ROADS

Below is Roads. A teenage comedy drama film based around the theme of drugs and rebellion.         Directed, edited and produced by Akhtar Productions. 

9 Frame Structure Analysis

Audience Expectations from Genre

We asked some people to answer the following survey to get a better understanding of audience expectations of black comedy.

1. What themes would you expect from a black comedy film?
2. What settings would you expect in a black comedy film?
3. What type of main character would you expect from a black comedy film?

First participant:
1. Dark themes such as death, crime murder e.t.c but juxtaposed with tongue in cheek humour - not necessarily laugh out loud.
2. Can be applied to any setting I would say.
3. Again could be anything but normally I would imagine one main character who the audience is aligned with, for example in 50/50.

Second participant: 
1, Crime, gruesome gory deaths and injuries, cults,mysteries
2. Quiet town/village/small town/countryside
3. Funny, ordinary person, mundane job

Third participant: 
1. Perhaps it would be about the protagonist's situation and emotions, mainly sad and pessimistic but humorous. So themes could be loss/death or the mundanities of everyday life.
2. A setting that may not seem to offer much humour but allows the characters to create it. Like a small/insignificant town or a funeral.
3. Someone unfulfilled with dull yet funny friends or maybe an outsider or loner, riddled with cynicism so a lot of humour would come from their sarcasm and pessimism.

Fourth participant: 
1. Inappropriate or dark subjects such as death, illness or corruption or very disturbing situations. But managed to make it humorous.
2. Based in a dull setting like a town or somewhere there is not much modernism.
3. Someone pessimistic and satire - won't have many aspirations in life. Or they could be very self centred, not caring what comes their way. Would make audience feel hate towards them or feel very sympathetic towards them.

Feedback from Peers

Below is a short clip of feedback given by a small group of peers, watching the final edit of our film opening 'Roads'. After the viewing, they were asked questions and gave honest answers. All three students gave consent to being filmed and put onto video sharing site, YouTube.

Iconography

Iconography in media is an important aspect of genre. Certain objects are expected to be seen on screen when a certain genre is set for a film.

Iconography in the Comedy Genre:

 - Bright colour palette on screen, goes with high key lighting and the light hearted background of the genre.
 - Slapstick comedy uses props such as bats and water pistols.
 - Spoken jokes as well as non-verbal looks of reaction towards the camera, breaking the fourth wall between audience and character.
 - Iconography usually conforms to the theme of the film. For example, a film about rebellious teenagers, props used would be empty bottles of alcohol or used condoms to add comic effect.

Iconography in the Drama Genre:

- Real life issues and problems help the audience relate to the characters and rest of the film, making the received moral even greater. It also increases their sympathy towards the characters involved, meaning they are more involved in the events and narrative.
 - Drama films can also occur in different time periods, for example the 1940s during World War 2. Iconography for this specific time/war drama would be props such as gas masks, planes, camouflage and uniform.
 - Props in Drama films usually have large meaning to the characters and narrative story line as well as the audience. An example of this would be the significance of the blue diamond necklace in 'Titanic' the film, as this is solely the purpose for the team going out to search for the sunken boat in the first place.

History of Comedy Drama

Iconic Directors of Comedy Drama

Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson is an American film directer, producer, screenwriter and actor. His films are most known for their distinctive visual and narrative style.
Some of his most iconic and well-known films are those such as 'Moonrise Kingdom' released in 2012, 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' released in 2014 and 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' released in 2009.

Anderson's films are mostly comedies that deal with dark subject, so are more black-comedy or comedy drama. Some of these themes can loss of innocence, death or grief. We plan to use this type of genre in our film opening and combat the themes of drugs and rebellion amongst teenagers and the harsh effects these have.

Director decisions that he makes usually spark a critical reaction and discussions after his films are viewed. Anderson uses stylistic shot choices such as flat space camera moves, snap-zooms and slow motion walking shots. As well as this he deliberately chooses a limited colour palette which create aesthetically pleasing frames.

Over the years, Anderson has won many awards for his pleasing and distinctive films. For example, 'Best New Filmmaker' at the MTV Awards in 1996 and 'Best Comedy' at the Critic's Choice Movie Awards in 2015, by which he was also nominated for best director, picture and original screenplay.

Casting

Casting Samantha Stark
For our film opening we have one main character to introduce and one quick shot of two boys running. The main character should be:
Gender: Female
Age: teenager between 15 and 18 years
Hair colour: no bright outstanding hair dyes
Height: anywhere between 5ft and 5ft 10inches

First profile
Name: Ebony Paice
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Hair colour: Brown
Height: 5'6 ft
Acting experience:
3 years of training at the Oast Drama
Performed in amateur dramatics clubs
A* in drama GCSE

Second profile
Name: Lily Fulton
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Hair colour: Brown
Height: 5'5 ft
Acting experience: A* in drama GCSE
Toured a performance of "Tin Man" to local primary schools as a theatre company

Final decision:
We have decided to cast Ebony as our main character because her appearance had the most resemblance to the character we created and her mannerism also reflected that of Samantha. She was also flexible with our shooting schedule and we strongly admired the acting experience she had, therefore trusting her ability to execute the role well.

Extra 1 profile
Name: Ben Bradley
Gender: Male
Age: 12
Hair colour: Brown
Height: 5 ft
Acting experience: Been involved for 3 years in amateur dramatic societies and is planning to take drama as one of his GCSE options
His role: Plays a young boy in the park that runs past the camera screaming for comic effect.

Extra 2 profile
Name: Ethan Simpson
Gender: Male
Age: 14
Hair colour: Blonde
Height: 5'4 ft
Acting experience: Attended a few drama clubs  and is planning to take drama as one of his GCSE options
His role: Plays a second young boy in the park that runs past the camera.

Extra 3 profile
Name: Brian Bradley
Gender: Male
Age: 51
Hair colour: Black
Height: 5'6 ft
Acting experience: Has been involved with various drama productions over the years and took Drama as on of his O-Levels where he achieved an A.
His role:
Plays an adult man in the park who is chasing the two younger boys. Walks quickly past the screen whilst shouting "Come back here, you little fuckers!" for comic effect and a sense of the rough area where the protagonist lives, adds to the drama genre and harsh theme of drugs.

Third Draft - ROADS

Scripting the Voiceover

Our first thought for the voice over was to have the main character recite a famous quote and then completely ruin it with her own ideology. We decided on a Shakespeare quote from Romeo and Juliet and this was our first draft:

"These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which, as they kiss, consume.
What the fuck does that even mean? I'm not bothered about these old sods who wrote those romantic classics. I just think we should live life in the moment and to the full. Don't you?"

After hearing it being said and putting it in the opening we decided it was not what we wanted and also that it was too long. Instead we took inspiration from the voice over in trainspotting. The short snappy phrases and philosophical meaning was more suitable for us and our film opening. Our final voice over is this:

"Wake up. Get dressed. Go to college. Do work. Go home. Do homework. Graduate. Get a job. Have kids. Die. Fuck that, I'm gonna live my life how I want to."

We all agreed that the final voice-over fit a lot better and helped the audience gain a better understanding of the character's attitude to the normal ways of her life. It also builds up the idea of the theme of rebellion from the offset as this will be put directly at the start of our opening, just before and during the first few frames.

Second Draft - ROADS

After re-shooting the bedroom scene and credits, we showed the second edit of our film opening to our teacher and class once again. We then received feedback once again, yet this time solely from the teacher.

Improvements given after feedback from a larger group of teachers were:

The voiceover at the started needs to be re-recorded as it sounds very tinny and as if it was done on a phone, creating atmosphere for a horror film opening.
More narrative is needed as bedroom does not tell story.
Credits; Writing on the pill bottle looks messy, need to be printed.
              Cigarette packet looks too fake.
              Order of credits was wrong, BFI order needs to be checked.
Needs more comical aspects; A toilet scene - someone sitting on the toilet.
                                                Things going wrong.
                                                Underwear falling out of bag in public.
All cuts are in time with the music and fit well.

First Draft - ROADS

Below is the first draft of our final opening, a comedy drama, Roads. After editing and showcasing this to our class and teachers, we developed our ideas further.

As a group, we thought up questions to ask the class to answer whilst viewing our opening twice. They then wrote down their answers and notes onto paper before handing them back to us in order for us to re-shoot and develop our final opening.


           1. What did you like about the opening? (Give specifics)

The non-diegetic background music worked well, was catchy and memorable.

I really like the transition from the man running to where the protagonist is standing at the brick wall.

Credits were imaginative and worked well.

There was a clever use of mise-en-scene and credits.

Subtle but creative credits and the music is well suited.

           2. Would you watch the rest of the film? Why?

Probably, but I would have to see longer/more of the opening to add to narrative.
I think the narrative is slightly unclear so I would watch a bit more to get a better understanding.

           3. Out of 10, how well does it suit the comedy drama genre?

8 - Can not see the drama side of it yet.
6 - I didn't really get the comedy aspect in the opening, seems more of a coming of age.
7 - The music helps (although contrapuntal to the dramatic side).
6 - Music + pizza = comedy

           4. Who would you guess the target audience are?

Youths.
The demographic is very clearly teenagers.
Our age (teenagers) but restricted to that.
Teenage girls.
Teens aged 14-21.

           5. How would you improve the opening in terms of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, sound and continuity?

Edit the colours to give a stronger contrast - make brighter.
Make the cigarette packet look more realistic and make the zoom at the start smoother.
Add more shots between the credits to add time and easier to follow.
Stabilising is needed on some shots.
Make sure credits are realistic enough so the audience can not tell that they are altered.

           6. From a director's point of view, what else would you add or remove?

I would have added more narrative by adding more scenes of the female protagonist.
Add more shots of the female protagonist during the credit sequence to establish her character further.
More emotion of teenager and their stereotype - moody, swearing etc.

Technology Used and Problems Faced

For the original storyboard:

Over the course of creating our film opening, we have learnt a lot about the technologies we used to construct our product. Originally, we used the Canon DSLR camera and we found that by touching the screen of the camera it focused on specific object. However, we struggled to get the camera to focus on some zoomed in shots and when we filmed fast shots.

For the improved storyboard:

As result of our focusing struggle and unsteadiness with the Canon DSLR camera, we decided to use an iPhone 7 camera. It is of similar quality and we practised a few test shots to see if it was appropriate for are extreme close up and fast movement shots.

Conventions of Genre

Filming Day 2

After brainstorming and adapting our new comic ideas, we obviously had to re-film many parts of our film opening. The locations we decided to use were the Tonbridge park toilets, a bus stop in Tonbridge and also a house in Tonbridge, which we used the front of as well as the door.

For one of our credits, we used lipstick on a small metal mirror on the interior of the toilets. On this, we wrote "AN AKHTAR FILM" which we filmed whilst our protagonist looked at herself in the mirror in distress.

This idea was effective in the aesthetics of the final opening, as it conformed to the colour palette that we decided on. As well as this, it followed the idea that we wanted initially, of the credits being incorporated onto objects within the film, which we did consistently.

We then moved onto filming the bus stop scene, which would be the establishing shot of the opening.

This wide shot was simply just the protagonist (Ebony Paice) sitting on the bench, before we filmed a car driving past for the swipe screen effect we plan to add in the editing process.

We will then also edit in a voice over that we recorded which will play over the first two locations.

Shooting Script - Final Edit

After receiving feedback and having to re-shoot, we had to create a new shooting script that we could follow to make it easier for the group and our actors. Below is the updated version of our shooting script due to the development in ideas and changes in our opening. 

Location Recce - Tonbridge Park Toilets

When re-filming our film opening, we decided to use public toilets to add comic effect and more narrative as well as giving a specific, more obvious place for the title of our film to go and be isolated. This made it easier for the name to be identified for what it is as well as showing that it is an opening, and where it ends as this is the last credit shown.
This post shows the recce of the toilets that we did. We wanted it to be a confined and small space to represent how she has been thrown out of her house and has almost no option for her to go, so she is confined in what she can do.

We thought the no-smoking sign on the toilet wall could add to irony of her life, as our protagonist is addicted to drugs and this is the focal point of the opening and rest of the film. However, we did not get round to filming this part of the location unfortunately so had to leave it out of the opening.

The photo above shows the toilet stalls which we had in almost all of the shots inside the public toilets. We took a low angle shot from either end of the toilets when the protagonist walked in and out of them. We also wrote in eye-liner and lipstick onto the metal stall doors small phrases such as "David has a small dick" and "call this no. for a good time" which added comic effect and allows the comedy genre to be seen amongst the drama genre.

Comic Ideas Brainstorm

Props and Makeup

MAKE-UP




This was only needed to be used on our protagonist, Sam, to make her seem as though she had been out the night before and was hungover.







To do this we used a red lip liner to go on the top of the eyelids, as well as on the water line; this gave a sense of tiredness as well as the occurrence of drug use, keeping to the recurring theme of drugs within the film.

We then just applied normal mascara which we smudged when wet to create a sense of it having been worn the night before, as if she had passed out or fallen asleep from being drunk when she got into her plain bed.

PROPS

Our props were mainly seen in the credit sequence within the bedroom, some of which had the names of actors and directors names written on in some way.

We put pieces of clothing on the floor which conforms to our scheme. We also threw makeup to show the carelessness of our main protagonist of her makeup, also stereo typically showing that she is a girl.

The black top in the image was made in 'InGear', Tunbridge Wells, which we all went to and help to design the prop.

This is the first prop that is seen within the opening and shows the name of the actor playing our protagonist. The choice of a guitar outline show her personality deeper and the typical "edgy" teenager.

We found a red book and yellow folder within school and asked permission from staff to use them.

Red and yellow are, once again, conforming to our colour palette and feature within the credit sequence many times, in each clip.

The two in the image on the left read the three supporting actors, Ben Bradley, Brian Bradley and Ethan Simpson.



The next props were set on top of a guitar amp. The props used were; a metal teaspoon, icing sugar made to look like cocaine and the same cigarette lighter from the previous outdoor scene for continuity.

We also created our own student card which had the words 'directed by' on which was followed by each of our names within the credits until the end.

'Lizzie Bradley' is written on the red laptop screen, next to red pants, to show age and the fact she is still in school but also growing up.

The pizza box is to represent her age again, and the laziness of the protagonist due to mainly drugs and her lifestyle. We doodled on it to show her arty, "edgy" and more personal side as it contains guitars and drugs. The box also has 'Lucy Gaston' written on it, showing the embedded credits that run through the opening.




We took a pills bottle and wrote again in handwriting, like a prescription bottle would be, the name of the final member in our group as director, just as the opening ends.

The drink next to it, half drunk, is representative again of stereotypical teenage laziness, as there are many cups around her room, obviously that she has left or not bothered to remove from her room.

Health and Safety Risks

As a precaution, we had to think and evaluate all of the possible hazard during filming in order to prevent them from occuring and harming any one or any equipment. 

Permission Documents

In order to get actors and extras for our opening, we had to ensure that any that were under the age of 18 had permission from a parent or guardian for them to be filmed.

Film Title - ROADS

After some discussion on the film title we finally came up with 'ROADS':

• We came up with this title because in the film, the girl takes lots of roads and paths to different places in her life and she has to make decisions. 
• We found that it was very common for a lot of comedies to take on film titles with just one word in it and for dark comedies to use word with room for interpretation from the audience. For example "Trainspotting", although there is not a single train in the film, it is the title and leaves audiences thinking about the reason why.
• When we googled roads to see if it came up with anything behind the name we found that it is a drugs centre in Bristol, so seen as our film is about drugs we were set on having this name because we liked the name and it suited our film. 
• Roads stands for 'Recovery Orientated Alcohol & Drugs Service' and this is what our film is all about so we decided to have a read of the website and find out what it was all about and to see if it would help to make our opening scene more real and authentic. 
• We also thought that when someone searches for our film it will also come up with the website which some people may find helpful as they may not know about it. We want our film to make people more aware of the problems of drugs and the effect it has on everyone and the services that are available to help with drugs. 
• This is what the Roads website looks like:

Location Recce - Bedroom Change

1st February 2017

Under certain circumstances, it turned out that we were unable to use the first bedroom that we planned so had to recce a second choice.

We liked how this bedroom looked as it shows the tom-boyish side of our protagonist from the stereotypical blue. It also has non copyrighted posters on the walls which we thought went well with the messy character.

We planned to move the bed into the centre of the room as this would allow us to use the space around it to fill with the credits and allow for panning shots.

As a group, we realised that we would have to remove certain parts of the room, such as names and photos of the boy whose room it is, as this could distract or confuse the audience towards the personality or identity of our character.

However some aspects could be kept, such as guitars and guitar amps, that build the background and interests of the character. As well as this, the bottle tops on the wall could be taken off and scattered on the floor to add to her messy persona and underage drinking, enhancing the theme of drugs once again as well as the genre of comedy drama.

When taking pictures of the bedroom, I decided to take a picture of the bed from a high angle, as this is what we desired to do during the actual filming of the opening, to allow a sense of what it would look like in the final piece.

Film Rating

According to BBFC guidelines our film would be a 15.

Drug use is shown however it is not promoting or encouraging it as the film is about how they affect the characters life.

As the genre is a comedy drama, we would continue the use of strong language as this can be considered comical in use, as well as showing the reality of teenagers and their lives.

Our opening does not contain any sex however the rest of the film would have sexual scenes as this would fit into the life of a teenager as well as her own accidents or events due to the drugs and alcohol that go along with the theme.

Filming Day 1

29th January 2017

After fixing our final locations as a group, we set a date to shoot the first two scenes of the opening. As a group, we met in Tonbridge Park along with our actor, Ebony Paice and the extras, Brian Bradley, Ben Bradley and Ethan Simpson.


Luckily, there were not many people actually in the park which allowed us to film for a longer time, without the risk of shooting a member of the public without their consent. If this ever was a risk, we stopped filming and informed them what we were doing until they moved on and passed by.

We decided to use two options of costume for our protagonist, one which was dull and dark going along with the theme of drugs and the dark side of our comedy drama, and the other which went along with our colour scheme.

During the shooting, we were cautious of the swipe screen where one extra would run across the screen extremely closely which would switch the location to the brick wall. To make sure we got this shot done well, we had to overshoot to give ourselves options during the editing stage.





We decided to use a tripod instead of a handheld as we tested both, one walking and the other just zooming in, this was for the very first opening shot. The handheld was extremely shaky and did not give the effect we wanted so we decided to use a tripod which also improved the continuity as the second scene along the brick wall was also planned to be filmed in this way.

We then moved on to filming the brick wall after the swipe screen. As we shot each scene in chronological order, we started with the swipe screen which we again had to overshoot so that the switch between the two scenes could be consistent and smooth.