Questionnaire

1. Are you male or female?
Male 
Female


2. How old are you?
Under 10
10-13
14-16
17-19
20+ (please state)  _________


3. How many hours a week on average do you spend watching TV?
0-3
4-7
8-10
11+


4. On average, how many films do you watch a week?
1-2
3-4
5-6
7+


5. What is the most recent film you have seen?


___________________________________________________


6. What attracts you to a film? (please choose one)
Famous acting cast
Director
Storyline
Genre 
Good trailer
Good reviews


7. What is your favourite genre of film? (please choose one)
Horror
Thriller
Crime
Comedy
Romance
Action
Animé
Sci-Fi
War
Chick Flicks
Other (please state) __________________________


8. What is your least favourite genre of film? (please choose one)

Horror

Thriller

Crime

Comedy

Romance

Action

Animé

Sci-Fi

War

Chick Flicks

Other (please state) _________________________

9. Depending on the answer chosen in Question 5, what attracts you to this genre above all others?


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


10. Do you find it more effective in a film if the victim is a female and the villain is a male?
Yes/No


If so, why? If not, why not?


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


11. Are you more likely to be attracted to watching a film if the characters are around the same age as yourself?
Yes/No


If so, why? If not, why not?


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


12. Are you interested in watching films/programmes about tackling real-life situations? 
Yes/No


13. Do you prefer endings that are solved or left on a cliffhanger?
Solved ending
Cliffhanger


14. What do you find most effective in films that help to build suspense and tension? (please tick the one most appropriate choice to you)
Music
Elongated scenes
Slow moving scenes
Fast moving scenes
Dark setting/lighting
Other (please state) _________________________


15. Are you most likely to watch films with other's or on your own?
With others
On my own


16. Is there anything that you would deem inappropriate to show in a contemporary life (modern day) film?
If so, please state.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


17. Would you watch a film based upon kidnapping/sexual assault of a young girl?
Yes/No


18. What certificate film are you most likely to watch? (please tick one)
U
PG
12
15
18

Short Film - "Kidnap"

Link to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjNJIxYEUek (Part One)
                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es1Ldwg8E-Q (Part Two)


"Kidnap" is a two-part short story film written and directed by Matt Littler who also starred in the film. It tells the story of a grieving family suffering the recent loss of a beloved wife and mother. The father of the family has to deal with his rebellious children skipping school and staying out late when all he really wants to do it grieve the loss of his wife. The children, Sophie (12/13) and Peter (18) avoid their father at all costs and seem to be running riot around the town, perhaps as a way of coping with the loss of their mother. Their father arranges for them all to have dinner at a restaurant but when only Sophie turns up, he is somewhat disheartened. He leaves to try and contact his son and upon his return, he finds that Sophie to has left him. Peter arrives only to be shouted at by his father and left alone. Sophie's father confronts her the next day and claims that he will be taking her to school to ensure that she goes, much to her protest. Sophie hurries up to her room to get changes, but instead flees out of her window and runs away. 


The scene then re-opens with Sophie and her father in the dining room having a full-frontal confrontation. When the phone begins to ring, the father picks it up and listens. The speaker on the other end of the phone, notably male claims that he has taken his children hostage. The father soon become angered as his daughter is sitting right in front of him and hangs up the phone. The phone then rings again. The mystery man explains that he has his daughter sitting in front of him for a reason and that he is in control of everything they do. Sophie explains the situation to her father and poses him with the dilemma of saving his children. He must either keep Sophie safe and allow Peter to die, or allow Sophie to come and retrieve Peter for a ransom. Puzzled with his dilemma, he instructs Sophie to go and find her brother. Sophie flees the house and begins to run to the place where her brother is being held. She runs out into the middle of the road and is struck down by an oncoming vehicle. The scene fades to black, reopening at the scene of the accident. Sophie is lying on the floor, unmoving and bloody whilst the driver of the car reports what has happened to the emergency services. The scene then closes and the words "To Be Continued" fade onto the screen before the credits begin to roll. 


Things to consider in relation to my media production...
The topic's of interest in both my own media product and that of Littler's are very similar. I therefore thought that I would be able to gain some inspired insight into how to write and direct a kidnapping in order to make it believable. 


1) I like how in Littler's "Kidnap" that he has first addressed the current situation, that being the confrontation between Sophie and her father. However, the scene is cut short to when the phone rings. This leaves the audience feeling as though something bad was going to happen as a result of that phone call. The scene then retracts to five days previous of that situation to explain what had happened each day leading up to the phone call, answering any lingering questions in the audiences mind. The first scene is then repeated in the middle of the film, building to a climax. Using this type of technique presents a very traditional story-telling method that ties all lose ends in the storyline and allows the audience to feel like part of the experience. 
2) I also thought that is was very effective how the mystery man seemed to have so much control over the structure of the story although we actually never get to see what he looks like. Stripping a villain of their identity increases the tension and fear within the audience as they do not have any awareness as to who the 'bad guy' actually is and therefore, accusations are made.
3) The use of flashbacks when Sophie is confessing to her father about her's and her brother's situation is also very effective as it gives the audience a reminder of incidents that they have seen from the father's point of view and switched to the viewpoint of the children, explaining the reasons for why they did what they did. Littler has also emphasised that the flashbacks are not part of the present scene by changing the editing to a black and white mode which depicts the past from the present. 
4) It is also never actually seen how the kidnapping took place, Sophie only ever talks about what happened. I think this is an effective way of dealing with such a sensitive subject as witnessing a kidnapping take place can be quite disturbing to a viewer. However, actually giving the audience an opportunity to witness the kidnapping taking place raises the intensity of the situation. Which approach will be the most suitable to undertake in my own short film must be considered based upon the intended target audience, viewing time and channel.


Details 
                  
There is no information about the release dates, budget, gross etc. as there was no profile for "Kidnap" on the IMDb (International Movie Database) website.    


                                          

Short Film - "Laid Off"

Link to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQox9W9jedw&feature=relmfu

"Laid Off" is a short film written and directed by Zam Salim. It tells the story of a  man called Martin who was hit and killed by a car in Glasgow City centre three years previous to the short film. The story is told through a first-person documentary style structure in which Martin's voice is heard in the voice-over narrating the storyline. This technique is used to make the story feel a lot more personal and allows the main character to present their feelings and emotions.


Martin cannot be seen by the living and therefore resorts to living his days walking around town, going to the cinema and attending bereavement counselling which will in effect, decide his fate of being sent either up (heaven) or down (hell). He tells the audience of how he wished he had gotten rid of his pornography stash before his widow found it and also tells of how she moved on quickly and is now having a child by her new boyfriend. Martin's voice is very monotone and the lighting and colours used in the film are very bleak and dull to suggest that Martin is depressed about being stuck in the real world. He attempts to make light of his daunting situation by adding humour to the narration. The most notable bit of cinematography which is very effective and in my opinion is at the very end when the group involved in Martin's bereavement counselling class are filling out 'moving on' forms. He notifies the audience that he already knows he won't be getting the single position to move on and therefore begins to question why he is still stuck in the living world. The camera zooms out to a long shot of the three deceased people sitting on the sofa and the lights slowly begin to turn off, signalling the end of the film but also of the unimportance that those people have. It's almost as if the lights are motion censored and as they do not really exist, they begin to turn off reminding them that they are dead. The loss of light also helps to represent their loneliness and isolation as they can't interact with any of their loved ones left behind in their life. 

Details (taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816087/)

Country: UK
Language: English
Filming locations: Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK


Release Dates:
Germany           21 April 2006              (Berlin Britspotting Film Festival)
UK                   19 May 2006 


Budget: £1,000 (estimated)

Short Film - "Soft"

Link to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIP2bq2n648&feature=relmfu

Soft was written and directed by Simon Ellis and tells the story of an ironic struggle of a father and son when targeted by a mob of hooded youths. The story is told through use of camera and mobile video footage which helps to emphasise the impact of technology in publication of youth crime. 


The short film begins through the use of mobile phone filming, something of which was becoming a common occurrence at the time in which the film was made with incidents such as happy slapping and school yard fighting. The footage sees a group of hooded youths beating up a schoolboy whilst jeers and cheering comes from surrounding bystanders. The next scene of the short film plays great importance to the structure of the play as it features at both the start and the end of the film. Using the same scene in such a way indicates normality and suggests that nothing has changed/happened and life will restore itself and move on. The schoolboy's (who's name is Scott) father comes home from work and carries out a normal routine of making a cup of tea. Scott makes every attempt to avoid his father as he does not want him to see that he has been attacked. Scott's father shouts upstairs to see if his son will go and get him a pint of milk, to which there is no answer. He therefore decides to go and get some himself. The long shot that is used to mark Scott's fathers journey to the shop is interjected with mobile footage of the same group of youths causing a nuisance outside the local corner shop. Using a long shot to capture his walk creates tension and allows the audience to create their own renditions of what they predict will happen. The youth's continue to make a nuisance to which Scott's father reacts, resulting in the youth's attacking him. As he continues on his journey home, a long shot is used to capture his emotions but also to attract attention to the youth's that have persisted to following him home. 


Scott's father returns home to find his son in the kitchen. After a session of small talk where Scott's father had made every attempt to not gain eye contact with his son, he soon notices the wounds on Scott's face. Scott tells his Dad what happened insisting that he didn't fight back as his father had instructed him never to get into fights. Continuing into the lounge, Scott then notices the youth's standing outside his house and informs his father. Both Scott and his father look terrified as they lurch themselves to the sofa. The youth's continue to make a nuisance outside the house and Scott begins to question why his father is not doing anything about the situation, completely unaware that his father was attacked. After taunts from his son about his cowardliness, Scott's father walks outside to confront the youth's where he is once again attacked by the main offender. Scott then comes running out of the house armed with a cricket bat, eager to save his father from more injury. He swings at the youths until they have all fled, drops the bat at his fathers feet and walks back inside. The scene then returns to the high-angle long shot of the street which see's Scott's father picking up the cricket bat and walking inside. Normality is restored to the street once more as the credits begin to roll over the top. 
  

Details  (taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019965/)

Country: UK
Language: English


Release Dates:
UK                    20 April 2007 
USA                  August 2007        (Palm Springs International Short Film Festival)
Greece              September 2007   (Athens Film Festival)
USA                  April 2008            (Newport Beach International Film Festival)
Austria              21 May 2008             (Vienna Independent Shorts)
Finland              20 September 2008    (Helsinki International Film Festival)
Czech Republic   13 November 2008      (Prague Short Film Festival)


Budget: £50,000 (estimated)

Short Film - "New Boy"

Link to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdeioVndUhs

This short film was written and produced by Steph Green and tells the story of a young African boys conversion to an Irish school after his father was shot and killed right in front of the boys eyes. 


The young boy, who's name is Joseph is introduced to the new class and immediately is a target of school yard bullying. The short film cuts between scenes of the present tense in which Joseph is at his new school and scenes of the past tense where Joseph is being taught amongst other boys similar to himself. The resources in the African school are kept scare compared to the vast amounts of books and stationary presented in the Irish school. Certain aspects of what happens to Joseph in his present life cause flashbacks of similar events in his previous life through a retrospective view. The two different scenes are represented through the obvious change in scenery as well as the use of different lighting. The Irish school is lit very clearly and brightly, emphasising the colours and the use of electrical lighting in the school unlike the African school which owns a warm type feel to the lighting which has been used to emphasise that the school uses only natural lighting, an effect of the poverty apparent in Africa. Joseph quickly finds himself at the full attention of his new teacher when a fellow classmate teases him, causing him to react somewhat violently. From this we can assume that Joseph has had to learn to protect himself from others, of which we find the reason for later in the short film. 


One of the most cinematic and intellectual scenes in the short film is when the topic of his father (also his teacher) is being approached. Their relationship is presented as a loving and friendly bond between father and son. Men, presumably from the army-type force suddenly enter into the classroom, taking no notice of Joseph. They forcefully order his father out into the open and Joseph worriedly follows. The camera closes in on his face and a voice-over sounds "You're dead" (words previously spoken by the boy Joseph had acted out on in his class) before sounds of gunshots are heard and Joseph closes his eyes. The scene then quickly integrates with his present life at his school where Joseph is hit with a milk carton by the school bullies. The gunshots can them be mistaken for the sound of the milk carton hitting the wall, which softens the impact of the gunshots but also makes the situation more dramatic as we do not see his father being shot. 


The end of the short film see's a happy ending for Joseph as he waits in the corridor with the other boys involved in his attack. The film ends on light-hearted humour as the boys are seen laughing and joking with each other at the expense of the teacher. The camera remains in the corridor outside the classroom to which the teacher's voice echoes through the halls shouting "now..."




Details   (taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1095191/)


Country: Ireland
Language: English (original)


Release Dates:
Ireland               14 July 2007                   (Galway Film Fleadh)
Albania              29 November 2007            (Tirana International Film Festival)
UK                     1 December 2007             (Foyle Film Festival)
Germany            12 February 2008              (Berlin International Film Festival)
USA                      April 2008                     (Tribeca Film Festival)
UK                    19 April 2008                    (Belfast Film Festival)
Japan                24 June 2008                   (Refugee Film Festival)
Denmark            19 September 2008          (Copenhagen International Film Festival)
Mexico              27 February 2009


Budget: 74,000 Euros (estimated)

Deliver Us From Evil - Research into...

Deliver Us From Evil

Deliver Us From Evil is a documentary film that was released in 2006 and was dirceted by Amy J. Berg. It tells the true story of Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest that was found to have sexually abused  approximately 25 children between the 1970s and 90s. The film features trial documents, videotapes and interviews with a number of people all relating to the incident. The film documents the years that O'Grady spent as a priest in Northern California. When O'Grady was convicted of child molestation, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.Once released, he was deported back to Ireland where Berg interviewed him on his indescretions. Lawyers suggest that the Church was fully aware of O'Grady's actions, yet they took careful steps in order to conceal it from the media and from the families of those involved. O'Grady suggests that the Church was far more concerned with the image of their religious institution to care about those who he had hurt and were therefore willing to shield O'Grady's perpetrations in order to maintain their image. The documentary comes as an informant of an incident that has already been wide-spread among the public. This means that the documentary will be addressing public interest as people are already fully aware of what has happened.

This is important to my documentary as it shall need to be released when the topic of interest is at its peak and will therefore recieve higher viewing numbers.

Analysis of the opening of Deliver Us From Evil

The documentary opens on a black screen where a quote from Jesus Christ then fades onto the screen reading "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." This quote emphasises the process of confessing your sins to make you a better person, which is completely contradictory of what the documentary is about. Daunting music plays in the background to build an eerie atmosphere and create suspense amongst the audience. The quote then fades out to black and the screen opens on an panning image of a church, reinforcing the religious nature of the documentary that the title has already intended. A voiceover of O'Grady then begins to play where he begins to confess to his sins. We do not see the face of O'Grady throughout the whole of this extract which suggests a privacy to his confession and an almost criminal perspective of him as a person. The confession makes O'Grady appear regreattable for his actions, although the audience will not feel sympathy for him. The camera then scales up the crucifix and rests on the head of Jesus Christ, where the title of the documentary fades in.

The documentary then opens on an interview of Bob and Maria Jyono whose daughter, Ann was sexually abused by O'Grady. They tell of how they accepted O'Grady so easily into their lives and their home, completely unaware of the abuse that he was inflicting on their child. While the couple talk of their family life, pictures and collages pan across the screen so the audience gain a full visual insight into their lives before Oliver came along. It also helps to make the audience feel as though they are part of this family and that they are being introduced to every little aspect of this families life. It helps each member of the audience to relate to the Jyono's and therefore makes the rest of the documentary seem more shocking. Maria expresses her devotion to her Catholic religion and how this then impacted on Ann's life and led her to meet the priest.

The camera once again return to images of an empty church, which haunting music that would be seen fit in a church setting plays over the top. Here, we are then introduced to "Father Ollie". We still do not gain an insight into what O'Grady looks like, his appearance is kept very much to a minimum. All we have gained about him so far from the documentary is the sound of his voice in the voiceover which continues to narrate throughout the whole documentary. Other priests described O'Grady as a 'people person' which he claims, helped him to decide to become a priest. The camera fades into a close up of O'Grady's eyes as he continues to tell his story, allowing the audience to become a little more intimate with him as a person. He begins to describe his passion for children as he see's a little of himself in them.

We then return back to the Jyono's who continue to tell their story of how they met O'Grady.

The beginning of the documentary does not give much away as to Oliver O'Grady as a person. If a member of the audience was unaware as to who he was or what he has done, they would be none the wiser as to what the documentary was about. Drip feeding the audience information is a clever way of keeping them involved and interested in the programme, although maybe the opening to this documentary is a little slow paced.

The way that Berg hides the identity of O'Grady for such a long period of time is effective in suspense building. People want to come face-to-face with the man himself but Berg attempts to drag this out for as long as possible. This could be effective in my documentary when talking to victims of alcohol abuse that do not wish to be identified. This would protect them from being recognised by the audience but would also want to make them watch on and see what they have to say.

Release Dates:

USA:  

24th June 2006   (Los Angeles Film Festival)

Australia:  

26th June 2006 (Melbourn International Film Festival)

Canada: 

7th September 2006  (Toronto International Film Festival)

USA:

5th October 2006    (HATCHfest Film Festival)

USA: 

13th October 2006   (limited)

USA: 

9th November 2006  (High Falls Film Festival)

Germany: 

8th February 2007  (European Film Market)

Netherlands: 

22nd February 2007

Ireland: 

30th March 2007

Australia:  

17th May 2007

France:  

20th May 2007  (Cannes Film Festival)

UK: 

10th July 2007  (Cambridge Film Festival)

New Zealand: 

19th July 2007  (New Zealand International Film Festival)

Iceland: 

15th August 2007  (Green Light Film Festival)

France: 

2nd April 2008

Spain: 

25th July 2008

Sweden: 

9th March 2009  (TV premiere)

Japan:  

21st February 2010   (TV premiere)

 

Brief

Initially, I was planning on doing an extract for a documentary on the effects of underage drinking. I completed a wide range of research into the subject of documentaries. However, due to the fact that I arrived late at the college and started well into the course when others had already begun, I started to struggle with the amount of work that needed to be done under a time pressure. I therefore decided to team up with another colleague in my class in order to lift some of the pressure off, with the appoval of my teacher.

So, together my partner and I are working on making a short film based on the subject of teen abuduction. Alongside the production, a poster for the film and a magazine film review featuring our short film will also be produced as articles to support the piece.