Filming - Day 5

Location: College kitchen
Idea: 'Jimmy' making Crusha in the kitchen
Props: Cleaning products, food, tissue.

Had to re-do the shoots, thinking we accidentally filmed over them. Luckily, didn't film much because we found the original footage on the tape at the very beginning. We can't use re-done footage as the hoody is different and would mess up the continuity.

Location: Reading area.
Idea: Session between 'Jimmy' and a psychiatrist.
Props: Coat, books, glasses, writing pad and pen.

The actor was laying down to give the idea that he is in a session with a shrink. The glasses and coat was to give a sense of sophistication to the character, as well as the pen and paper to give the impression that she is taking notes. We held the camera at a low angle for the shrink to make her look superior and a high angle for Jimmy to make him look inferior.

Filming - Day 4

Location: Clair Park
Shots: Actor spinning with doll (set a POV), low angle shots of actor walking with the doll in hand, actor walking up & running back and forth (POV) in an alley.

Props: Hoody & doll.

Problem: Accidently filmed over the kitchen shots and weather interrupted advanced filming sessions.

Plan for next filming session:

• Shots with psychiatrist
• Kitchen Shots
• First shot (bruise)

Representation of age in the media

Representation of age is shown to us through the media every day from newspapers to television series. Stereotyping the young and old.



Children/adolescents
Children are often portrayed in the media or films in negative or stereotypical ways. For example, based on an analysis by British 18-year-olds of British newspapers, students identified what they perceived to be seven stereotypes of children in the media:
§ Kids as victims.
§ Cute kids sell newspapers.
§ Little devils.
§ Kids are brilliant.
§ Kids as accessories.
§ “Kids these days.”
§ Brave little angels.




For example television series such as shameless, The Royal Family or one foot in the grave show a variety of ages.

Shameless:

“The comedy drama, centered on UK underclass and working class culture, has been accorded critical acclaim by various sections of the British media, including The Sun newspaper and News night Review on BBC Two. Shameless is one of the most successful recent British TV programmers, a comedy with touching storylines and an ensemble cast made the most of a script fuelled by sex, drugs and alcohol.”

The main storyline being a middle age single dad living with his children on a council estate, the episodes show the living conditions and the daily routines that each of the family members. The cast include a variety of ages from a young teenage boy to an old age pensioner. The representations of all the characters are completely different and this may be the reason why they work so well and it is such a successful program.



My family is another series that used representation of age to there advantage.


The main storyline being of a family and there daily routine a similar plot of shameless although it is a very simple storyline it works with both the programs. The representation of each character is carefully planned as it is the main thing that the series depends on. The characters personalities are the main subject of the program. Jim Royal, the main character is represented as a middle age lazy man that relies on his wife to do most things in there home. Although they have a young daughter which regularly is at there home, her personality is very similar to her parents. Therefore the representation of the young girl comes across as comical.

Filming - Day 3

Location: College premises.
Such as: Visual Arts classroom, hallways, entrance of the gate..etc.
A variety of walking and classroom shoots were included. A different hoody was used to represent a change in time. A new actor was filmed to represent the 'crush'.

Problems:

• Forgot to use the trainers, however as the filming was meant to represent another day, it isn't entirely a dilemma but they are a use of character for the actor.
  
• Filming of a mid shot of the actor walking out of college & the POV pan of the classroom were forgotten.
• Any shots including the teacher were not filmed either.

Filming - Day 2

What we did:

• Firstly, we began filming at some flats in Haywards Heath, the reason we decided this place would be acceptable was strictly based on the working class image it contained, as well being able to film with ease.

• We tried filming shots of the actor walking into the premises from the gates, all the way into the car park, or we'd start half way from the car park and shoot to the top of the car park.
  

• We also tried starting at some steps outside the building and walking towards the door, to give the idea that the location was home for him.
  

• The second location we filmed at was the park. We shot several takes of the actor sitting alone on the benches, and we shot from a distance, as well as up close.

Problems:

• The tripod caused a lot of wonky shots which troubled the quality of the filming, as well as always having to re-adjust the tripod to make sure it was straight as possible.

• We forgot to the bring the storyboard which relied on us remembering from memory, instead of using it as a guide during filming. This made it difficult to decide what shots to do as we could only rely on what we thought would be good.

Props:

• Two hoodies were bought along on set to set the two shoots apart, so the time difference was obvious.

• New trainers were bought which didn't look worn out or old so we decided to rub as much mud on them as possible so that they looked like Jimmy had had them for ages.

Filming - Day 1

• The original plan was to try and film many different takes on the 3 shots we wanted to focus on.
  
• However, the 2 1/2 hours of filming time we had for the afternoon was planned properly, leading to the first hour working out the equipment along with other hectic situations.

• We ended up shooting the kitchen sequence for the next hour, placing the camera from both sides of the room.
  
• was important to keep the continuity in order hence why we had to focus on the items being taken out of the drawers and being placed on the counter.
• The lighting differentiated when the camera was set inside the kitchen and we preferred it inside, however once the camera was positioned outside the room, we preferred the look of the shot as a whole.

• We gave the actor a Nike jacket for the working class effect, however, I felt it wasn't enough so hopefully when we continue shooting, the shoes we bought for the actor will give enough and possibly change the jacket into a different piece of clothing such as a hoody.
• A lot of props were bought for the kitchen such as food and facilities to place on the counter and drawers to create a realistic environment.

Search for locations 2

The first picture of the classroom could be used for the shot where Jimmy walks into his class, looks right and left to find a seat, if we can find a classroom filled with students, then we can definitely capture the atmosphere which will make it a lot more realistic. The second picture of a corner in the reading area has a mundane, yet sophisticated look which would go hand in hand with the shot of Jimmy's flashback with himself and the psychiatrist. Lastly, the still of the park could be used for the first shot of Jimmy revealing his bruise, as well as the selection of long takes of him alone, walking around in the park, emphasizing on his exclusion.

Synopsis

• The film is about a boy called Jimmy, who is 15. Juggling his troubles of home and school life, this film represents the minority of teenagers who feel excluded by society and how they deal with this.


• Jimmy lives alone with his Mum. When he was 13 his Dad got sent to prison for the possession of cocaine. This has disrupted Jimmy's school and home life as his Mum is very depressed and he gets bullied at school. He doesn't have any friends and spends the majority of his time alone.


• At school, there is a girl that he likes. He spends endless lessons staring at her until she catches his eye - in a bad way.


• In his free time he goes to the park and watches the world go by. This makes him seem like a loner and even more of a reason for people to make fun of him.


• However, he does confide in someone. A little toy doll, which he has named after his crush. He says that this doll is his friend and he carries it around with him everywhere. This reveals that he has a psychological problem. As this is introduced, you get an insight into his previous experiences of being with a psychiatrist. His Mum forced him to go after his behaviour became slightly more lonesome.

• The ending takes the audience back to where the beginning set off, which gradually reveals the story, setting a circular narrative.
  

I think this would be a good location to film, the area is very excluded . Though it is quite a simple location it could show a lot

of jimmys feelings giving the audiece an understanding of how

lonely he is. I think that this could be used well as a shot showin jimmy walking home from school the area is very private therefore it would be easy to shoot him.

Plan for the first day of filming.

For Wednesday, we plan to shoot:

• the kitchen sequence - props such as tea towels, food, plants and so on will be included. We will have to take the size of the kitchen into consideration and this will lead us to be more concise on which side of the room we will be placing the camera and what angles will work best.
• The walking shots of him near his 'house' - we won't be entering any premises, just the idea that Jimmy is on the street of his home should be enough to convey the message that he is waking home, especially as this includes his 'Mum' phoning him, along with what will be said in the monologue.
• Jimmy walking into college - this should be filmed with ease as College tends to be a hasty environment and as not many people stay behind on a Wednesday afternoon. No specifics on who should walk past Jimmy and giggle, any of us could do it if no one is available.