Production log 6

During my first week starting production, we failed to keep to our call sheet as  there was no contingency. My partner had failed to come to the class due to sickness, therefore we could not proceed with the shooting. This has delayed our filming , which gives us limited time to get everything done now. Meaning more work will have to be produced each session. This pressurises a lot , and could man the end result of our project will not have reached the full potential due to the congested amount of time we had in order to finish the production.

Therefore i have decided to introduce contingency , and it is a major factor in our production now. This is because failure to stick to plans will ruin the pace of work , which eventually means we tend to rush the work. Which we can not afford to do , therefore contingency will be a priority for us. The way  i will introduce this contingency , will be that to find a back up person in order to do hold my camera and do my camera work for me due to the fact i will be acting and cannot do both at the same time. If this plan fails as well then my final straw would be to re-schedule the shooting , or editing to a closer date .

Production log 5

During this pre-production week , not many issues have occurred at first , however when in the thick of the work a few issues had delayed the process and the speed of the work. One issue that occurred , was the locations which we had to input in our " location recci's ". This is because we had to assess whether it was suitable to use this location, as well as think if it is open to us using. More precisely, we was mulling over the idea of doing the training of my character in a home made gym. However after watching more British Social realism clips and montages we realised to get a better effect we should show more run down areas and we decided to show these run down areas on the way to the gym. Which now gives our film a different urban and gritty look towards it. Our final problem was the production schedule , which we was unsure on whether we would need more sessions for different parts of the opening sequence. However we planned our film slowly and with the help of production script it showed us how many shots there was therefore we adjusted the dates to how many shots we was capable of producing in one session.

Production log 4

This week has taught me a lot about my target audience , this is because i have conducted a lot of research upon them. One of these research consist of my focus group video which analyses my target audience properly as well as defines them well.

The information i have learnt about my target audience has helped me to adjust my ideas for my opening sequence , for example making the whole idea a bit more appealing to the feminine side of the target audience.  Although i have already learnt about institutions involved in the production of social realism films , however now that i have laid out more information. I have realised that analysing films such as Fish tank , Four lions and Looking for Eric ; that the institutions indulge a very sad topic or dark theme within the film and make sure that the audience feel this sort of theme and understand the message they are trying to send this.

Therefore i have analysed this and will try to emulate this due to the fact , i am portraying Islam , a religion which Four lions (2010) used , however was not able to trigger that comforting feel for Muslims them selves . This is because Four lions was more of a comedy rather than a hard hitting British social realism film , therefore i will try to avoid the comedy and emphasise on making the Film hard hitting. I will do this by portraying the characters well and dedicated to their religion and i will portray the religion in a more attractive and opposing way. Unlike Four lions who almost used the Religion to trigger a laughing matter.

After assessing four lions and their institutional views as well as their method of production , i have valued my film as a more serious film and a more comforting film for the Muslim people out there. As well as comforting for the other people to know that their is a different dimension towards what some British social realism films have already tried to portray and that there is always two views to a situation , and my film will be echoing this ethos a lot.

 

Treatment

Treatment

Title: Southpaw

 

Target audience: The target audience of our film are mainly British males from the age of 17+ and are interested in British social realism and the dark topics that Hollywood fails to use, they are also interested in sports mainly boxing  and religion . The types of things that they will be watching are Crime dramas and regular kitchen sink dramas and films.

The reason why our target audience will be attracted to this as it mixes modern day boxing with religion and the gender will be attracted to the boxing side of there film and it would also attract Muslims as the boxer is Muslim and has a struggle to decide over his religion or hes dreams , the theme religion will attract allot of religious people were the boxing will attract the sports people.

The USP of our film is the fact that we have mixed religion with boxing as there isn't any big films that have mixed the combinations of both things that requires someone to be dedicated to. Another one is that we have used Muslims as the base of our BSR film and there isn't many films that use this as a base.

Representation:

The protagonist in our film is a Muslim boxer called  Yusuf Majeed and is a stereotypical Muslim however enjoys boxing and is hes dream to become a professional boxer as he is boxing at a armature rate yet. He feels that hes parents will disapprove of hes boxing therefore keeps it from them and tells them that he is doing other stuff like going prayer and other stuff.

The antagonist in our film is not a person however is the situation that yusuf faces, this is the main theme of the film as it is the choice between the hes dream and hes religion.



Technology:The technology is our film will be very basic as we don't have allot of facility's to use however this is a good thing as it makes the opening sequence looked unvarnished therefor will have more of an affect on the audience. The technology will consist of hd cameras,  boom microphones , screening, imovie and other computer based editing systems, these will all be used to make our film more realistic and to add focus on certain parts and characters.


Conventions- The main character yusuf subverts the normally stereotypical Muslim type as he does boxing and it is against there religion however he is also obverted as he is into the normal stuff that Muslims are but just isn't dedicated, the parents are also observed as they are the typical Asian parents , there into there religion and are quit strict.

Narrative- The summary of our story is : there is a Muslim kid called yusuf that has a dream of becoming a professional boxing fighter however faces a big problem as he is also religious and it is against hes religion  to fight therefore he is left with a decision of religion or boxing.

The opening sequence will consist of: yusuf leaving hes house where he is meant to be going mosque however when he arrives then stops and then Carry's on past the mosque to go hes boxing training instead. On the way home he is then faced with a problem as he is confronted by a Gang .

The clothes that will be worn will be normal jogging bottoms and jackets as it shows how the middle class live. the music will be Grimm as it is a common genre of music  for the lower class people and fr people that like sports.

The camera will be rough and unvarnished most of the time as it creates more verisimilitude and makes and makes the audience get more of the personality of the characters.


Style & iconography- the music will be grime as it adds more of a affect for the youth and is the type of music that the audience will listen to and the character.

Yusuf who is our main character mainly wears tracksuit bottoms and tops as he is very sportive and cannot afford allot of expensive clothes and stuff.

The editing and camera work will be unvarnished as it adds more affect and makes the audience see more of the personality of the character.

Institution- Film 4 would produce a film like this as it is a BSR film and there wouldn't be much distribution as film 4 cannot afford allot ,  the exhibition will mainly be in normal cinemas all over England as it relates to allot of issues that are faced in different areas such as religion.

Production schedule

Call sheet

Final Shooting Script

Location Reccie's

Narrative Structure

Exposition :

This will be the first sighting of our main character , other wise known as our Protagonist in the film. It will be a restricted shot of our character , and it will be in present tense of our character it self. In fact the first real character we will See would be the characters mother. The mother will be shouting at the child , and telling him to go to the prayers. We will have a shot of our characters back from the mirror next to his front door , this will reveal his clothing which can have an input of the representation of the character. This shot will consist of continuity editing as the character will ignore his mother and leave the house. All this would be filmed in present tense to have an effect on the audience that they are involved with the protagonist from the start of the film and they will feel as if they are on his roller coaster along with our character Yusuf Majeed.

 

Agent/s of change:

The antagonist is introduced into the story line. The boxer is having a very good run of form , he has won all of his fights , and receives a call from the BOA (British Olympic association). He has a bout with another potential contender for the preliminary fold for the British Boxing team. However his luck and persistence is broken at one point , and this is his challenger for the fight to his potential Olympic spot.

Conflict complication

As our character is a Muslim , a follower of Islam. The religion is against boxing. However the character is not just a devoted Muslim but his mother and father think that too. This means they do not of his boxing career at all up until his fight which has caused a lot of media attention , the fight which determines his role as an Olympic athlete for team GB. Due to the fact he has gone unknown through his amateur career , it was a surprise that he was getting called up. Also he is from the urban city of London , which gave him a lot more media attention. Therefore his father was fully aware of hes fight , and it came as a shock. Yusuf does not approach his parents on the day of the fight , and heads out to his fight in Leicester which he had explained to be a mosque trip. His father attends the bout and his appearance at the stadium certainly has an effect in Yusuf's performance.

 

Elaboration

Yusuf may come across as a very devoted Muslim towards his parents , however he has not been the most faithful and he knows it himself. The area which he lives in , is stricken by poverty in many small segments of the area. Unfortunately yusuf is among these few segments , and for his boxing gear as well as boxing license he needs to get hold of a fee funds. He results to delivering large packages to people. He has doubts on what are in these packages however he was told that they are drugs . And he chooses top ignore the fact and just see out the few jobs in order to pay for his boxing dream. Slowly he mixes with the wrong sort of people , and is now asked to go a step ahead in the drug trafficking business. He was asked whether he would be part of selling his own cocaine. he refuses but the people just keep coming back for him. although he has two personalities and the other is locked up in the ring , his second personality is unleashed on to a thug when they approach him again. also the school he attends is a mixed school , therefore he is not shy of women as much. He develops feelings for a Sikh girl , and he confronts her. They both like each other , therefore decide to go into a relationship , as this is forbidden in Islam as well as the fact the two religions have got conflict between them his father is furious when he finds out about this as well as his job and boxing hobby. Yusuf's father bans him from leaving the house only for school , as well as mosque which his father escorts him to both. Worst of all he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant with their baby.

Climax & resolution

Yusuf is being boxed out of his social life by his parents , however at school he hears a lot of discussion about his boxing career spreading. The BOA looked into his fight , as he was winning going into the third round and only a minute to go his opponent managed a freak victory due to Yusuf's shock of his dads appearance. They review his situation and offer him a chance into the preliminary squad. Yusuf jumps to the occasion , not even asking his parents he accepts the offer. They find out and he offers to leave the house , where he compromises and comes to an agreement to stay at his girlfriends house. A potential Olympic athlete now lives with his pregnant girlfriend only at the age of 18 with no parental backing but he has a dream.

Coda

Yusuf's parents realise they have possibly shut out his life at a young age , therefore approach him. They accept what he has become , and apologise and even offer for his girlfriend to be apart of the family. Fresh from his bronze medal in the Olympics , he gives up boxing and devotes his life as a Muslim and a breadwinner for his new family. A shot 5 years later , shows the son of Yusuf being trained in his boxing gym with Yusuf now married and a devoted Muslim with a topi (muslim clothing ; hat).

audience research

Meet my audience & Results of research

Results to research ?

Do you know what british Social Realism is ?

My sample had answered no , therefore i had explained that british social realism was what we see in everyday life of british society , where themes such as : violence ,petty crime ,domestic violence ,racial injustice and other themes are shown.

Have you seen any BSR films ?

Even though they was not familiar of the definition of BSR films , after explained they proved to have seen a film of it. Adulthood , kidulthood , four lions were used as examples from them.

Do you know what themes are ?
Most people had said no or was slightly unsure , therefore i had assured them on the meaning telling them that it is a topic which the film is based around.

What themes emerge in these BSR films / What are the reoccurring themes?

After talking of the films : shiftey , four lions , looking for eric. themes which they believe came up a lot was violence in all films. Also the themes used in individual themes was drug abuse , terrorism , comedy and racism.

Would you spend money watching a BSR film?
They stressed that it was not a film they would take much interest upon , in fact they would use piracy via Internet or home exhibition in order to view the films.

Would my idea appeal towards them ?
Again they would not dig into their pockets to watch the film in the cinema

What would you change to make it more appealing ?
The girls had stressed that my idea was too much of a male attraction and it would be neglecting the female side of the audience , therefore if a love story was involved they would feel more attracted to the story.

Overall does BSR appeal to you ?
Since i had asked them similar questions , i was not brought to surprise when they had said no. However they did say that it had a different dimension towards American mainstream films which is a positive if people are looking for something new. They also said that a genre which needs to be more embedded into the ideas and films is ; comedy.