Character/actor profile (coursework practise)

Character profile:

Jack is an ordinary 17 year old boy apart from the fact he cannot say words that begin with vowels, can’t write vowels and even struggles to use words with vowels in them. He lives alone with his father, Mr. Goff. The believed caused of jack’s condition was a significant amount of pressure put on him to learn to talk at an early age from his mother and there is rumours about an incident involving over exposure to the television show ‘Countdown’.

 

Actor profile:

Name: Jonathan Briggs

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Role: Jack Goff (lead role)

Previous experience: Acting in other media student’s media projects more than a few times and no other prior experience.

Why we chose him: Jonny is a person of a naturally awkward and nervous disposition which reflects the character well and really helps in portraying the character Jack and his difficulty speaking. We also wanted someone who would fit the age well, which Jonny does, as well as being a full time sixth form student and being in appropriate costume at all times within school, this made Jonny an obvious choice for this role. While we did consider other actors such as Rory Pratt who have had more experience, time and convenience dictated that we use Jonny as well as the role being more suited to someone like him as opposed to a more confident actor and we used this to our advantage.

Character/actor profile (coursework practise)

Character Profile: Jack's friend

 

Lauren has been friends with Jack since they were eight, they have been together since primary school and their families have become quite close.

Ever since Jack developed this disorder Lauren had been one of the few that stuck by him. They’re both in the same year group and most classes together, so their support towards each other is great. Lauren is achieving average grades, she’s popular among her peers and is very likable, she’s never tried to be something she’s not and has been incredibly understanding of Jacks case. Lauren believes everyone has the potential to be successful and believes Jack is no different.

Actor Profile:

Name: Kerry Hardesty

Gender: female

Age: 17

Why?: Kerry is a bubbly and confident person who fits the role well. Has fairly good acting skills and can improvise when needed.

Character/actor profile (coursework practise)

Character profile: Jack’s father

The father is aged around his mid-forties, and has brought up Jack on his own since the age of 5, when Jack’s mother left the family due to unconfirmed circumstances, with rumours of her being sent into an insane asylum due to her uncontrollable addiction to countdown. Mr Goff is a man with an unclear orphanage background, and usually keeps himself to himself, especially in regards to his son’s condition. He appears to support his son in defeating his condition, but secretly sees it as burden on his abnormal lifestyle.

Actor Profile: Henry Wright

Gender: Male                                  

Age: 17

Why? Henry Wright is suitable for the role as he has been in previous drama productions (acting) so is familiar with the process. It is an interview situation and a script has been provided, however he is a confident actor so can elaborate if needed. He also is in the second year of his A-level in media.

Character/actor profile (coursework practise)

Character Profile: Jacks Teacher/councillor

 

Miss Pawlowski has been a guidance councillor for Jack for the past year at sixth form. She’s 26 years old and started counselling at Forest Oak Academy the same year as Jack joined and they formed a bond when Jack endured a panic attack half-way through the first month of school and went to see her for advice.

 

She is married and has a baby with down syndrome so she can empathise towards Jack and leads a maternal role in his life since his mother left. He see’s her two times a week for a 20-minute meeting where they discuss how Jack’s feeling and how they can move forward.

 

Actor Profile: Mrs. Preston

Age: 30-40

Gender: Female

Why? Mrs. Preston is a teacher of history. Doesn’t have much experience in drama roles. However, suits the role well.

 

Mockumentary (coursework practise)

The boy who couldn't say vowels
Recently as a group we started to create a mockumentary about a boy who could not say vowels and the aim of this was to practise getting used to the process we would go through when creating our coursework. Over the course of the next few weeks character profiles, storyboards and other documents should be appearing on my blog until the final project is complete.

Genre

Genre
There are many different genres within film and they all have their own generic conventions; the things which define them and make a film fit into this genre. For example the horror genre has its own generic conventions compared to a romantic comedy, the setting for example, a lot of horror films are set in dark places that have a lot of stigma surrounding them, like a haunted house that had someone murdered in it. This setting would communicate to the audience that the film was a horror without them directly being told. As opposed to a romantic comedy which is more likely to be set in a big city like Chicago, brightly lit, open and busy, this is typical of films such as 'run fat boy run'.
There is many, many genres and sub genres within film and they all have their own generic conventions that make them different, a small list of some of the genres out there includes;

• Action  
• Horror
• Comedy
• Romance
• Thriller
• Fantasy
• Sci-fi
• Animations

And many more genres and sub genres, but rather than explore every genre of film there is, I am going to explore a few that are most relevant to the type of film opening I would like to do and maybe explore what kind of generic conventions the opposite genres employ and see if I could implement anything from those to blur the lines between what genre my film opening falls into or maybe this will make me decide to stick more firmly to the generic conventions already in place for one specific genre.



Action
Generally when someone thinks of the Action genre the first thing that comes to mind, is the typical action hero film with diluted, slightly generic, maybe overdone plot, with the masculine hero who saves the day against impossible odds. Films that may come to mind when thinking of this genre include such films as James bond, Die hard, Taken and Bad boys are common examples of action films that all conform to the recognised generic conventions of the action film genre.

James Bond is typical action film, most of the films involve lots of explosions, fast cars, pretty women and lots of fast paced action, for example; car chases, gun fights and fight scenes. In casino Royale, one of the more recent entries into the James bond saga, the film starts with a chase scene on foot with the main protagonist chasing what we suspect to be a villain, with lots of fast paced music in the background adding to the building suspense with an explosion added in to break the tension briefly and shock the audience to draw them into the scene more effectively. The scene continues with the chase leading high up in a construction site adding to the risk and building suspense, providing that edge of the seat effect for the audience, which this type of scene is aiming to provide.

Bad Boys is a more classic crime based action film with a comedic twist, while not intended to be a comedic action it could easily be argued that it may be labelled as such. Within this film there is a very good example of a car chase scene, with the two protagonists chasing down the villain in a high speed car chase between two very fast classic cars. This kind of scene is very common within the action genre and is commonly used due to the fast pace, exciting shots and they build tension and suspense extremely well. While a car chase is an extremely exciting scene and would make for an excellent opening, it is simply too difficult to shoot with the resources we have and would be far too impractical for our coursework.

Stand off is a film opening done by As media students that I found on Youtube, I watched it to help my understanding of the action genre and to see what other students had done to give me inspiration for my coursework as well as being able to observe  the techniques they used to help me gain ideas for what I could implement. The film contains a small chase scene and tense music in a run down area of a city and conforms to the generic conventions of the action genre very well and doesn't challenge any of them which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the audience. Below you can see the project that I watched. While some elements such as the acting are slightly lacking, one of the things an audience would most expect to see in a modern day action film is firearms which are used in this opening and the fast paced music used to dictate the pace of the scene is very fitting with the action genre. Although I think after seeing how poorly this project has been done and how fake the firearms look, we have elected to have a more calm suspense building opening to avoid it looking unprofessional.

Comedy
Comedy is a very broad genre with lots of other genres regularly being blended with it, a lot of comedies involve typical scenarios that are awkward in real life, for example American high schools are typically uncomfortable and awkward and offer many opportunities to laugh at other's misfortunes. However some comedies really blend the lines between action and comedy for example, Hot fuzz.
Hot fuzz employs a very comical fake violence and generic conventions of most action films such as chase scenes and fight scenes but in a much more comic violence way. For example any blood splatters are made with obviously fake blood because the intention is to not look realistic but to draw in the audience, hold their attention, make them concerned for the character and make it entertaining in any way possible.

A good example of the obviously fake blood/gore used in the film

 

While this is a very good example of a film challenging the generic conventions of the genre of comedy and blurring the lines between the two genres and I appreciate how well received this film was (as a very big fan of it myself) I think for my coursework I am going to stick to the more serious tone of most action films and maintain a darker air around the whole thing instead of the light-heartedness that surrounds this film.

Ace Ventura is a comedy about a pet detective and this film is straight up comedy, no real action elements just purely comedy and sticks to the generic conventions of the genre pretty rigidly. It employs different types of comedy throughout the films including slap-stick, farcical and some very juvenile themed comedy. The film is generally an upbeat tempo with bright lighting and no real suspense being built throughout. The film isn't really family friendly as the jokes can be fairly adult which is very common for comedy films not really focusing around the slapstick area of comedy. Although some of the more childish scenes involve Ace doing some pretty hilarious things that would have the whole family laughing like the scene pictured below where Ace is climbing out of a fake rhino in a rather undignified manner.



Unfortunately I could not find any openings done by students that were in the genre of comedy, I believe this is because the comedy genre is so hard to do well as it requires very good actors that have charisma and likeability as well as good technical skills to actually make the film as a result of this I have chosen to avoid the genre as a whole because of the complications added by the charisma required.



Thriller
Thrillers generally aim to build as much suspense as possible for the audience to then shock them or surprise them (but usually not scare them). These films will often have quiet, tense situations involving next to no noise but maybe exaggerated breathing and footstep sounds to put an audience on the edge of their seat, which is one of the main goals of a thriller. For example, in World War Z in the scene I have posted to the right, the protagonist is forced to make a decision he is unsure of which could end with him being killed. The scene shows how very little movement takes place and the whole 'Will he? Won't he?' decision making starts running through the audience's mind as to whether this will have worked and whether or not he will be killed by the infected person staring him straight in the face. The aim of this suspense building is to really draw the audience into the film and then shock them or surprise them rapidly after building enormous amounts of suspense which really helps to create memorable moments in the audience's minds.

The opening scene of the Hobbit:an unexpected journey

The Hobbit: an unexpected journey

The opening to the Hobbit starts with a completely black screen and utter silence which is then interrupted sharply by Bilbo striking a match and a candle being lit. This sudden interruption and burst of light grabs the audiences' attention and pulls them instantly so their focus is solely on what Bilbo is saying.

This is a very good technique as it creates an air of mystery and builds tension very effectively.
This is something I am definitely taking note of for my coursework as it very effective and I am hoping to implement a similar technique.
Bilbo then proceeds to walk down an unlit corridor in his house with the candle as the only source of light illuminating a tight and cosy environment with an air of tension around it and I think this is used to represent the story beginning as if the light is being shed on the situation of what is going on and it correlates to the story because Bilbo is talking about he has 'always told Frodo the truth but not the whole truth' and this is him telling the rest of the story, so the candle illuminating the hallway is also an excellent metaphor for that.
Bilbo then goes to open a chest of seemingly old things perhaps from previous adventures, and the camera itself is actually situated within the chest itself and ever builds the sense of tension that has been present throughout the opening as it provides a close up look of the sense of 'reluctant awe' on Bilbo's face and prevents the audience from seeing what's in the chest at first and this really makes them curious and draws them in even more.
Again an effective technique I am considering using in my coursework to create anticipation for the rest of the film.
Bilbo then is seated in a cluttered, candle lit room in his home as he starts to write his book and tell the story and the camera is looking on at him from behind while slowly backing out of the room into the dark corridor as the screen fades to a map of middle-earth.
Then the moves around the map and focuses and zooms onto the place called Dale before cutting to what is going on in Dale. An interesting twist on an establishing shot but a very effective one, in a fantastical place it can be very difficult for a film to communicate where everything is taking place and this technique does it very clearly for the audience without it being cheesy or amateurish.
The image of Dale (still part of the opening scene) is clearly a flashback, given away by a faint white glow around the edge of the screen and this is a common technique used to communicate a flashback so the audience instantly know that from the screenplay and what Bilbo is saying.
In contrast to Bilbo's home Dale is light, grand, bustling and a massive difference compared to the previous environment and after the tension building in Bilbo's home would help the audience relax into the film. In Dale there is all natural light, the bustling sounds of people going about their business and the happy screams of playing children in the background which helps the audience to establish the sense of equilibrium (Todorov's structure of film) at the beginning of the film.
The camera then performs a flyover shot of the town of Dale to the mountain just beyond it (Erebor) which after seeing the size of Dale and prosperity really helps the mountain show off its grandeur and magnificence. This is because everything about Dale really pales in comparison to Erebor and this is an effective technique to display to the audience the sheer magnificence of something, in this case; Erebor, compare it to something already very brilliant and then let it be shown up.
The camera then focuses in on the dwarfs manning the stronghold and Thror (the king of Erebor) before panning through the massive halls of Erebor, the camera emerges from dark halls into a brightly lit central chamber; the throne room, the lighting and positioning of the chamber portraying the importance of it, before a close up shot of Thror and his kin.
The camera then continues to pan through the halls of Erebor displaying the grandeur of the halls as Bilbo continues his voiceover and a calm orchestra music plays in the background that communicates a fantasy setting and massiveness of the city. Before the camera switches to shots of the mines and while the music remains and so does Bilbo's voiceover the sound of pickaxes striking the gold in the walls.
The camera circles around a circle of dwarven smiths all hitting a molten hot piece of metal in turn, passing by each one as they strike the metal, the sound of the hammers being exaggerated and echoed, to help with the sense of grandeur of the environment they are in.
The camera is then brought down one of the mines passing by the miners and focusing on one in particular, zooming in on the hammer and chisel stripping away the rock as the shining stone is uncovered and the camera shows the miners face in surprise and awe as his face is illuminated by the glow of the stone slowly. The music then reaches a kind of apex as a choir sings when the stone is uncovered and the shot ends. A very well thought out shot but not the kind of thing I would use in my coursework as I am thinking of doing a more action focused piece and the genre does not suit this kind of shot generally.