Working titles

While doing reach about my short film and blogging about what it is going to be I haven't actually given the film a name. I still haven't had a brain storming session in which I've sat and thought about what my film is going to be named due to the different events that occur throughout the film. During Hollywood when creating films they use something called a working title which is a tile that is used during the production of the film as the director doesn't want people to know what the film or program is going to be about, meaning that the working title that is used during the production of the media text isn't the title that is going to be used once the media text has been completed. As my film isn't going to be a major production I don't feel although it is necessary to use a working title, also due to my film being a mystery even if people did know what the title that I was going to be using was going to be it wouldn't give away what the film is going to be about. While planning my film I have had some ideas come to mind about what the film could be called:

• The Text
• Ur Next
• Who's Next
• I told you
• I'm everywhere
• Ur never alone
• Why us
• Kill the Bitch

Although I have came up with these titles I'm not 100% of which one I am going to be using. I will come up with a final title once my film has been completed. I am going to cut my list down to a finial 5 names that I want my film to watch and ask my target audience to watch the film and ask which of the three names that they feel like suits my film the most.  

Story Board

At first I started to create on paper however I can't draw at all and found that I was portraying the ideas that I had in the best way possible, so I went online I found a website called storyboard that. As you can see below the storyboard is a lot clear than it would be if it was on pen and paper. Due to the way the storyboard has been saved and upload you are unable to read the writing under it so I have bullet pointed below each of the board what they say. 

Although the storyboard is clear and shows what I am trying to portray I wouldn't use the website again due to only being able to use a small about of story board spacing before having to pay which lead to me having to save what I had done and starting over. Which was very time consuming as I had to ensure all of the characters looked the same as the new storyboard started as I couldn't just copy and past them into the next box. Also I found the way that you saved the story board confusing which lead to me just print screening the page and cropping it down in order upload below, however this has meant that the writing it unable to be read. 

• This scene is going to be a flash back from the end of the film. Hannah is dead on the floor with Lilly and Emily looking over her. Aaron who's in the hoodie in the background was the one to kill her however that will remain unknown. Megan who is also in the background the opposite side from Aaron is the reason that Hannah was killed. In order to make it clear this is a flashback I am going to add flashback lighting like I saw at the end of 'Pudding Bowl'. 
• This scene is the three girls who are being represented as bulling Megan. During the scene the girls are going to be having a conversation as to why Megan is in there lesson and is trying to sit with them// being nice to them. 
• There will be a small clip of the bell ringing in order to emphasis the fact that they are in high school and the lesson has finished. 

• As the three girls get onto the corridor they are confused as to who Megan is talking to as they have never seen the person before (Aaron). Hannah makes it very clear that she thinks Megan is up to something and wants to know what it is. 
• Lilly shows that Hannah should stop being so mean to Megan as she hasn't actually don't anything wrong to them. Hannah isn't happy about the fact that she being told what to do by someone else however Lilly has a point in the fact that Megan hasn't done anything wrong, so Hannah agrees and try's to follow Megan in order to talk to her. They also think they will be able to catch up with Aaron. 
• As they walk around the corner they are confused as to where Aaron has gone however they continue you to follow Megan as there is no where else for her to escape to as she gets into the common room.  

• The girls are confused as to where Megan has gone as she is not in the common room when they get in there however there is know where else that she could off gone without them seeing her leave. 
• As the girls are about to leave the common room once again Hannah receives a text message which leave her looking confused// scared however she refuses to talk to the other girls about it before rushing to her next lesson. 
• This scene will be a point of view shot, which will look although someone is watching Hannah's every movement however she is unaware that she is being watched. 

• We will then see Megan pop up out of no where following Hannah as she leaves school, Megan is going to be warning Hannah not to follow what the text message she received says, Hannah then starts to question how Megan even knows about the text message as she hasn't told anyone about it. Hannah continues walking ignoring everything that Hannah has said to her. 
• As a transition shot to show the difference in day and night time I am going to include a shot where a car comes speeding past, this will also look although Hannah has stepped into the road and a car has come at her as this will all happen so fast at the same time. 
• This scene is going to be Hannah walking into the woods with Aaron following her, however she is unaware of the fact that Aaron is behind her. Every time that she looks behind her he isn't there however she knows that she is being followed so texts her friends for help. 

• The scene carries on with Hannah walking into the middle of the woods. Aaron making a noise which makes her turn around, the camera shot is going to be of Hannah's reaction meaning you still wont see who Aaron is. 
• Im then going to add a long shot of the woods with a sound effect of a scream, followed by a gunshot. 
• This scene is going to be repeat of what the first scene showed with Hannah dead on the floor, as the other girls receive the rear message Aaron is going to be shown in the shot without a phone in his hand showing how there is more than one person targeting them.  

Inspiration

When coming up with my idea for my short film I struggled as I wanted to film something that I know will be interesting to watch. This then lead to me thinking about other programs and documentaries that I had watched myself that are successful. I then thought about Pretty Little Lairs, the genre of the show is teen drama, mystery, thriller and crime. The show isn't your stereotypical mean girls type show as there are many different twists and turns to the show as it progresses further, this is one of the main things that keeps the show interesting and causes people to carry on watching it. 

Due to Pretty Little Lairs being a TV series and my media text being a short film which is will be around 3-5 minutes I am only using the series as inspiration on what mine is going to be based around. I have tried to incorporate all 4 of the genres through the film, however I found thriller to be the hardest to include during the short amount of time that I hate. 

Throughout the film there is a constant bitchiness between the three girls and Megan, also the fact that the three girls have made a click together are typical features of what all teen dramas include. The mystery throughout the film is who the person that is sending the text messages is, the audience see who the person might be however an identify is never revealed. The thriller part of the film is going to be the scene where Aaron is following Hannah towards the woods, as the camera angle is going to show Hannah walking with Aaron following her however every time that Hannah turns around Aaron is no longer there, that scene is then going to end with Hannah's face in shock as she has turned around and seen Aaron, this will also leave the audience in suspense and shock as they will be wanting to know what it is that Hannah has seen. The crime part of the film is one of the genres that is not very dominant however it is the fact that Hannah gets killed as that shows a crime has been committed. 

Using Pretty Little Lairs as inspiration also means that the target audience that my film is going to have is the same as the show. When coming to m evaluation and getting audience feedback I will be able to ask students that I go to school with as they are going to be my man target audience, this will lead to them enjoying watching my film and me getting the most accurate type of feedback possible. 

The fact that my film is going to be filmed in a real life school setting with students also makes it a lot more relatable to the audience that are going to be watching. The events are also going to be relatable however over exaggerated a lot more than they would truly occur in life. As in all teen films and most of the time growing up girls become very 'clicky' finding it hard or will just be unwelcoming to new people that want to join their friendship group.

Planning of my short film

Most of my short film is going to be film during school time during frees and media lessons. I have chosen to film to film during school time rather than after school as I want the setting to look as natural as possible, which means that as I film while going past lessons the classrooms aren't going to be empty and the scenes will look more natural and realistic.

Characters:
I am going to have 5 different characters in my film. At first it was going to be seven however the typical conventions of short films is to have as few characters as possible as you don't have enough time in order to introduce them all. When selecting my characters I've had to keep in mind the times in which they are going to be free in order to film as I am going to be using lots of their time. Due to my film being filmed in school I also had to consider the times in which they have frees and if they are going to be able to film while I'm in media lessons. I also had to ensure they are happy with what I'm asking them to do during my filming and they are going to have the confidence to want to be in the film.
Megan is going to be the victim of the bulling.
Hannah, Lilly and Emily are going to be the bullies, at first I was going to have five bullies however after thinking about it I didn't need that many and was going to be unable to find more people that are going to be in free at all the times in which I am going to want to film.
Aaron is going to be the mystery killer.

Locations:
My film is going to be filmed in two different locations school and the woods. The main part of my film is going to be filmed in school, this causes me to have to think about many different things and how events around school may cause me to not be able to film when and where I want to. When filming in the corridors I'm going to have to ensure that we aren't being too loud and this is going to cause disruption to the lessons that are occurring around us which the teachers wont be happy with. I will also have to ensure that there aren't going to be lost of students walking around and being noisy in the background as they are more than likely to be having loud conversations with each other or will stop and start watching what is occurring. My actors also will be unable to just stop mid scene once they see someone walking down the corridor or get distracted by things around them.

When filming in the common room I will have tidy up the areas that are going to be shown as this will be shown in the background, meaning that all of the rubbish that is often left on tables and mugs that are left around will all have to be cleared away. As the common room is used by the whole of sixth form I will have to ensure that the students in the common room as the filming is taking place aren't going to be a distraction or start to disrupt the scene, my actors will still have to carry on with the scenes that they are filming regardless if there is a few people in there as there isn't going to be a time during school time that it will be free. However if this does become a major problem then filming in the common room will have to take place after school one day when it will be empty however the actors will have to agree to stay after school in order to do so.


The first and last scenes of my short film are going to take place in the woods, these are the woods that I took my pictures for my music magazine during AS media so I am familiar with the areas in which the filming is going to take place. These scenes are going to have to take place out of school hours as the lighting of the scene is going to have to be in darker meaning the scene will have to take place during the evening. This may have to take over two different nights depending on how long it takes as I am going to be using natural lighting and wont be able to film past a certain time due to it being too light. While editing I will be able to make the scene lighter however I don't want it to be too obvious they I have over edited the scene a lot and made it a lot lighter.

In order to make sure that all of the locations that I have chosen to film are going to be safe I am going to be doing risk assessments of the locations before filming takes place.

Costume:
The only characters that needs a set costume during my film is Aaron and Megan. Aaron is going to be wearing all black, with his hood up on the hoodie, Megan is going to be wearing a very plain outfit like black jeans and a grey top or jumper.  The three characters are going to be wearing their everyday clothing however they need to ensure they are going to be wearing the same outfit every time that filming takes place so once I have created my filming schedule and all of the times that I have included are okay will them they will known what they are going to be doing and when.

Call sheet

Narrative in Film

Media texts like films have to different aspects to them this is the plot and the story line. The plot is something that is being created the whole time that the media text progresses however we doing see this occurring, the story line is what we see on screen watching as it progresses.

The narrative behind a media text like a film is the way in which the story is being told. This can occur through the use of many different common structures, these structures are as follows:

• A linear narrative structure: This type of structure goes in a straight lie there is a clear order to it with a story line that is easy to follow, there doesn't have to be masses of thinking behind what is going on. 
• Circular Structure: A media text with this type of structure starts with the events that it is going to end with causing the story line to go in a circle as we see why the film started the way that it did at the end. 
• Open narrative: This is when a story line as a story line that stays open, even once the film has finished. This can occur if there are more than one characters in the film that have a story line about themselves occurring or a murder that never get solves occurs and we see the killer free once the film comes to an end, as this will show that the killer is still out there. 
• Close narrative: This is the opposite to what the open narrative is, where the story line comes to an end once the film has finished. With all of the questions that would have arisen during the film being answered. 

 Out of the four structures listed above my short film is going have a circular structure and be an open narrative. The reason for it being a circular structure is due to the fact the first scene of the short film with Hannah being dead on the floor with the girls all around her is also going to be the last scene of the film. It is also going to have a open narrative structure due to the fact that the person who kills Hannah is never shown, also the secrete  that Hannah is trying to prevent from being spread is also never revealed, leaving the audience with two answered questions, along with many others.

Target Audience

While creating my short film I need to ensure that I always have my target audience in mind as they are going to be the people that will be watching my short film so everything that is included in the film needs to apple to them .

Age:
The age of the individuals are going to be 13-19 as it is a teen- mystery. However the short film may also attract as older audience as parents or siblings may start watching the film as they see their children or siblings watching it. Due to the film being a mystery is will cause them to want to watch until the end as they will be curious as to why certain events are occurring. Im not making anything about my film appealing to anyone under the age of 12 as I don't think its appropriate for them to watch as they may start to feel like things like getting anonymous text messages and being followed is does happen when in reality is doesn't, while watching the film they wouldn't be scared however the concept behind why certain events occur would scare them. 


Gender:
Do to the film being teen mystery with three girls being the main characters the gender that is going to be most attracted to the film is going to be females. A small amount of the audience may also be males however they would be watching the film due to the fact it is mystery so they will be intrigued to see what happens to Hannah and why. Also due to all of the charters being attractive teenage girls this may draw them into watching the film also, as that is a massive stereotype as to why males watch films or how film markers will make a film attract male views. 

Likes and interests:  
The audience of my film is going to dominantly be teenage girls that are still in education. The girls will follow many of the typical stereotypes like always being on their phones, like to go out to parties or social gatherings with friends. they may also be into makeup and youtube videos which as technology continues to advance many people of our generation and younger are more commonly starting to watch. Due to the audience of girls watching my film are following many of the same stereotypes they likes and dislikes they are going to have will follow the same pattern which makes it easier for me to include things that I know they will like. For example if I was to add a song playing in the background of the film it will be easy for me to pick a popular song that I know the majority of my audience will know and like. This also helps with the fashion side of what my actors are going to be wearing as while watching films and programs girls will always judge characters appearance throughout the film, they will be more drawn to liking a character if they like the outfit that they are wearing. 

Socio Economic group: 
I don't feel like the social economic group that an individual belongs to will have any effect of whether they watch my short film or not. The high social economic group is A, this group are the most unlikely watch my film however children from this group may feel like watching it to see what a public school setting is like as they would be in private schools themselves which would be different. However they may not watch the film due to going to a private school as they would find it harder to be able to relate to the film due to not being part of a public school setting themselves. The social economic group my film will be the most popular with will be group E as this is the group in which students come under. 




Dom is someone that has watched my short film and told many of her other friends to watch it also has she enjoyed it so much. Dom is currently 18 studying A levels at sixth form, she is then looking to going to uni once her A level studies have finished. One of the A levels that Dom studies is forensic psychology, which has led to her watching lots of mystery films and programs and she wants to see the ways in which scientific methods are used in order to solve crimes like murders.  During her free time she likes to listen to music and watch youtube videos. She watches a lot of TV series on online platforms like netfix. Once Dom has finished school for the week she likes to go out with friends at the weeks, Dom does a rang of different things like going shopping, out for meals or to house parties and social gatherings in the evenings. 

Mystery filming techniques

All films genres have common editing techniques and camera shots that are used in order to capture the reactions or get the best outcomes of what is being shown. So below I have listed a few of the most common camera shorts and editing techniques that are using during mystery films as I am going to try and apply them to my own short film as and where possible.

Camera shots:

• Close up's: This camera technique is used in order to show the reaction on a characters face once a major event has occurred or they have found out an importance piece of information. It gets the most detail as possible about the scene from the expression shown on the characters face.
• Tracking/ Panning shot: This is used in order to show that a character is being followed or watched. This can also be used to set the scene due to the audience being able to get a full view of where the scene is taking place. Tracking shots also build suspense as the audience will be able to sense the fact that something is going to occur as the scene will be building up to something leaving them in suspense.
• Point of View shot: The name of this camera shot gives away what it is, this type of shot allows the audience see what is going on through the perspective of one of the characters.
• Over the shoulder: This creates tension has a character might be being followed however they are going to be unaware of this which creates a sense of tension as the audience are going to waiting for the character to realise that someone is behind them.

Editing Techniques:

• Timing: During mystery films the timing always has to be exact, not a minute late or a minute too early. This leaves the audience in suspense, as when a major event occurs the editing has to be on time in order to cut the scene at the right time leaving the murder or that is a mystery unsolved and the scene moves onto something else, growing as much suspense as possible.
• Not showing all: Another editing technique used is not showing what the whole location of where the scene is, for example if a sign is being shown the director may zoom into that one sign which will leave the audience wondering where the sign is and the reason in which it is there. As the sign has been focused on the audience will understand that it is going to have some sort of significance to the scene.

 Mise en scene:

• Not showing all: Due to being a mystery not everything in the scene is going to be shown or things maybe placed in the background for a reason however are only going to be noticed by a few people. Example: During the end scene of my short film the girls are all going to receive a text message with Aaron being in the back of the shot without a phone in his hand, this gives the indication that Aaron isn't the only person going against the girls and there is also someone else going against them. However not everyone will notice this but when they do it will make them think more about who could be going against the girls.
  

History of Mystery films

The stereotype of the mystery genre is that someone is dies however it is left unknown who did the crime, or the film shows a murder taking place and the film involves the crime being solved. The suspects of the murder are usually a closed circle of suspects with each one of the suspects having a reason to of committed the murder, they would also be shown to have an opportunity in which they could have done the murder. The detective is going to be one of the main characters as they are always going to be questioning the suspects and trying to find more and more information out as the film goes on. Due to my film only being a short film I'm not going to have a detective as my film is not going to be long enough to have the crime take place and the solving of the crime.


Some mystery films may have a solution that do not make logical sense or does not have any crime involved due to supernatural or thriller being the reason for why the crime took place, which the detective is not going to be able to find a reasonable explanation for. This was common to take place in mystery films in 'pulp magazines' during the 1930s and 1940s, during these times there were titles like 'Dime Mystery', ' Thrilling Mystery' and 'Spicy Mystery' being created that were being described as 'weird menace' stories at the time. Those titles were contrasting with parallel titles of the same names which still has aspects on hardboiled crime fiction that were following all of the usual conventions. Mystery was first used by 'Dime Mystery', it started out as a typical crime fiction however it then changed to 'weird menace' during the later 1933s.


Mystery is a sub genre of more of the general category's of crime film, it can also sometimes be also be part of the thriller genre.

Short FIlm Genre

My short film genre is going to be teen drama mystery. The genre is teen drama mystery rather than just mystery due to the fact it is going to appeal to teens and has a drama side to it due to the fact the murder happens as the three girls are bulling and being horrible to Megan for no reason, which is typical for teen dramas as there is typically one mean girls that others will follow as they feel that they need to in order to fit in.


Mystery genres include a death that doesn't get solved or is solved as the film is coming towards the end. Which is what my short film is going to include as Hannah gets killed however the murder to shown during the film however their back is turned, the killer is also not revealed which means that the audience are left wondering who the person they have seen the outline of is. Another mystery my short film include is who is sending the anonymous text messages, as all of the girls receive one while Aaron ,without a phone in his hand, is in shot meaning that he hasn't sent it so there is more than one person that has been involved in the murder and the planning of it.


I have choose mystery as the genre as most films that are genre are aimed for older views are views that are into very specific things like Sherlock Holmes, however this will appeal to a more teenage girls rather than an older audience. There have also been many extremely successful and popular shows along the same genre of mine like 'Pretty Little Lairs' which shows that although I am aiming the mystery genre at an audience that wouldn't usually watch mystery programs or films it is still going to work. Also with mystery films as the killer is never revealed it means that the film is going to have an opening ending so if there ever wanted to be a follow up film their could be due to the mystery not being solved.  

Technology

In order to get the most successful short film as possible I have made a plan of all of the technology I am going to be using in order to film my film and edit it.

Uses and Gratifications and my Short Film

In order to make any successful media product it is always good to look into the uses and gratifications theory around the media text that you are creating. Uses and Gratifications give an insight into what we are supposed to get out of the media text that is being viewed, and the ways in which the viewer of the text is getting pleasure or gaining something from what they are viewing. 

Gratifications and uses have four main used, these are as follows: 

• Information- This is the ways in which find about the society and world in which we live in. 
• Personal identity- Watching or reading different media texts analysing a character or characters deciding whether we agree with the behaviours that they are showing. 
• Integration and Social Interaction- In order to look at the ways in which other people live and what and how other people do things through watching others through the media. 
• Entertainment- When relaxing we will use the media in order to switch off and not have to think much, this may be done by watching a film, soaps or scrolling through social media websites.

When looking into the uses and gratifications of media other area that is focused on is the reception analysis. This looks into the audience in which reading the media text and the ways in which they are going to be interpreting the different things you are portraying. All media texts have more than one way that the audience is going to read into it, the interpretation of the text will change depending on the gender, age and personality of the audience. In order to get an idea about the ways in which my media text is going to be read I am going to be asking a range of different audience types to be watching my short film in order to get feed back about the ways in which they read into it and what they thought of it. Different people will read into the media text in different ways, this will depend on many different factors like the interest they have, the ways in which they have been brought up. The media text may include a norma home life setting scene like a family dinner however if a person doesn't have family dinners like that or lives in a children's home they are going to read into it in a different way to a person that does live in a normal family setting. A personas mood can also play a massive part to the way they will feel about a media text, for example if you are in a good mood the type of music that you will listen to will be different to the music that you would listen to if you were in a bad mood. 

A theory behind the way in which we read into things has been created by David Morley, who said that the place in which we have in society has a massive impact towards how we read texts. Morley started to study the response that people had towards the BBC programme Nationwide in the year 1980. The way in which he analysed the ways in which people were reading the media text was through the break up of three different categories: 

• Preferred/ Dominant reading 
• Oppositional reading 
• Receiving an alternative message  

What makes a successful short film

In order to ensure my short film is successful as possible I have done some research into what makes short films successful. Due to the film I am creating only being a few minutes long I have to make it as engaging as possible in the short amount of time that I have, I will also need to have a simple but interesting story line and plot that I can portray in the time that I have.

Due to films of an ordinary length having much more time then I have they can include a lot more detail to events that are being shown during the film, they can have many different events that lead into each other which for the audience can sometimes be predictable. For example in horror films when hearing a noise when home alone the person will move to the place in which they have heard the noise in order to see what they can find on their own while shouting hello, whereas in a short film something a lot more unpredictable would have to occur as there is not enough time to have someone walking around an empty house waiting for something to occur. Short films are a lot more ambiguous with the next steps which is what makes them so much more engaging as the factor of knowing what is going to be occurring next is no longer there. Short films have to be a lot more experimental with the concepts that are created however most of the time it works due to being different but still understandable. Being so experimental can also be a risk due to the charters not having a large amount of time to convey the personalities that they have so the audience is unable to guess that typical actions that they would take due to having a strong idea of their personality. You can not make the film so different that the audience start to get annoyed or bored of the outcomes that are occurring due to them being so far fetched that it isn't what would be able to occur in reality.

Some short films have very engaging story lines however the ending doesn't explain to you what has occurred in the film or why it occurred. Meaning you have been engaged during the film however as you have got to the ending it has left you confused as to what you have just watched and the reasons for many of the events that had occurred.