heads.

So far, this film idea is shaping up to be something I would actually like to watch were it made full-length, which is good both concerning target audience as of course I am in the target age group, but also bodes well for how interesting and enjoyable our sequence can be. You can make the most conventional, textbook film in the world, but if it isn't entertaining or intriguing or anything like that, then it probably won't be very good.

The actual group work itself is also going well, as we seem to all work well together- we haven't had any major clashes yet, just discussions about the viability of each other's ideas that never end with one person annoyed or disheartened, but do result in a higher standard/quality for our project, and I am confident we would be able to overcome it should it happen in the future. We are getting the work done in an efficient and timely manner, and splitting it quite equally too.

Overall, I think the project is going quite well. We have set a standard for ourselves, hopefully quite a good one, and are on track to keep this standard up for the rest of the project, plus we have the foundations of ideas for us to build on at this standard.

R+P Post 9: Our opening sequence's soundtrack

We have two chosen music tracks. The first is an instrumental remake of 'Devil in a New Dress' by Matt Dillon, sourced from here, a YouTube video:


Click to play 'Devil in a New Dress- Instrumental Remake.'

As you can see, the creator says he provides a download for his remake in the description of the video, as he is allowing anyone to use it copyright free.
The description of the video containing the music track, including where the artist says he provides a download. Click to enlarge.
We are planning to play it over the final, film-name title at the end of the sequence, but also over the opening titles of our film. It will start as non-diegetic sound, but then reveal itself as diegetic sound coming from the phone and headphones of the character Raj. This is used to start the narrative, as the detective confronts him over the music and Raj reveals his character by making joking remarks back. We chose a remix of a song by popular artist Kanye West as it provides a realistic representation of what a young character could be listening to, to help show that the film is aimed at people of that age group, i.e. our target audience. However, it is also quite 'smooth,' so it fits well with the crime-mystery atmosphere, and doesn't alienate the parts of our target audience attracted to the genre. 

One other film that aims at our target age range, and in fact also tries to provide a realistic representation of their lives like we are (although in a different context) is 'American Honey.' That film's soundtrack was an inspiration as it includes many songs popular amongst the age group, including 'We Found Love' by Rihanna, and we thought including something popular in the same way would be a good idea.
The YouTube description of an official clip from the film 'American Honey.' As you can see, it is focused on the song in an attempt to appeal to young people who are one of the main consumers of pop music. We also wanted to appeal to this age group, which is why we chose a popular song, yet we still ensured it was compatible with the genre of the film. Click to enlarge.
Our second track is called 'Funky Suspense,' created by Bensounds:


Click to play 'Funky Suspense.'

It is provided free for anyone to use as long as they credit the artist, as we have done here. This is an extract from the Bensounds site dealing with use of the song:
We opted for the free Creative Commons License over the Pro License, as the free version more than covers our needs. The box on the left of this page covers it. Click to enlarge.
It is, as the title describes, quite suspenseful, which is perfect for the mystery of the narrative, as well as the intrigue of the questioning taking place on screen. We are therefore intending to play this over the main body of the questioning, and then cut it off just before the bombshell drops at the end of the sequence, to create even more suspense through the sudden silence, and to increase the impact once the other track comes back in soon after. 

It is also quite a jazzy instrumental, which is quite conventional of the mystery genre- it is intended as a reference to older mystery films such as the opening of 1958's 'Touch of Evil,' which feature tracks like this prominently. We didn't want to get too tied to this older era though, as we are focusing on young characters in contemporary times. Luckily we found that more modern crime dramas such as the BBC's 'Sherlock' are also using upbeat instrumentals for atmosphere, which is great for us as we know these kinds of media are popular with our target audience in both genre and age range.
An extract from a WhatsApp interview I carried out with someone from our target age group, where they offhandedly mention how 'Sherlock' is a popular show with young people nowadays- this was of great help to us in terms of influence, especially when it came to choosing this track. Click to enlarge.
Sound effects were also something we had to consider. We decided to keep sound effects few and far between to keep focus on the dialogue, and instead cover the silence with the chosen music. However, a few key sound effects are going to be used throughout- these include the sound of a folder sliding across the table, as well as doors opening and closing off camera to announce the entrances and exits of characters. Hopefully the scarcity and placement of these effects ensure they have maximum impact on the audience, who will instantly recognise what is happening in the scene as the sounds will stand out.

Here is the link to the preliminary door opening and closing sound effect.
Here is the link to the preliminary folder slide sound effect.
Please note these sound effects are not necessarily final, and are thus subject to change. We may also add or remove sound effects as the project goes on, and are likely to simply record them ourselves.
Here is the Creative Commons License for both sound effects that essentially says we can use the sound effects freely and even without credit, although I have provided links to the sources. Please note that you can access this page from the right side of the sound effects pages linked above. Click to enlarge.
One film we looked at for this was 'Man of Steel,' which contains an interrogation scene despite being a superhero action film, done in near silence besides dialogue and sound effects, cleverly used to create a tense atmosphere, something we quite liked and decided to adapt for our film.

The interrogation scene from 'Man of Steel.' While we have music over the interrogation and this scene does not, you may note the dramatic music as they bring Superman to the room, helping the build-up to the actual interview. Sound effects are used very well and stand out against the silence, interrupting at key times such as the speaker breaking the flow between Superman and Lois, as well as the handcuffs breaking emphasising how Superman isn't actually contained. Sound effects like these play into the tense atmosphere being created. Click to play.

Music and sound effects are quite impactful on the rest of the film. Sound is omnipresent, with music in the background and effects in the foreground, so they are essential when crafting an atmosphere. I think we chose our influences well, as the tracks we ended up with work very well with all the style decisions we have made so far.

R+P Post 8: The credits in our opening sequence

Our opening credits, and in fact the whole opening sequence, start with the Film4 Productions animated logo and then the Screen Gems animated logo. This transitions into a black screen with our first title, stating that the following film is a Film4 and Screen Gems production. Our opening shots are an extreme close-up montage of different body parts of our characters- titles will appear over these shots.

Credits include:
'directed by r.r. banks,' 'produced by jack edmondson,' 'screenplay by mary pan,' 'cinematography by emilio francischelli' and 'music by sayo ajoje.'


You may remember this image from a previous post- it is the opening titles of 'The Usual Suspects.' I mentioned before that they were a good influence- we liked the idea having the titles superimposed over the opening, establishing shots, as well as the way the striking font and white colour stand out. We even looked at what the credits are saying for inspiration. Click to enlarge.
They are all in lower-case to try and capture the casual teen aesthetic, and this is where overlaying them over shots of the teen characters helps, but they are also going to be bold and white in a striking font to ensure they still make an impact and don't detract from the cinematic quality of the credits sequence. As we haven't planned all our shots in full quite yet, so we have not got solid plans for where exactly they will be positioned, but we intend to stick to corners and edges when we can, but try to swap positions around between shots where possible to keep the credits dynamic and less boring. There will be one final title right at the end of the opening, which is the film title itself, in the same style as the previous titles, but bigger and central, and possibly with some sort of shadow or highlight effect to make it stand out more.


The opening credits of 'Se7en,' a film that influenced us in quite a few ways, were a great help for this area of planning. We liked how the slight 'splatter' effect raised the text from the background and made it stand out, how the titles were superimposed over different extreme close-ups, and also how they moved around between shots. Click to enlarge.
Looking at titles helped us start to define the first shots of the opening sequence, which really helped, as a strong start is needed to grab attention and set tone. The wider impact on our project thus is actually quite high- although titles are a relatively simple thing, the style they set as precedent must also be found throughout the rest of the project to ensure synergy, and thus this stage of development has effected more than just what words come up on the screen.

R+P Post 7: Our opening sequence's planned mise-en-scène

The overall style we want for our opening is quite dark and suspenseful, and reminiscent of other crime and even older detective films. In terms of camera, we are intending to use the camera to enhance the look of our film and keep everything flowing despite the small set. This includes close-ups for emotion, wide angles for interactions, and various movements like pans and tilts. Lighting will will be low-key, and mainly from one source, to add to the tension by putting everything closer to darkness, and also to help us create chiaroscuro so that we can try and convey underlying messages about characters and so on. The setting will be a fairly plain and sterile room, as is conventional for interrogation rooms in real life. This should help us convey our genre and allow the audience to recognise and connect with the film.
This scene from 'The Dark Knight' showcases these three aspects of our mise-en-scène well. At the beginning, the light is only from one lamp, obscuring the room, and subtle zooms and tilts add to the foreboding and dramatic effect. Even when the lights come on, the lighting remains low-key, and we can see how plain the room is. Even though the next part adds more action, the camera remains active, with pans and so on during the shot-reverse-shot. Of course, lighting and setting remain similar even as the clip becomes completely action-orientated near the end. Click to play.

In terms of props, so as not to damage the conventional plainness of the setting, we decided to keep it simple. We have the almost universal table with two chairs, and we decided to have a couple of extra props to aid the narrative. This include a file on a victim, a notebook for the detective, and possibly a few extra props no-one interacts with (such as a clock and an audio recorder) to add to the already conventional setting.

Costume will be used to convey people's roles. The detective will be more conventional, likely in a suit due to his position as someone important and at work, whereas the teens will have clothes that play to their stereotypes, both when they conform and adhere, as well as to keep the film realistic- we will choose things real teenagers would wear, such as jeans and hoodies and so on.
The interrogation scene from 'The Matrix' showcases these two areas well. A folder is used to create tension at the beginning of the scene- Agent Smith also uses his glasses as a prop, giving the audience something to focus on and making the scene more interesting despite the plain surroundings and simple shot-reverse-shot. Agent Smith, as well as his associates, are in control, and are agents of the government doing their jobs, and as such are placed in full suits, whereas Neo is in more casual attire reflecting his position as interviewee. Please note the ending of this clip leans more towards sci-fi. Click to play.

Please note that both of these clips actually contain elements from all five sections in each other despite our focus on only a few each- for example 'The Dark Knight' has Commissioner Gordon in a suit and uses handcuffs as a prop, and 'The Matrix' has dim lighting and a sterile interrogation room. Further, both films being multi-genre and not just pure crime and/or mystery is a good showcase of how conventional these areas of mise-en-scène are in an interrogation scene.

Mise-en-scène is incredibly important to the rest of our project as it is essentially the style of the film, and thus that will seep through into every other aspect from this point forwards, and even to things we've done before this as we refine those ideas. I think we made our decisions well, as conventions seem to support us, and furthermore this style is quite impactful despite its simplicity.

R+P Post 6: Our opening sequence's characters and how we plan to represent social groups

Rajesh 'Raj' Singh
A cheeky Asian nerd character, who is very confident to the point of arrogance, and clashes with the detective over the investigation into his lost friend, even in the very first scenes of the film. 
He both conforms to and breaks stereotypes- while he is shown to be the stereotypical Asian nerd, as might be found in almost any movie, he is also much more confident than your typical nerd, and it shows.
Characters from Asia often come from all over the continent. Frequently seen stereotypes include intelligence, inventiveness, and nerdiness. Data from 'The Goonies,' shown above, fits this perfectly, as he is the brains of the group, creating various plans and gadgets like the ones you can see in the picture. We wanted to incorporate the nerdiness of this stereotype into our character, but also break away from being completely archetypal. Click to enlarge.
Cherish Beauregard
An upper-middle class, fairly wealthy asian female, who is quite into the goth/emo scene. The girlfriend of Peter Smith, who misses him terribly. She provides emotional drive in the opening. 
She breaks quite a lot of stereotypes, especially in terms of ethnicity and class and status. The upper-middle class is often stereotypically dominated by white people, and any other ethnicity is a challenge to that. Plus, her alternative style is not as often found on people of her ethnicity in the media- again it is dominated by white people. However, the fact that she is a female character and also the most emotional one could be considered more stereotypical.
Tina Cohen-Chang from 'Glee.' We took a lot of inspiration from her character design, due to her being part of the goth/emo scene despite not being white, as is the stereotype. We wanted to capture the alternative/rebel nature of the scene she is involved with by breaking this stereotype, and although Tina isn't part of the upper-middle class, making Cherish part of that class was a natural extension to breaking stereotypes. Click to enlarge.
Lucy Patterson
A black female who is the gossip of the group, she is nosy and opinionated, although very 'in the know' and popular. She tries to pry more information out of the detective as soon as she can.
A very stereotypical character who embodies the common 'gossip girl' stereotype. However, she breaks stereotypes somewhat by not being too over-the-top or having ridiculously low intelligence as characters like her are often stereotyped as- she is clever enough to try and manipulate the detective. Plus, the 'gossip girl' stereotype is overwhelmingly shown as white, so we thought it would be interesting to move away from this somewhat.
The white 'gossip girl' character is a very prominent stereotype, instantly recognisable to most people and featured in various films, notably teen-orientated films that often take place in schools and so on. Regina George from 'Mean Girls,' pictured above, is a textbook rendition of the character, shown here gossiping on the phone and holding her 'burn book,' which in the film is essentially a notebook filled with gossip and secrets about people. We wanted to capture the sneaky, gossipy side of this stereotype, but break away from the lack of intelligence that these characters often suffer from, and changing ethnicity was just another way to help differentiate Lucy from the archetype. Click to enlarge.
Tyrone Beckham
A misunderstood working-class black male youth. He is known as the school bully, and for picking on Peter, although he is generally quite relaxed about everything. He is the most suspicious character in the opening due to his obvious motives and the stereotypes surrounding him.
Also quite a stereotypical character- a lot of stereotypical links can be drawn between his gender, ethnicity, and class, as well as many negative stereotypes, such as him being the violent/bully character and not really engaging with life. He is revealed as breaking stereotypes though, as he is not really a bad person, and is misunderstood and unfairly labelled throughout the investigation by the other characters, even the detective, who pushes him for answers moreso than the others.
The 'thug' character is very often played by a black male actor. Moses from 'Attack the Block' conforms to many of the negative and neutral stereotypes surrounding this portrayal- the first time we see him in the film he is mugging someone, and he is working class and lives on the titular 'block,' for example. We wanted to tackle this all-too-common portrayal by making our character initially conform to these stereotypes, but later reveal that he is more than he seems and that he is treated unfairly by those around him. Click to enlarge.
Simon Smith
Peter's older brother, a white male who is generally quite dismissive of, and even cold towards his sibling. He is also under suspicion due to his perceived dislike of his brother, and provides some mystery to the opening by not revealing the reason(s) for this.
Fairly stereotypical in that he is the textbook deadpan white character, but breaks stereotypes later on by showing that his lack of care is just a shield.
Emotionally neutral characters come up a lot in films. Stereotypically a young, sarcastic, white person, they can be the 'straight man' in comedies, as the pictured Kim Pine from 'Scott Pilgrim VS. The World' is, or they can be a more mysterious character. We wanted to show this stereotype but subvert it quite a lot- the stereotypical dismissiveness plays well into the mystery narrative, and the emotional shield opens up many possibilities for drama. Click to enlarge.
DC Sean Mann
A white detective, in charge of Peter Smith's case. He isn't the most successful at his job, which is why he was given what started as quite a straight-forward 'teenagers getting rowdy' case. Tries to be apathetic and neutral, but is not immune to stereotyping. He is one of the driving forces in the opening and the rest of the film- he pushes the story forwards by pushing the investigation forwards, and his attempted neutrality keeps the focus on the other characters (which helps when it comes to appealing to our target audience, who will likely prefer the other, more relatable characters due to their age range and various personalities and ethnicities and so on.)
Stereotypical in that he is the detective archetype- white, aloof and calculating. However, he is less 'superhuman police officer' and more human than the stereotype would have you believe, as he has his flaws.
Detectives are often very stereotypical. David Mills from 'Se7en,' shown here, is one such character. Costume is one major area where this shines through- they often have a mix of formal and casual clothing, like a suit without the jacket, and are quite apathetic on the surface but more vulnerable underneath- if you are familiar with 'Se7en,' you will know that this balance of seriousness and professionalism with casualness and vulnerability plays into the character a lot. We wanted our character's costume to be very stereotypical for recognisability, and we wanted to explore that internal struggle often portrayed in characters like this. Click to enlarge.
Our chosen representation group is ethnicity, but often linked to class and status. We plan to represent our characters as both stereotypical as part of these representation groups, but with traits (some obvious and some more subtle) that show they can challenge these stereotypes. Not all of the representations are initially positive, although they are all recognisable, but the more positive aspects of each character come out as they are developed. Hopefully we also have a good enough range of different characters that people can see and identify with at least one person, in terms of gender and ethnicity, as well as personality.

We are planning to connote this representation through a few ways- firstly is the personalities of our characters. As you can see above, they are all superficially stereotypical, and as such flawed and quite negative, but we also gave them a few more positive and/or human traits. For example, Raj is the 'nerd' character, but is much more confident than he initially appears- he doesn't speak at first, leading people to believe he is just another stereotype based on his appearance alone, but his first jokey lines show him to be much more confident and humorous than he lets on.
An early example of a possible joke Raj could use to introduce his personality. Click to enlarge.
Another way is through costume and appearance- an easy way for us to make people immediately stereotype Tyrone is by appealing to what they visualise when they think of those stereotypes. He is a black male with a hood and possibly a hat, a classic negative image that ties ethnicity with class and status and even gender. Tyrone is specifically shown to struggle with these outward stereotypes, and he has to overcome them to make people realise he is much more than what he appears.
A different shot of Moses from 'Attack the Block,' showing him wearing his most stereotypical attire. Click to enlarge.

R+P Post 5: Our opening sequence idea

The basic story of our opening sequence is that five youths, the closest thing the police have as witnesses to the disappearance of a sixth teenager, are brought in for questioning. After a brief introductory montage showing small parts of each character, including some quirks and traits, the detective enters the interrogation room where the first person is waiting, and opens by ensuring the facts he has on file about each person is correct. He then begins questioning- however, as shot reverse shot happens and the interviewee goes out of view, when the camera goes back it is revealed that the interviewee is now a different person, despite the detective effectively only having one conversation.
A scene from 'Glee' that we used to influence our opening. In this, the adult character interrogates the younger characters, seemingly having one conversation with one character before the camera cuts back to reveal a different character. This happens multiple times and is accompanied by shot-reverse-shot. Although we are intending to swap characters in more ways than in this scene, it was still a good influence. Click to play.

This happens throughout the opening multiple times, allowing us to cover each character in a short time, while also revealing the basic outline of the case by giving us all the facts the detective receives over five interviews in what is essentially one interview, all in an interesting and hopefully compelling way. At the end of the questioning another police officer comes in and informs the detective that a body has been found, and as such the case is now murder rather than that of a missing person.
A still from 'CSI.' In this scene, two of the CSI team are interrogating one person. Two police officers or similar working together on one person is quite conventional for the crime and mystery genres, so we wanted to draw inspiration from that. As such instead of just having the detective reveal the information, we have a second police officer breaking the news. This should both increase appeal to genre fans as well as increase the drama of the scene. Click to enlarge. 
This bombshell elicits different reactions from each character, as does the detective revealing that they are now all suspects. There are some short credits at the very beginning, some superimposed over the first few shots, and the film title is given its own slot right at the end.

A big influence on this opening was of course the previously mentioned 'The Usual Suspects,' due to the fact it tells its story through the questioning- here it helped as it has before, but it also helped influence how we placed our titles, e.g. superimposed over the first few introductory shots, which are set in the film's universe rather than over a black screen, but not over shots that are directly part of the story.
These are some of the opening credits to 'The Usual Suspects.' The camera constantly pans to the right, across the river, as the superimposed titles appear and disappear in turn. The camera eventually reveals the first scene of the movie, set on a nearby boat. We incorporated this 'removed from yet still in-universe' style of superimposed credits into our own film. Click to enlarge.
However, as that movie only contains one interview with one subject, and further we didn't want to base all our ideas in one movie, we did some more research into interrogation scenes, especially those with multiple people, and came up with a few interesting finds. One particularly good inspiration was 'Now You See Me,' which contains an interrogation of two different suspects by the same two officers in the same room, but at different times. As such, sometimes the camera moves and everything in the room remains the same except the interviewee. This allows fluid and compact storytelling, with both suspects having different lines of questioning applied and responding with different things. We thought this was a great idea, and incorporated parts of it (of course with some modification to fit our needs, such as having even more interviewees) into our opening.
Here is the aforementioned scene from 'Now You See Me.' Hopefully you can see where we drew inspiration, as well as where we have changed how this technique works to fit our film better. We built on what we had learned from 'Glee' by looking at the more interesting camera movements that swap characters around in this sequence. Click to play.

Our current script reflects our current ideas, in that the dialogue has been specifically designed to work well when swapping between characters. As you can see from the clip above, when moving between characters, you cannot leave conversation hanging, even if each character has their own story. We have tried to incorporate this style of dialogue into our script by making it one continuous flowing conversation- thus it has no loose threads and tells the story we wish to tell despite the changing characters. The script was also a useful way of committing to record some concrete dialogue and character interactions.
An extract from our current script. As you may note, it is not yet typed up, purely verbal (as in we have not yet added actions and movements to make it clearer,) and has gone through revisions already. Right now this is still more than sufficient, and should still be useful by the time we reach the 'Animatic' voiceover stage. Hopefully you can see where conversation swaps between characters uninterrupted, too. Click to enlarge.
We plan to use quite a few narrative conventions throughout our sequence. Chief amongst these are filming techniques to ensure continuity and tie the story together, such as shot reverse shot to show conversation, as well as the 180 degree and 30 degree rules to keep the conversation fluid and realistic despite the changing characters in the conversation.
An example of shot-reverse-shot from the 'Glee' clip.
We also want to include match-on action to create continuity between individual shots. In terms of the camera itself, we are intending to use a variety of framings and angles to keep the scene dynamic and interesting despite being confined to one fairly small room, such as close-ups for facial expressions and emotions, high angles to show more characters at once and their interactions, and so on.
Some examples of different angles in 'Now You See Me.'
We even plan to use techniques like chiaroscuro to help get across the underlying messages of the film- a good example of this we have already planned is having one character be partially in light and partially in darkness during their reaction to hearing that the case has become a murder, in order to cast suspicion on them. Examples of most if not all of these techniques can helpfully be found in the very same 'Now You See Me' clip above.

This was a very important step for us. As well as amassing more research and inspirational films, which no doubt we will use for other purposes in other areas of planning later, we have made a lot of progress in nailing down exactly what we want to happen throughout our sequence, which of course is the first step towards planning out a storyboard, shootboard etc. which in turn should transition into a filmed opening. At this point we are not just laying groundwork for our ideas, we are directly choosing what we are going to do.

R+P Post 4: Our film's genre, title and plot outline

Our film's genre is Mystery Drama and our working title is 'What Happened to Peter Smith?' We have also figured out a basic plotline at this point, detailed in the table below:
This is the basic plotline for our film. It follows the conventional classic narrative pattern, and has been broken down into steps using this pattern. Click to enlarge.
One film we looked at quite a lot to inform our ideas was 'The Usual Suspects,' a Mystery film with neo-noir influences. This film starts similarly to ours, in that the line between Equilibrium and Disruption is blurred. 'The Usual Suspects' shows a crime that takes place chronologically near the end of the narrative as the first scene, and then transitions to an interrogation, which forms the majority of the film- the rest of the scenes are told through conversations between the detective and his interviewee with flashbacks and visualisations of what they say. 
A still from the boat scene from 'The Usual Suspects.' After the opening credits, we see a shoot-out and other events take place here. This is initially confusing, but the film soon cuts to an interview with the only known survivor of the fight, and throughout the interview (and thus the film) more and more becomes clear, and the story is revealed. Click to enlarge.
Our film, in comparison, also introduces the Disruption along with the Equilibrium, as we seek to create a fluid, almost unnoticeable movement between the two. We also liked the idea of telling the story through interviewing, so we decided to use the interrogations as part of the basis of our film, but tried to innovate and move away from 'The Usual Suspects' a bit by also featuring the detective doing police work and the teenagers going about their lives to push the story forwards.
In 'The Usual Suspects,' the lives of these five characters leading up to the event shown at the beginning of the film are explored through an interrogation of the only survivor of said event. It is a very influential film for us, in this area of planning and others. Click to enlarge.
At this point in planning, we have made quite a few key decisions, but I think we have chosen our inspirations and how they influence our choices well. We have a good basis to build on for the rest of the development process, and our decision to have the disruption in the opening 'The Usual Suspects' style should allow us to create a compelling sequence.

R+P Post 3: Our production and distribution institutions

The Company Credits page of the IMDB profile for Attack the Block, a film we looked at to influence our ideas, both for the film itself as well as the institutions. The institutions we have chosen, which we share with this film, are highlighted. Click to enlarge.
Our chosen production company is Film4 Productions, for a few reasons. These include the fact that they are British production company, which fits with our target audience, as well as the fact that they are known for producing successful indie films of varying genres. These range from famous drama 'Slumdog Millionaire,' to more niche yet still fairly successful films that we actually looked at to inform our ideas, such as 'Attack the Block,' because of the British setting and similar age group and ethnicities in relation to our target audience. 
The poster for 'Attack the Block.' Prominently featured are the young diverse cast, as well as the large flat on the titular block, typical of British cities. Click to enlarge.
Film4 also produced 'The Inbetweeners Movie,' a film aimed at and starring people of our target age, and 'In Bruges,' a film with a similar narrative focus and genre to ours, that being crime drama.
Film4 Productions' logo. Click to enlarge.
Our chosen distributor is Screen Gems, a subsidiary of Sony and more specifically the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group branch of Sony Pictures Entertainment. It came up when we were researching 'Attack the Block,' and it turns out it is known for picking up indie films of various genres, such as the comedy 'Friends with Benefits' and the action-adventure science fantasy film 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,' which turned out to be useful to our research due to it's young adult cast and target audience that was similar to ours.
The poster for 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.' After finding out about Screen Gems through 'Attack the Block,' we found that they distributed this film too, and it ended up helping us choose Screen Gems as our distributor as well as influencing our ideas, due to its young adult cast, and similar target audience. Click to enlarge.
While we were at first slightly concerned with what seemed to be a focus on horror, after more research we found that it still catered to our needs quite well, due to its tendency to branch out into various genres, and the fact that it often distributed British films like 'Attack the Block.'
Screen Gem's logo. Click to enlarge.
Reflecting on our choices, it seems we have chosen quite well. Our initial doubts at Screen Gem's focus having been dismissed, it now seems we have quite a free reign, but through all later decisions we will always know that we have institutions that should work with our British indie film quite well, and allow us to reach our young adult target audience.

R+P Post 2: Our target audience and how we plan to attract and address them

Our target audience is fans of crime, mystery, and drama films, mostly from the young adult 15-25 age range, and even more specifically those in Britain. Although we are producing an indie film, we are trying to appeal to the mainstream, which is why we chose such a popular genre and age range to market to. As our target audience includes ourselves and all our schoolmates, we thought about what we'd like to see and what is currently popular and talked about nowadays, which is what lead us to realise how popular crime dramas are.
A selection of some of the kinds of documents we used to write down very, very early ideas, in a very loose and freehand way, including many unfinished or unpursued ideas that were cut very soon after, and doubtless some that will be cut later in the project as it develops. As you can see, we were looking at what age group we could target in the left document, and considering genres and representation topics in the right document. You may need to click to enlarge.
We had to work in ways to appeal to our target audience with our film opening. We have ways of appealing to the entire group, like making the majority of the characters fall in the age range of the audience for relatability and including music of a style popular amongst the group, and as our planning developed we were able to think of more specific things to include also. For example, we have one character using headphones to listen to this music, as listening to music is a popular pastime for this age group, but we also have a second sound track more conventional of the genre to attract fans of the genre.
One extract from an interview I did with a friend, who is part of the target audience but wishes to remain anonymous. He provided useful information, even mentioning one of our influences, 'Sherlock,' by name, and confirming some of our thoughts on genre and audience. He is the white boxes, I am green. Click to enlarge.
We've got a wide range of characters in terms of gender, ethnicity and so on to meet the growing needs of representation and concern for diversity amongst younger people, who fall inside our targeted age group. We also further ensured appeal to fans of the genre by setting the opening in an interrogation room during some questioning. Furthermore, the one main character outside of the target audience's age range is the detective, so we retain appeal to our core audience of mystery/crime fans outside of the main age group.
A second extract from the interview. Again, he confirmed some of our ideas, this time on representation of his age group, as well as the need for diversity alongside quality. As before, he is the white boxes, while I am green. Click to enlarge.
These decisions have been very important so far. As we are in the early stages of the project, every choice we make will provide a foundation for further development, whereas in the later stages it is easier to change ideas without having too heavy of an impact on the rest of the project. Talking to members of the target audience was a very helpful thing to do, as it really allowed us to ensure these aforementioned decisions were based in fact.

R+P Post 1: How we intend to work as a group

Our group is called Group 3, and it is comprised of myself, Jack Edmondson, and Sayo Ajoje. If you ever need to refresh your memory of this information, please refer to the sidebar on the right.
This is Group 3- we appear in the same order as the names in the above text, left to right. Click to enlarge.
We intend to split the work between us as evenly possible, as we believe that is the most efficient and fairest group dynamic possible. However, if one of us is particularly good at a certain task, then they will take priority while we are working on that task. Hopefully this will result in a fair work balance but the highest possible quality work.

Outside of lessons and the meetings we organise throughout the week, our main channel of communication is a shared 'WhatsApp' group, where each of us can raise concerns, ask questions, suggest ideas and so on. So far it has been a useful tool for figuring things out before physically meeting to discuss, such as confirming the times of said meetings or deciding what research to do in preparation for the session. If we need alternate forms of communication, we have each other's phone numbers and we are all friends on Facebook- thus calling, texting, and Facebook Messenger are also viable options.
An example of a conversation we had on our WhatsApp group. As you can see from the text timestamps, this is out of school time, but we were able to discuss and make decisions before our next session. Sayo is the unmarked white box at the top, Jack's boxes are labelled, and I am the green box. Click to enlarge.