Actors

Due to my story line, I will only need one actor to appear on screen throughout my short film, with another actor making a very brief appearance towards the end. I will need a female lead as I need a stereo typically more vulnerable character. This might be difficult as I currently do not have anybody willing and capable to carry out the role to a required standard. I could work with actors through an online agency, which is free, but I would be unsure about doing this as I don't really want to welcome strangers into my home, and also they may feel like they are better than me and therefore won't do what I ask of them. Preferably, I will be able to find somebody I know who is willing to act for me, and capable of doing a good job. This will be quite easy to do as I just have to ask around a bit.

Location and Filming Planning

Due to the nature and style of my film, I am only going to need one very basic location, which will probably be my house. This is because the storyline I am creating only works when set in an environment that is a house, because the audience can feel closer to the storyline as many people share the fear that somebody may be inside their homes, and my film will exploit this fear. I am going to need to film it at night because I want to create a dark and creepy atmosphere, and this would be harder to create in daylight. I could potentially use daylight as it goes against how these films are typically shot, and it would create an entirely new atmosphere as people don't tend to feel unsafe in daylight. My own house is an ideal location as it is easy to use. The only limiting thing in using my own home is that I require an empty house to create my short film, but this may be quite difficult to come by and I might have to do a reasonable amount of waiting. Other than this, there are no other problems with filming in my house so it remains the ideal location.

Reflective Blog Post

This week I have managed to complete both primary and secondary research into my target audience, meaning I now have a greater understanding of who will be watching my short film and how much they will actually enjoy it. This was a successful week as I have managed to get both types of research done very early on, which is helpful as the earlier it is done the sooner I can begin planning to meet the audiences needs. Next week I plan to develop the storyline further.

Psychographics

I created a short survey to see who would be interested in my short film. I sent it out to people in my media class, and to other people by using Facebook and Twitter. The answers from this survey will allow me to see who would be interested in my film and therefore get a better understanding of my target audience.

Media Survey Responses from Jack Grimshaw

Potential Target Audience

I used YouGov profiles to research my potential target audience. Before doing this research, I was aiming at a teenage audience, similar to myself. This was because I enjoy these style of films and know many other people who also do. After researching it, I discovered that the actual Scream films attract a much older target audience, whereas the TV show attracts an audience that is ideal for me. This means I will have to create my film in a similar style to the MTV show, which is what I was originally planning on doing.




   

Storyline Planning

In this presentation, I outline 3 of the main narrative structures that I could use in my short film. I have come to the conclusion that Barthes' enigma code is the most suitable one for my short film, as I require a lot of mystery and intrigue. I also feel that the typical style of films that follow the enigma code matches mine, so I will follow this sort of structure when creating my product.

Pitch Presentation

We were given a task to create a presentation about which brief we were choosing and how we were going to create our final production. Unfortunately, at the time of presenting I was still unprepared and struggled to give enough detail about my final production. After presenting to the class, I went back to the presentation and made changes to make it more detailed and in depth, making my plan a lot clearer to the audience.
I have since updated my presentation, and the new one is below. Hopefully this will now be helpful to answer the questions that were previously unclear. I now have a plot set out clearly so I have something to build on from this point.