Introduction to Broken Developments blog

This blog is research, schedules, production diaries, risk assessments, profiles, treatments and the final product of Broken Developments. Since October 2012 this blog has been updated with new ideas, concepts and title sequences to improve the thriller opening sequence until the final piece has been complete.

In what why does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products eg- hybrids, existing films?

Throughout my media product there are many conventions, which are either stretched, challenged or simply developed in order to create an interesting and intriguing opening sequence in which I hope the target audience would be interested in watching the rest of the currently non-existent film.

Compared to current, existing thriller films such as Seven or The Woman in Black, which I have closely worked alongside in order to create a worthwhile piece of work, Broken Developments simply agrees with the classic stereotypes of a female protagonist and a male antagonist unlike The Woman in Black where the protagonist is a male (Arthur Kipps) and the antagonist is a woman (Jennett Humphrey, The Woman in Black.) As well as this, both the antagonist and the protagonist are wearing black. This highlights and implies that maybe both characters are the victim of certain events or maybe that both are seen as the villain. Arthur Kipps is seen as the villain from the village people but also the victim to the audience as he is the one being haunted. On the other hand, The Woman in Black could be seen as the victim as she was the one who suffered through the loss of her child and a slow painful death but also the villain as she is the one who is haunting everybody and causing the deaths of the villager’s children. Furthermore, it is evident that my opening sequence of Broken Developments advances the convention of classic stereotypes as seen in Jaws in which the female roles are ones which are more likely to be the protagonist (shown by Laura McLean in Broken Developments.) As Broken Developments is not intended to be a hybrid thriller, unlike Sherlock Holmes (thriller-action) which is also a period film as it is set in the 1800-1900s, classic conventions of characters, lighting, sound and props are evident. In Sherlock Holmes, props are used to highlight the era in which it is set; mobile phones or any other sort of technology is absent. Instead of a laptop, Dr John Watson uses a typewriter to type his story of his “great friend, Sherlock Holmes”. On the contrary, in Broken Developments there is a stalker (played by Charlie Boyden) who has an obsession on a certain girl; he spends all of his time locked up in his room in order to plan her death or kidnapping. The only time the audience would ever see the stalker outside of his house is when he is taking photos of her or actual kidnapping, which is seen much later on in the film. Similarly to Shutter, Broken Developments focuses on technology such as camera to capture the extent of danger. The true stalker tendencies arise with photography and even letter writing, which is partly seen in the opening sequence. This relates to a piece of literature by Ian McEwan, Enduring Love. This highlights thriller conventions through tension building up over time through letters and the fact of someone always being there; watching your every move. Especially in the circumstances of Broken Developments where clips of Charlie are being shown to highlight the stalker effect. Nevertheless, in all of these films there are clear rivalries, antagonists and protagonists.

Woman in Black, Female Antagonist

Woman in Black, Male Protagonist  

 Sherlock Holmes, dressed to show the era

How did you attract your audience?

We attracted our audience by making the protagonist fairly relatable. This, in retrospect, would bring more thrill to the audience and will enforce their expectations and connotations of a typical thriller movie. In Broken developments we represented social class via the technologies and costume of each of the characters. For example, the use of old cameras by Charlie (the antagonist) highlights his isolation from the world and how he never really goes out. Nowadays, not many people would use film camera to take photos, instead they would use digital to gain high quality photographs, which are easily deleted or transferred. Also, Laura (the protagonist) is wearing fairly modern clothing such as a Barbour jacket and jeans, which is worn by many girls in their teens. Although there isn’t any dialogue in the opening sequence, later on in the actual film the accents of the characters will show the regional identity. This will underline the location of the thriller (South East England).  Age is represented through the obvious ages of the characters. Within Broken Developments, the character’s ages will become more and more obvious with locations such as their college, home life and social life (or lack of). The age of the characters (especially Laura) should relate to the audience and they should experience more thrill and be more scared due to the age of the character. For example, The Crash (a television show) is aimed at young adults and teenagers. By using characters with ages close to the target audience makes the program more believable and closer to home. Gender is similar in this aspect. The fact that we have kept to classic conventions of a thriller of a female protagonist and a male antagonist it would attract the audience as females are more innocent and are stereotypically the victims of such crimes. The use of these representations should attract the audience more by making them feel uneasy about their current surroundings. Not to lull them into a false sense of security in everyday life but to keep them on edge and to keep them thinking “what if that were to happen to me”. The use of Film4 will also attract our target audience as it is a low budget institution and would not be too demanding or complex.

 The Crash - BBC3

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Broken Developments represents particular social groups in the way we attract our audience. The type of audience we interest reflects particular social groups. For example, we have aimed Broken Developments at students and more working class civilians compared to middle or upper class as we felt there was not enough sophistication for those social groups. This media product characterizes students, as a main focus as the actors in it are students and we feel it would relate to them more than anyone else. Though, in the long run it may make them feel insecure or scared in certain ways. Though this is not the main aim to our media product it is a helpful bi-product as it may increase the viewership and increase the audience. In Broken Developments, we use stereotypes to enforce the thrill. For example, Laura, the protagonist is a blonde, innocent, female who is often on her own. This represents girls being innocent and pure and also fairly vulnerable to males such as the antagonist, Charlie. We used Charlie as the antagonist because he had dark hair and dark eyes; this created a creepy, dangerous effect to the character and made the audience feel insecure. Although Charlie is hardly ever seen, whenever he is, he is wearing dark clothing and seems to have hardly any facial expression.

 

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that due to the low budget in producing my media product that film four would be the media institution, which is most likely to distribute Broken Developments. This is also because of the audience and age, which we are hoping it attracts. Film Four uses Summer Screening at Somerset House to introduce different types of film, which they are distributing. Each summer they host London’s most breath-taking open-air cinema experience and it is the highlight of the city’s summer calendar. This experience includes a state of the art screen and full surround sound. This is a brilliant way to distribute and market many different films to a range of ages to create an audience. This way of advertising is ideal because it uses a well-known, high-attended event to introduce new, upcoming and widely budgeted films. Film Four is owned by Channel Four Television Corporation and has been responsible for backing a large number of films which are made in the United Kingdom and sometimes all around the world depending on how popular it is. The company’s first release was in 1982 and was a film called Walter (directed by Stephen Frears). Between 1982 and 1988 it was branded as FilmFour but in 1988 it was branded as Film4 and it became Channel 4’s second channel. Film4 is a well-known institution and therefore would not be overlooked. We chose this because we knew it would benefit our target audience, as it is unlikely to be screened in a cinema and NetFlix or LoveFilm are more likely to stream it to their audience or it would be screened on television. With our target audience being students and young adults, many of these prefer to watch movies in their own time online rather then when they are specifically on television or when they are in the cinema for a limited time. As well as this, it is a British film institution and therefore, we would be promoting the British economy and enforcing their reliability compared to other well-known American institutions such as Universal.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of our media product would be aimed at students of further education (such as high school, college, 6^th form college and university) and therefore the certificate of Broken Developments is 15. There is no excruciating violence or offensive language and another reason as to why the certificate is a 15. We also aim Broken Developments at people who are in services to the public such as teachers or shop assistant as it could bring a thrill to them, as it isn’t overly sophisticated and fairly low budget. The certificate of 12A is a cinema release suitable for 12 years and older whereas a 12 is video release suitable for 12 years and over. The ‘A’ in ‘12A’ stands for ‘accompanied’ or ‘advisory’ which means children under the age may go and see the film but accompanied by an adult (somebody over the age of 18). The overall tone of a DVD or cinema showing may affect the classification. If the film is very dark or unsettling which could disturb the audience it is less likely to be passed as a 12. On the other hand, if the product is positive or reassuring it may prevent the product being changed from a 12 to a 15. The use of strong language in a 12 or 12A is usually infrequent and aggressive use of strong language may force the DVD release to be pushed up to a 15. Moderate language is acceptable in the 12/12A category such as “bitch” or “twat”. In addition, 12/12A’s may include brief or discreet sexual scenes suitable for young teenagers and some moderate sex references or innuendos may be included but frequent crude sex references are less likely to be tolerated by a 12/12A. Dangerous behavior such as hanging, suicide or self-harm may be present in a 12/12A but should not linger or dwell on the circumstances or detail of the event so copying is unlikely and it seems harm-free and painless. The use of drugs should not be glamourized within a 12/12A but infrequent sight of drug misuse is acceptable.

On the other hand, a 15 displays different qualities and toleration in relation to topics of strong language, sexual behaviour, drugs and violence. For example, a 15 can include; frequent strong violence, portrayals of sexual activity, strong verbal references to sex and sexual nudity, discriminatory language or behavior and drug taking/misuse. Frequent use of strong language is acceptable in a 15 such as “f**k” though frequent use more offensive language such as “c**t” will normally not be tolerated and will not pass as a 15 and is more likely to be passed as an 18. Use of sexual violence is tolerated though as long as it has a strong contextual justification via a courtroom or serious situation. As well as this, violence may be strong though easily accessible weapons should not be glamourized and strong sadistic or sexual violence is less likely to be acceptable and it should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury however, strong gory images are unlikely to be accepted in a 15. As well as a 12/12A, the use of suicide, self-harm or hanging should not be dwelled on as teenagers are thought to be extremely impressionable and therefore many 15 films do not concentrate on the detail of the event to prevent copying.