Script draft one:

Script growing up:

Growing up is tough. You don't know who you are yet. I for example, have been many people. At times I have been an absolute delight, yet I believe the words 'complete' and 'nightmare' have been used on occasion to describe me. I've been: a fitness fanatic, a girlfriend, then an ex-girlfriend. After the breakup I realised: I hated boys, I hated school and I hated the world, personally I found ----------- explained the situation perfectly. However this phase was swiftly replaced by unwavering passion for burgers, pizza and most importantly fries. It was safe to say my days of jogging and eating kale had come to an end. I have been a 'troublesome teen' getting drunk on cider in the park at 12am, although not one of my classier moments... (throw up in hedge) I seem to remember having a good night.

Planning: Locations

Scenes set at the protagonists home:
We will be using my house as the location to film the scenes set in our protagonists home. We chose my house as it is a five minute walk from the school all the members of my group attend, therefore making it easier to arrange filming days as they can easily be arranged for after school. We will be filming scenes set in our main characters bedroom in my bedroom. In the bedroom we will film the scenes of our protagonist studying for an exam and they day afterwards when she comes home and throws her revision out the window.

In the kitchen we will film the shot of the milkshake with two straws:

Oxford:

We have chosen Oxford as one of our main locations. Here we will shoot the scenes of the protagonist going shopping with her friends. We will also be able to shoot footage of the protagonist listening music on the train on the way there and back.

Friend's Car:
We chose to shoot the scenes of our protagonist singing to music in the car with her friends in Georgie's car as she is the only member of our group with a drivers licence.

O2 Arena:
For the scene of our protagonist attending a concert we have chosen to film a short clip of a concert we will attend here on our mobile phones. By filming on our phones we are following the guidelines on filming during the concert from the venue.

School:
We have chosen to film certain scenes such as the exam scene in our school as this is the most appropriate location for that scene. When shooting these scenes we ensured we were in a secluded location and no one was in the background of the footage as we wouldn't have permission to have them in our film. We also asked our head teacher for filming consent beforehand.

Jogging Scene:
For the scenes where our main character goes for a run we chose Newbottle Woods as our location. We thought this would be a good location as this area is secluded and open to the public. This location is also easily accessible as Georgie is able to drive us there as it is a ten minute drive from her house.

Planning: Lighting

Throughout our short film our to the montage style of editing and narrative we have chosen we will be using a range of different locations during filming, these will be both indoor and outdoor. We will therefore use different lighting techniques to portray a range of emotions and moods throughout the short film.

For example, for scenes where our protagonist is happy and carefree she will be outside where we will be able to use natural light to get a happy and clear tone to the scene. Some examples of scenes where we will use natural lighting are the scenes shot outside the shopping centre and scenes singing along to music in the car. We will also use bright natural lighting to portray elevation once our protagonists exams are over and she throws her revision out of her bedroom window. We will also use the natural lighting during sunsets to effectively create a peaceful tone some shots, some examples of this can also be when she's with friends and when she goes for a run by herself and stops to admire a view.

However for scenes where we want to present our protagonist as stressed or sad we will use darker artificial lighting to create a tense and cold atmosphere. A few examples where we will use this type of lighting are during the scene where the main character is sitting an exam and the montage of her revising for it the night before. We will also use different coloured lighting throughout our short film to create a excitable, party atmosphere. for example during the scene of her attending a concert we will have pink and blue lighting.

We will use lighting as a key element across our short film to portray our character in different moods e.g. tense or excited. To achieve a professional look to our scenes we will hire out studio lights if necessary and make sure we check weather forecasts in advance to make sure we get the best possible weather conditions and lighting for filming days.

Planning: Target Audience

After researching the coming of age genre within short films I have found that these films tend to appeal to audiences of 12-25 years of age. This is because a younger audience tends to be more interested in the genre as they can relate to the struggle the protagonist is experiencing as they are going through similar life experiences. Therefore we have decided to choose this as our target audience for our short film as it will contain similar elements to the short films we analysed. Stereotypically, coming of age films tend to aimed towards males more than females as they can often include elements such as crime, drugs and gangs, which typically attracts more males than females to a film. However for our short film we wanted to subvert these conventions and make a short film that would primarily be aimed towards females but would however also appeal to males. Therefore we have decided our primary target audience will be females ages 12-25 but our secondary target audience will include males within the same age range. 

We chose females as our primary target audience as the plot is based around themes such as friendship, memories and relationships, themes which would typically attract more females to a film than males. However the main theme of the short film is the idea of growing up and the difficulties you face during this transition period in adulthood, this shared experienced would therefore attract males to the film as well. 

We gave decided to choose 12 as the youngest age for our target audience as our short film will be classified as a 12A, therefore we would expect our audience to be above that age. We have opened the target audience up to ages 25 as we believe this film will also appeal to older age groups as it will be an opportunity for them to reminisce about their teenage years. 

Planning: Casting Consent

As both of our actresses are under the age of 18 years old, we will need consent from their parents to be able to appear on camera for our short film and to upload it online. To achieve this, we provided both the actresses with a form for their parents to fill out giving us their consent. We also needed consent from the actresses themselves, therefore we also provided them with a form to sign. On the form we briefed the parents and actresses on which locations we would be filming and possible filming days etc. We also included both our phone numbers and asked them to provide us with theirs in case we needed to contact them whilst filming.

Planning: Location Consent

For some of the scenes in our short film we will be filming at my house, therefore I have asked my parents and the owners of the house to send an email confirming that we have their permission to film on their property.

Planning: Filming Equipment

The main camera we will be using throughout our short film is the Panasonic Lumix GH4. We have chosen to film on this camera as it is one that Georgie owns herself, therefore we will have easy access to it. This camera is compact and portable whilst also being able to shoot in 4K therefore we thought it would be ideal for our short film. This camera also gives us the option to adjust settings such as brightness, zoom and focus, this gives us more control over the final look of the shots.

For scenes which will be filmed more in the moment with less planning available for us to practise, e.g. the concert scene, scenes when shopping etc, we will be using the Canon G7X Mark ii. This is a compact camera with the ability to shoot in HD and produce high quality shots. The size of this camera will make it easy for us to shoot scenes in crowded settings.

For some of our shots in our short film we will need to use a tripod during filming. We have made the decision to use a tripod that I already own, this will allow easier access to it as we won't have to rent it on certain days from school. This tripod will allow us to capture shots with a professional appearance as it will stabilise shots and make cameras movements smoother.

Along with our tripod, for certain scenes we will need to use a dolly, for example this will be used for our opening scene as the camera revolves around our protagonist blowing the candles out on her birthday cake. The dolly will help us create a more fluid and smooth camera movement, giving our film a more professional look. The model we have chosen to use is the Velborn D-11 which we will be renting from school. 

Planning: Classification

Films of the coming of age genre tend to have a 15 rated classification as it often includes scenes of a sexual nature, offensive language, the use of drugs and alcohol and scenes of crime. However as our short film is based around happier, lighter aspects of a teenagers life, this high classification will not be necessary. As a result we have chosen to classify our short film as a 12A as the only aspect of our short film that would be taken into consideration when finding a suitable classification is the brief use of alcohol. According to the BBFC website, a 12A rated film would include:

Discrimination:

Discriminatory language of behaviour must not be endorsed in the work as a whole. However it may be accepted if it is clear that it is being condemned. Our short film will not contain any form of discrimination. 

Drugs:

Misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised. Our short film will feature a short clip of two friends drinking alcohol. The two characters in the scene are portrayed to be over eighteen, the legal drinking age. The scene is also extremely short, therefore making it clear the use of alcohol is not glamorised. 

Imitable Behaviour:

No promotion of potentially dangerous behaviour which children are likely to copy. No glamorisation of weapons such as knives. No endorsement of anti-social behaviour. Our short film will not include any dangerous behaviour, any weapons or anti-social behaviour. 

Language:

Moderate language may be used. Strong language is permitted depending on the circumstances. There will very little if any strong language used within our short film.

Nudity: 

There may be nudity but if in a sexual context it must be brief. There will be no nudity within our short film.

Sex:

Sexual activity may be brief and discreet. Moderate sex references are permitted. There will be no scenes of a sexual nature in our short film.

Threat:

There may be moderate psychical and psychological threat and horror sequences. There will be no threats of danger in our product. 

Violence:

There may be moderate violence but it must not dwell on detail. However there will be no violence shown within our short film. 

Therefore the only aspects of our short film where we will need to ensure we stick to the guidelines of the classification is the use of alcohol within our short film and the possible use of moderate/strong language in our voiceover. 

Planning : Communication

We have chosen to use the social network platform Facebook to communicate between ourselves and our actors. We decided on using this platform as it is easily assessable by all members of our group at any time of day due to the Facebook chat app. We also used this platform during our AS project, which worked successfully, therefore we decided to continue with it. We made a group chat on the app which includes both Georgie and I as well as our actors.

We will also make an iMessage group with all the people involved in our short film, ensuring there will be no complete loss of communication. Both our actresses also attend the same school as us, therefore reaching them personally during the week won't be difficult. We will use these group chats to discuss filming dates and costumes, props etc that we need our actresses to bring when filming. 

Planning: Storyboards

These are the storyboards we created whilst planning our short film. We created a basic outline for the scenes we wanted to include in our short film and the order we originally planned to put them in, however we believed due to the montage style editing we have chosen for our short film, we believe this order is likely to change. Below each drawing and shot we have explained what will happen in the shot and how we plan to shoot it. We also included arrows and actions that will help us during filming when decided camera movements. However we did not include notes on the sound we plan to use in each clip as there will be limited diegetic sound during most scenes as we will have music and a voiceover playing over the top which we will add during the editing process. 

Planning: Costumes

Along with makeup, we will be using costume to present our characters as different ages. We will use different clothing styles and popular fashion trends to show our characters being younger or older.

When the characters are younger will be use brighter plainer clothes such as regular t-shirts, sweatshirts, skinny jeans and trainers. These plain clothes will make her seem youthful as when you are younger you tend to care less about fashion and style. Baggy jumpers and sweatshirts also give an essence of playfulness and youth as they are viewed as very informal. The picture below shows a mood board of the style we will aim to achieve.

When the characters are older we will dress them up in more fashionable outfits which fit well within current trends. These outfits will present our characters as older as it will show they care more about their appearance which is often the case as people age. The nature of these outfits will also make them appear older as they will be more tight fitting and tailored. The images below give an idea of some inspiration for outfits we will use when creating our characters looks. 

Planning: Makeup

Makeup is a crucial element of our short film as we will be using one actress throughout who will need to be made to look between the ages of 15-19 depending on which scene we will be filming. We have chosen two actresses for the two roles we need at the ages 17 as this is the ideal age to be able to be believable when playing both ages.

When the characters are younger, for example in the scene where its the protagonists fifteenth birthday the makeup they will wear will be bright and youthful. We will use makeup to enhance their natural facial features. To do this we will use products like mascara, a bb cream, blush and lip gloss. Products such as lip gloss were also popular three or four years ago, therefore this will help create a sense of realism within our short film. Here is an example of a look we hope to achieve:

For the scenes where the characters are older (17-19) we will use more bold, colourful makeup to create a more skilled makeup look. We will use makeup products such as bronzer to contour our actors as this will make their face seem more define and structured which will make them seem older. We will use eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow and more bold lip colours to create a more sophisticated makeup look. The picture below is an example of the look we will be aiming to achieve when it comes to shooting.

Overall, the makeup looks we will aim to create will enhance the our actresses natural facial features, but the degree of skill in the makeup will vary depending on the age of the character during the scene.  This will see the protagonists makeup skills developing throughout the short film as she grows older, adding realism to the film. We will not sure any theatrical makeup during our short film as it wouldn't be appropriate. 

Planning: Casting

Main Protagonist: Molly Braggins

For our main protagonist of our short film we have chosen to cast Molly Braggins. She fits our role of a teenage girl between the ages 15-19. As she is 17 years old, it would be possible to make her look younger or older with props, makeup and costume. Molly has also had past experience studying drama therefore we feel she will be a professional tone to the short film. Molly has also acted in some of our previous AS work so we therefore thought she would understand our filming process and it would be easy to work with her. As our short film has key themes of friendship running throughout it we thought working with Molly would bring this tone to the film as we are close friends, therefore the happy scenes will not look forced and awkward. This will also allow us to include a wider variety of scenes as we will be filming in locations that would be hard to replicate such as a concert etc, this means that as we would be attending these events with Molly anyway it will open up more opportunities for interesting filming settings. Me, Georgie and Molly also attend the same school and have similar free periods, therefore scheduling filming times will be easier.

Main Protagonist's Friend: Nadia Hambidge

We have chosen Nadia for the role of the Protagonist's friend as she is also 17 therefore we feel we will also be able to make her look within the age range of 15-19 through mis en scene. Nadia and Molly are also friends in real life and therefore we think this friendship will translate effortlessly into our short film to make the friendship look natural. Nadia has little experience with acting however we trust she will be able to deliver a realistic performance. This also shouldn't be a problem as the Protagonist's best friend is only a minor role in our short film. 

Planning: Risk Assessment

Planning: Props

Throughout our short film, we will use props to portray certain traits amongst our character. These props will also be conventional to the coming of age genre we have chosen. These traits will add a sense of realism to the film and will make make our protagonist more relatable. Some examples of these props are:

One main prop we will use throughout different scenes in our short film is the mobile phone the character will be carrying. In the scenes where the character is younger we will be using an older version of the iPhone e.g the iPhone 4s as this was a popular make a few years ago, our target audience will likely notice this device and associate it with the period. The phone we will use for when she is older is the newest version of the iPhone, this will be a clear indication of the modern time period these scenes will be set in. This model of phone will also relate to our audience as its teenagers and young adults, this is a common phone within this generation. Also as our target audience is more localised than international, this would also appeal to that audience as the area we are targeting it to is a middle and upper class region, therefore this more expensive phone would be popular amongst the younger generation. These props would be used in a scene of her taking pictures with friends, or recording a concert etc. 

Another prop we will use is a birthday cake. We will include a scene where the camera rotates around our protagonist as she ages up throughout her birthdays. We will likely use the same cake as a prop, de to our limited budget, however we will use decorations to make it seem different. We will use different numbered candles to present her age as well. 

We will use fast food such as McDonalds in our short film. We will use this in the scene where our protagonist is binge eating or ordering fast food. This is an extremely recognisable brand within the younger and older generation, therefore the audience will be able to relate more. 

We will use earphones in our short film. One of the main shots we will use is a close up/mid shot of our protagonist listening to music as the background behind her changes. These will be an easy way to establish the idea of her being a music lover, without making it too obvious to the audience. We will use the Apple brand of earphones as this is a common, recognisable brand within our target audience. 

We will also use various different props in the background of certain scenes to add a sense of realism to the short film. The examples above are a school bag, a makeup organiser and a laptop. We could also use things like exercise books and a pencil case for scenes set at school. 

Planning: Mood Board

The mood board below shows a visual example of the tone we are trying to get across in our short film. These images show some elements from the Coming of Age genre. I also included some images of scenes we are going to include in the short film such as the fireworks, concerts and birthdays.

Planning: Choosing An Idea

From the three ideas we initially came up with, we have decided to go create the first idea of the short film of the young girl as she grows up throughout her teenage years. We chose this as this was the idea both me and Georgie like the most, it was also the most popular amongst our focus group. We also believed this idea would allow us to be the most creative with camera work, editing and sound techniques to develop our skills. We also deemed this idea to be the most conventional within our chosen genre of Coming of age.

The main element of our short film that will hold the narrative together is the use of a voiceover to pair with the flashbacks and montage editing. This will develop our creative skills in scriptwriting. Planning will also be essential for our short film to make sure each element works together to tell a successful and captivating narrative. This narrative won't follow typical theories such as Todorov's film theory which states thats films starts with an equilibrium which is then disrupted by conflict which is then restored at the end after a resolution is found. This film doesn't follow this structure as there is not disturbance in the middle of the short film. Unique and interesting use of camera will be essential as our short film will be a minimum of five minutes long therefore it needs to entertain the audience.

As we will be using one actress throughout the short film we will need to use mis en scene to present her as older or younger in different scenes, we will make sure the characters environment, clothes and makeup will match her age. For example we will change elements of the characters bedroom to reflect how old she is. This will help with the continuity of the film. Overall we both agreed that this film would allow us to demonstrate a wider range of skills and produce a successful and captivating short film for our target audience (females between the ages 15-21). We feel our short film will appeal to this age range as the younger years will relate to the content and the older ages will relate to the reflective tone of the film.

Planning: Developed Ideas

After we conducted our three ideas pitch, me and Georgie decided to take on board the feedback we have received and develop our three ideas further:


Idea One:
This first idea will be a short film which follows a girl through her teenage years and the difficulties she experiences as she grows up. This will be made up of a series of short scenes and shots edited together to make a montage, to hold together the narrative of the short film we will include a voiceover throughout the short film that will correlate with the scenes being shown. This will act as the protagonist looking back on her past with a reflective tone from an older age.

Our protagonist will be female and will be between the ages 14-19 throughout the film. Some examples that we will include in the short film are: break ups, school stress, birthdays, parties etc. We will use makeup, costumes, hair and props to present our actress as the different ages throughout the piece. To make up for our lack of actors we will be using visual images to imply certain relationships and events, for example we will use a shot of a milkshake with two straws to hint towards the protagonist being in a relationship.

This film will follow typical convention within the Coming of Age genre, for example we will use typical locations such as cities and towns to film in. We will have scenes set at home and in schools, also following typical conventions. There will be different relationships presented such as love interests, friendships, relationship with parents and a sense of self-discovery.


Idea Two:
This idea would be a music video instead of a short film. This music video will follow a female protagonist and will be using the song 'Surprise Yourself' by Jack Garratt. We developed this idea as a short film initially but whilst creating our pitch we decided this idea would be better formatted to a music video.

The video will begin with a teenage or young adult female walking home, she will look depressed and defeated. There will be different shots and scenes of her walking in different locations. As the tempo of the song increases the female protagonist will begin dancing. The dancing in her life will act as her release in life. This music video will be effective through the use of different editing techniques such as a graphic match. This will show her dancing in different backgrounds, as the scenes cut to the next the protagonist will be dancing the same movement, therefore making it seem like she hasn't moved but the background behind her has. Our chosen song 'Surprise Yourself' has many dips and rises which will allow us create an interesting routine for the video. The actress we would be using for this music video also has a wide variety of dance experience and we would work with her to create interesting choreography for the video.

This music video would also be conventional for the coming of age genre as the protagonist is a teenage girl who is experiencing problems at home which is shown through her being depressed and upset in the start of the video. The fact that she found her happiness in dance also reflects the determined characteristic which many protagonists of coming of age films have as they risk everything to overcome their issue, for example in the short film I analysed '9 Meter' the protagonist risks his life repeatedly to save his mother of her illness. It will also show common locations of the genre such as home, towns and cities.


Idea Three:
This third idea will be a short film. It will follow two teenage characters as they develop a friendship as they communicate by writing on a desk in school. These two characters will eventually meet and the audience will witness their developing friendship as they help each other over come issues and problems they face.

The protagonists of this film will be a 15 year old boy and a 15 year old girl. For the initial part of the short we will see the friendship develop through a dual narrative of each character writing on the desk which will then cut to the other character replying later on the same desk. Editing techniques would be a prominent feature in this first section as there would be many cuts and transitions used. We could position the camera in one spot but constantly cut between the two characters as they would be sat in the same seat at the same desk. We would start the film with the boy, bored in his lesson, scratching 'hello' into the desk. This would then cut to the next day when he is sat there again as he looks down at his desk he realises someone has replied. We see him writing a reply which would then cut to the female answering the message. The film would cut between the two characters and their messages to each other. We also considered including stop motion in this short film as the messages appear on the desk. When they finally meet in person, it will be revealed one of the characters id experiencing issues such as an abusive family member. They will work together to overcome these issues.

This short film will follow the typical conventions of the coming of age genre as it will follow themes of friendship. Both characters will also be teenagers, another convention of the genre.

Planning: Introducing Main Task

The brief that we have chosen from OCR states that we need to create a short film and two ancillary products to advertise our product. The two we have chosen are the film poster and the film magazine review page. We decided to choose the short film as we wanted to develop our skills we had learnt in our AS portfolio by choosing a different media product and by working with new genres. As last year we created a two minute film opening, this year we wanted to challenge ourselves by creating a five minute short film.

The genre we have chosen for our short film is coming of age. We chose this genre as it is something completely different to our previous work which was a psychological thriller, this will therefore develop our media skills further. The coming of age genre also has quite loose conventions and guidelines so we thought this would give us a lot of room for creativity.

Both Georgie and I chose the film poster and the film magazine page as we thought these products would be the most interesting to make as they are the visual aspects of the brief which we both prefer to create. We both agreed that we wanted to create a film poster and we have come across film posters that have sparked an interest for the film and we wanted to have a go at creating a successful and intriguing poster ourselves. We also chose the film review page as we felt this would portray our skills better as its based on visual elements which is where we believed our skills are the strongest.

Planning: Initial Ideas and Pitch Reflection

             


                      

The video above shows our presentation to a small focus group as we presented our three ideas and then received valuable feedback on which was their favourite and how we could develop it. The PowerPoint we used to present our ideas is above. This feedback ultimately helped in deciding which idea we would choose out of the initial three, this ended up being the first idea. This was to make a short film following a girl as she grows up through her teenage years. This would be sewn together with a voiceover of the girl speaking about growing up, e.g. breakups, phases, school. This short film would be within the Coming of Age genre. This was clearly the favourite idea amongst the group and we received ideas on how we could improve on our idea.

One element of our idea that our focus group liked was the idea of the voiceover. They thought this was a good idea and would be essential to tie our short film together as otherwise the film might not have a clear narrative. However, they did offer some ideas to avoid potential problems we could encounter. One of these was the length of the short film. As we are aiming to make our shot film around five minutes long, it could be hard to create a voiceover that lasts the whole length of the short film without becoming boring and repetitive. We came up with the solution of fading out the voiceover at certain times and having music playing in between to lengthen it. The focus group also suggested we could use three different voices to represent the different stages of the girls life e.g. childhood, her teenage years and her adulthood. We also discussed that the voiceover would correlate with the different clips being played, for example when the voiceover talks about her goth phase during her teenage years the scene being played will show her with heavy black eye makeup on.

Another issue that was brought up by our focus group was the fact that we would have to find suitable actors for the different roles in our short film. An example of this was if we wanted to include a scene of her fighting with her parents we would need to cast two adults. This would be difficult as we don't have s very small budget and don't know anyone who would be available. Another idea we had was including scenes of the main protagonist with her boyfriend. This again brought up the same issue as we didn't know anyone who would fill this role. One member of our feedback team gave us the idea that instead of filming her with her boyfriend we could include simple shots which imply a relationship, such as a close up of two straws in a milkshake or a close up of them holding hands. This meant that we could include this element in our short film without being limited by the actors available to us. They also offered a few ideas as to other scenes we could include in our short film such as the protagonist experiencing her first day of secondary school. We also explained that we will be using makeup, hair, props and clothing to make our actor seem younger and older as she grows up throughout the piece. One member of our focus group also suggested that we could use distorted shots to represent her as a child, one example being a shot from behind her head showing her hair in pigtails. They also suggested we could use home footage of the protagonist as a child, we thought this would be a good idea to use as the opening for our short film.

Our focus group found the other two ideas to not be as good as the initial. They were less enthusiastic as they believed the shots used and the dialogue used would become repetitive. However they did suggest that we could combine elements from our other ideas into our short film for example they suggested we could use editing techniques such as a graphic match which we initially planned to use in our music video.

Due to the feedback we received we have decided to choose the first idea of the short film about a girl growing up through her teenage years. We will make adjustments and additions to the idea due to the feedback we received as it was very helpful, as the focus group was made up of members included in or target audience.