Prop List

"A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is any object held or used on stage by an actor for use in furthering the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set decoration and a prop is use. If the item is not touched by a performer for any reason it is simply a set decoration. If it is touched by the actor in accordance to script requirements or as deemed by the director, it is a prop."

- Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_prop


For our trailer, we are going to need certain props to enhance the drama or comedy on screen.
As we obtain each prop, I will tick (✓) them off.

A sports bag ✓ filled with money
- A sports bag will not be hard to obtain. However, we obviously would be unable to use real money for the scene, so we plan to find a 'specimen'picture on Google and print off several copies to use.

Vodka bottles ✓
- There is a scene where our characters are getting drunk to celebrate the fact that they have discovered all of the money. For this, we will use empty vodka bottles washed out and filled with water.

A water gun
- For a comedic scene. We willl be able tobuy a small plastic water gun at a pound shop.

A car ✓
- For another comedic scene where our characters are overtaken by an old lady who is on foot. One of our group drives and owns a car, so we will likely use that as it is the simplest way.

A dog ✓
- We need a dog to chase one of our characters up a tree and bark at it. Again, two of our group own dogs, so we will choose based on the most obedient one (and the least threatening!)

Music: Final Decision

Based on our last-minute choice to shift the theme of the film from violent and Kidulthood-esque to a more comedic fare, we now feel that the D-Mindz song we were going to use is not appropriate. To reflect the lighter tone our film has now taken, we wanted more jovial music.

When searching for unsigned artists, we discovered Trip. We felt that his song, 'Who's That' had the perfect feel- it was fast and a little bit heavy to represent the action, but the lyrics are humourous and about a social misfit.



After hearing this song, we unanimously decided it would be perfect for the montage in our teaser trailer.

Here are the lyrics. The highlighted portion is the part we intend to use.

Who's that sitting at the bus-stop
Look at his mug shot
Looks like he's been mugged off
Woken up at night by the guard dogs
Plus he's got a pile of old broken alarm clocks


I can't even be bothered to
Read a book, write , clean or to cook
Feel like I’m Steve Mcqueen on foot
Look in my cupboards nothing but cheese and custard
My feet reek like Dijon mustard
So who's that sitting at the bus-stop
While his mums dog take a pee on his Dunlops
I lost my cherry to the solo in November rain
And I’ll always die hard like I’m John Mclane
So come on traffic lights go green
And come on STD test be clean
And pretty please Mr. Washing machine
Do your thing and take those funny stains off a my jeans
So come on mum, just leave that prick and
Come home sis at least for a bit
In school I was cool with geography and punch-ups
Picked on by the boy with the transformer lunch box


Who's that sitting at the bus-stop
Look at his mug-shot
It looks like he's been mugged off
Woken up at night by the guard dogs
Plus he' got a pile of old broken alarm clocks


Ey yo I stuff down a big fat breakfast that'd be fit for a builder
I got a crush on the waitress here a bit like Hillsborough
So when I dust I tip a couple of silvers
But I 'aint got a chance 'cos she looks like a film-star
But one fine day I’ll be a wealthy fellow
And then my piss-streak will a healthy yellow
But until then it's just me and my neighbours cello
Don't put your drinks on the table, please use my demo


Who's that sitting at the bus-stop look at his mug-shot
Looks like he's been mugged off
Woken up at night by the guard dogs
Plus he's got a pile of old broken alarm clocks


So I guess it's just me and the fruit machine
would someone please turn down the human-league
I’m trying to win some loot to get a new TV
So I can sit around all day and watch QVC

Final Storyboard

This is a final, more detailed and annotated version of our storyboard. We have cut out some scenes due to impracticality, and moved some around in the chronology, but otherwise the storyboard remains more or less unchanged.

Storyboard

Now we have our idea firmly in our mind and have the audience feedback to gauge what they are looking for, we have begun storyboarding the trailer. Obviously, a trailer shows all of the best shots in the film in order to lure the audience in, so we need to think carefully about what we want every shot to convey to give a fair picture of the film.

Based on our audience feedback, we amended the tone of the film somewhat. Comedy was cited as the most popular for boys and girls alike, so we have added several amsuing elements to the storyboard- slapstick comedy and sarcastic dialogue. The premise is exactly the same, but instead of our main characters being savvy and streetwise, they are socially inept and hapless, which is the main source of comedy. We intend to play up the angle of them being misfits and being the wrong people to be caught up in such a situation.

We like the genre of 'dramedy' for this genre, as British films tend to be incredibly serious and gritty. The light hearted feel of the film will hopefully encourage people in our traget audience to see it becauyse it features the things those surveyed said they wanted in a film.

Questionnaire and Analysis

We wanted to find out what it was our audience was looking for in the trailer we are making, so we compiled this questionnaire and gave it out to thirty people between the ages of 16 and 20, our main target market. What we hoped to find out was:

- What gender our project would most appeal to, and how to make it more friendly to both
- What genres are popular so that we can include elements of them, eg. comedy, romance?
- What would make people want to see our film?

We have also created a Facebook group to this end, so we can gather qualitative feedback from our target audience.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=638384457#!/group.php?gid=152168054819075

Males aged 16-20

All watched films at least once a week if not more.

Most popular genres for males were Action and Comedy.

Least popular was Horror.

Teen drama's popularity tended to sit somewhere in the middle of the popularity spectrum.

They agreed that a good trailer and good actors were the best way to make them want to see the film.

The ones that did actively seek out trailers tended to see them on TV or YouTube.

Skins and The Inbetweeners were the most popular teen dramas from this category.

Females aged 16-20

On average, the girls watched films once a week.

Most popular genres were Romance and Comedy.

Least popular were Action films.

The actors and the reviews were the most important factors in girls making a choice to see films.

Majority of girls didn't actively seek out trailers, but saw them the most in the cinema or on TV.

Skins, Kidulthood and The Inbetweeners were the most popular teen dramas.


Based on these results, we can gather that our main market for the film is teen boys, who were more open to the idea of a teen drama. Across the board, dramas Skins and The Inbetweeners were popular- Skins features a set of hedonistic youths involved in sex and drugs, elements of which will be simple to incorporate into our feature. The Inbetweeners is about awkward teenage boys, which will be harder to incorporate, although we will include some elements of comedy in our trailer based on this finding.

In light of the popularity of Skins with both sexes. we plan to modify the tone of our characters- whereas we had previously planned to make them quite working-class, in the vein of Kidulthood, we will now make them more quirky and individual like the characters. Although it is difficult to convey seperate personalities in a trailer, we are going to try and convey characters kooks through their costumes, hairstyles and lines.

The overall verdict on teen dramas is that our target audience would watch them only if the plot interested them. We think the concept of ordinary, relatable teens finding themselves entangled with gangster types will be interesting- in fact, there was a storyline similar in the first series of Skins, where the character of Sid found himself in trouble with a drug dealer.

Locations #2

We have been searching for locations in Peterborough that would be good to use in our trailer. Our main priority in finding a location was somewhere with urban decay- a worn down, decrepit place reflecting the corruption and darkness of our plot. However, we had an idea about contrasting this with one of two shots in a beautiful place in order to make the decay look even uglier.


This location will be used for a comedy scene where a character is stuck up a tree. We selected it because it has low branches and will therefore pose a minimal health and safety risk.



This location will be used to film a scene of a character being chased by a small dog in a comedic fashion. We chose it because it is a clear path in a reasonably quiet area.


This is the alleyway that the characters emerge from at the very beginning of the trailer. The bush to the right is where the characters will find the money. We chose this alley because it manages to look both suburban and unkempt at once.


There is a scene in the trailer where the characters run past these garages. We chose them because they are battered and not particularly attrative, which represents the grittier world our goofy misfits find themselves caught in.