Production Checkpoints

Checkpoint One: Preproduction Term 3 end of Week One

Checkpoint Two: Production Term 3 end of Week Four

Checkpoint Three: Rough Cut Term 3 end of Week Six

FILM DUE: Term 3 end of Week Seven

Concept Task for those who have lost theirs

Burnside High School 2010
Year 13 Media Studies
“Develop a concept and treatment for a media product”

Student Instructions Sheet
Date Due: Friday 11th June


Students will have class time and homework time.

Brief:
You are working towards an end-of-year student film festival to be played to a public audience. Places in the festival are limited due to the number of entries, so you must be able to convince the organising committee (your teachers and peers) that your film will be worthy of exhibition.

You must come up with a concept and treatment for a film and submit this to the organising committee for consideration.

You must include in your film the following:
The line or statement ‘This is not gonna work”
A spanner
A hoodie

In order to come up with an idea read the instructions on “Justify a Concept and Treatment.doc”. on the Burnside13 Media Production Blog


Target Audience:
The festival will be attended by school students, family members, friends and members of the general public.

Overview:
Design and plan a concept and treatment for a short film aimed at the film festival audience of 3–10 minutes duration.

Justify the concept and treatment in detail.

Present your concept to the organising committee of the film festival for consideration.

Achievement Criteria

Achievement Achievement with Merit Achievement with Excellence
• Complete and justify a concept and treatment for a short film that satisfies the requirements of a given brief. • Complete and justify a well-developed concept and treatment for a short film that satisfies the requirements of a given brief. • Complete and justify a well-developed, integrated concept and treatment for a short film that satisfies the requirements of a given brief.


Explanatory Notes

1 Treatment is how the concept is to be realised. This may include discussion of narrative, genre, characterisation, setting, mood, and technical elements such as lighting, sound and SFX etc.

2 A given brief is a summary of expectations for a media product provided for the students and could include:
• target audience
• size or duration
• exhibition or presentation context
• genre
• content or theme
• format
• purpose
• cost parameters

4 Definitions
• Justify means to give reasons and evidence explaining why the concept and treatment is appropriate.
• Well-developed means a thorough and convincing coverage of all aspects.
• Integrated means the elements of concept and treatment that work together towards the creation of an outstanding media product.

National Moderators Report 2007 (2008 report endorsed this)

It is important that work submitted for this standard gives a clear idea of the scope of the product for which the material has been developed.

For achievement, the concept needs to give a clear idea of the proposed genre, content, story and/or ideas, target audience, appeal and purpose. The treatment needs to detail use of significant appropriate conventions that will ‘realise’ the concept, and give a clear description of the specific style to be used. In practice this means that all description of conventions should be linked to an explanation of the intended effect of those conventions that helps to realise the concept.

It is important that conventions chosen are significant and that specific detail is given; for example, it would not be sufficient to describe use of the close-up in a film treatment unless significant numbers of close-ups were necessary to realise the concept. In a thriller, close-ups might be used to limit the audience’s access to information, or to intensify the fear a character feels. But a discussion of close-ups explaining that their use is to ‘show the character’s emotions’ would not be sufficient; almost all films use close-ups in this way. For the explanation to be sufficient, it must be linked to the specific concept.

There were some difficulties in determining what a polished or integrated concept/treatment might be. It is worth considering the following.

For merit the concept/treatment needs to be well developed (thorough and convincing). Excessive detail is not necessary. What is vital is that the concept/treatment is convincing on a variety of levels. Using the example above, the following might contribute to a ‘well developed’ or convincing concept/treatment: discussion of why it is important to limit the audience’s access to information, what kind of information is being withheld, and what kind of emotional journey/story will the use of close-ups be communicating (and why), with all comments linked to realisation of the concept.

For excellence, the assessor has to be satisfied that the media product, if made as specified, will be an ‘outstanding’ one.

It is recommended that the learner be justifying their decisions as they develop their concept/treatment. It is not necessary to have a separate ‘justification’ section as long as the learner is explaining why they have made decisions in the concept/treatment sections.

Hamilton’s Fraser High School 2009

Year 13 Media Studies

“Complete and justify a concept and treatment for a media product”

“The Shortt”

1. Concept

Femme Fatales father is a Mafia gang leader who got sent to prison by the city’s private eye/leading detective. This causes her to seek to avenge her father by seducing the detective so she can get what she wants.

Plot Outline

Scene 1

Femme Fatale and detective are standing down a dark alleyway in the rain holding each other at gunpoint. The detective looks confused and the femme fatale has a look of extreme concentration on her face. The screen goes black.

Scene 2

A girl (the young future femme fatale) stands on the porch of her house watching a man (her father) being pushed into a police car. The police car drives away to reveal a very pleased and satisfied looking detective standing on the other side of the street. The girl gives the detective a vehement look as the detective strolls down the road in the opposite direction the police car went whistling a happy tune. The door shuts and the girls tddy lies outside on the deck.

Scene 2

The detective is in his office wearing only his boxers and striped socks opening a can of spaghetti for his lunch. There’s a knock on the door and he hurriedly runs and pulls his pants on, sits behind his desk. The door opens and in walks his receptionist Beth. The detective gives her a sly smile and she walks over and perches on the edge of his desk very slightly pulling up her skirt which catches the detective’s eye. She spots a pile of hand written and lipstick kissed letters on his desk and frowns. The detective leans back with a satisfied and mocking smile at her expression and Beth storms out.

Ryan follows her but as he walks out the door he almost knocks a lady over, our femme fatale. The detective does not recognise her; all he sees is a gorgeous female looking distressed. He invites her to sit down and she asks him to help her find out if her wayward husband is cheating on her. The femme fatale however recognises the detective and although she acts upset (because her husband is cheating on her) her hatred for the man in front of her shows through. But the detective misinterprets this hate and believes it is directed at her cheating husband. The detective under the guise of cheering her up invites her out to dinner. With a sly smile on her face the femme fatale agrees.

Scene 4

Femme fatale and detective enter the restaurant. They talk to the usher and he shows them to their table. The detective pulls out the femme fatale’s chair and she sits down. The detective sits opposite her. They flirt and talk as they eat their dinner and the detective sips at his whiskey. A slow song comes on and stands up moves over the femme fatale and holds out his hand to ask for a dance. The femme fatale accepts his hand and the two begin to dance. As they dance the femme fatale asks him about his work. He talks for a while and she grows impatient. She mentions that she heard he was the one in charge of the arrest of the infamous Mafia gangster (her father) in an innocent and admiring way. He grins as he begins to brag about how he did it. A silent tear rolls down the femme fatale’s cheek. The song ends and she looks up at him with big innocent eyes, pulls him close and seductively whispers that they should go back to her house for coffee. The detective grins and leads her by the hand to the side door of the restaurant.

Scene 5

The pair emerges in a dark alley, it’s raining and the pair is flirting again. The femme fatale playfully pushes the detective away and he stumbles backwards with a grin on his face. His grin then gives way to shock and confusion as she pulls a gun on him. He tells her to put it away and to calm down. She is shaking with adrenaline at the excitement of finally having him where she wants him and anger at the man who put her father away. Her gun is pointed at his chest and with a shaky6 voice she tells her story, then yells “but I guess a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” At this outburst the detective pulls his gun in defence. The screen goes black and there is a bang.

2. Target audience

School students, family members, friends and members of the general public will view the film at an end of year film festival. The film will be M rated as it contains sexual references and hints at violence. The teenagers will be attracted to the sexual undercurrent between the femme fatale and the detective, which will be put across in a subtle yet obvious way. The modern twist on a classic film noir detective storyline will appeal to all age groups, as they will be able to understand the language used. Adults will be attracted to the good vs evil storyline where the good guy doesn’t realise she’s evil as every person with a few years of life under their belt would have been lied to or deceived which makes it easy for the audience to relate to. The fact it is an old style of film will also appeal to the older generation who remember the film style from when they were younger.

A movie that the target audience would also enjoy is Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock. This film uses the Film Noir conventions of a femme fatale and its climax is very reminiscent of the beginning as my film will be, but my climax will be at the end of the film and will remain unresolved.

The Third Man by Carol Reed is also a movie that would appeal to the target audience. This movie although a lot more complex in storyline than my film will be it uses the film noir conventions of black and white and high contrast both of which I will be applying to my own film.

2. Treatment

The genre I will be using for my film is film noir. Film noir means ‘black film or cinema’. Although to some film noir is not a proper genre and more a style of filming that is combined with another genre. I will be mixing Film Noir filming techniques with a dark, film noir meets drama meets detective gangster storyline. The mood will be in keeping with film noir as it will be dark, ambiguous, disenchanted and have an undercurrent of sexual tension. The characters will be typical of film noir and highly stereotypical. The femme fatale will be gorgeous, mysterious and evil. The P I will be an innocent seeming yet sexually orientated bachelor, workaholic male. The storyline will set the P I up for the classic downfall because of the femme fatale, but it will never be told what the eventual outcome of the situation is. It will be structured with a non-linear storyline to add intrigue and confuse the audience. It will have multiple establishing shots at the beginning of each scene change with the exception of the alleyway. This will allow the audience to get the feel of all the nice comfortable places and then throw them awkwardly into an unfamiliar place where the climax occurs. The turning points will happen relatively early the first being her father being arrested and the second being her re-entering the detectives life. The film will have to be fast paced, as the time constraints do not allow for long-winded character descriptions and storylines. The characters will instead have to be described using visual conventions that an attentive audience will notice. Eg the black and white and high contrast will both be used to clearly show character expressions and reactions. These two techniques will also be very simplistically used to show the contrast between good and bag. That is the femme fatale and her father will both be shown in shadows whereas the young femme fatale and the detective will be shown in the light to show their goodness and innocence.

Conventions

Femme Fatale

The femme fatale is a classic film noir convention. The femme fatale is an incredible desirable and attractive young woman who often leads the main lead male to his demise through the use of her feminine charms. I will use this convention to full effect by having the femme fatale as my main female character who will manipulate and use the main male character. She will show the dark and mysterious side of the film and will show us what kind of person the detective is by the way that they interact with each other.

Black and White

I will not film in black and white but instead I will film in colour and then edit into black and white. Black and white is another common film noir technique. This is because when film noir was first made popular during the depression and so film noir took advantage of the gloomy and doomed feel of the people. The use of black and white made the film feel gloomier and emphasised the dark, sadistic side of human nature, which is portrayed in film noir films. The use of black and white will allow me to illustrate a deeper meaning, as it will allow the audience to concentrate more on sound, shape and storyline instead of colour.

High Contrast

Is used in film noir films to create more expressionist lighting with higher definition. This creates more gloomy shadows and helps to keep the black eerie feel that is film noir. I will use high contrast to show the difference between my two main characters and also the changes they undertake throughout the film.

Flashback

Is often used in film noir movies as it adds to the confusion and results in a non linear storyline, which is common of film noir. I will use flash back for the entire movie except for the very end which will be the same scene as the first only with extra shots and information so that I don’t give everything away at the beginning. By having the whole movie in flashback I use a common film noir convention that adds some interest to the storyline but will not confuse and frustrate my audience.

Unsolved Ending

Endings in film noir were typically unhappy or unclear endings that suited the all round style and mood of the movie. My ending too will be unclear as the audience will be taken to the climax of the movie and then left there, uncertain and confused.

Character Biography:

Jacob Ryan – Private Eye Detective This private eye detective has it all. Great job, good looks and he knows how to pull the ladies. His high status in life is clearly shown by his tidy appearance, large office and intellectual vocabulary. His good looks will be clear and when combined with his tidy appearance and clean office will show his dedication to his job. His love for women will be obvious through his pretty secretary who shamelessly flirts with him and by the hand written love letters on his desk with kiss marks. He conducts himself in a way that shows he cares how society views him but when he feels nobody is looking his bachelor side appears.

Isabella Sinatra – Seductive Femme Fatale

Young - An innocent young girl who deeply loves her father. This is shown through her appearance; lightly coloured pyjamas and a teddy held in her hand.

The Transition - The teddy left on the deck shows her loss of innocence.

Old - She is a determined, attractive and intelligent woman. This is shown by her tidiness of appearance and her sophisticated and intelligent vocabulary. She is very mysterious as not much is divulged about her. She wears gloves, which shows her reluctance to ‘touch’ anyone. The contents of her bag are common female items and have no labels, which make her seem more mysterious to the audience.

Angelo Sinatra - Isabella’s father

He is a hard man who feels he is above the law but a family man. His dress and appearance is very clean and tidy. As he is walked to the police car he walks with his head held higher than the officers to show how he feels about the world around him. But his family side is shown as when he is arrested outside his home. This hard and seemingly emotionless man puts his hand against the car window as a goodbye to his young daughter who is standing on the porch watching.

Beth – Mr Ryan’s Receptionist

Beth is a pretty girl whose head over heels in love with her boss. She dresses professionally but with a slightly saucy air. She becomes blatantly jealous and upset at the sight of the handwritten letters from Mr Ryan’s various ‘admirers’.

Location Description:

Sinatra Home

The Sinatra home will be a modest home, not too flashy but neatly maintained. It will have a deck or porch out the front and will be on the side of the road. This will be for the scene at the beginning when Angelo is arrested and Isabella loses her innocence. The house needs to be in keeping with the characters that live there but it will be too hard to gain access to an incredibly flash mansion but modest will work just as well as we will be filming at night.

PI Office

This needs to be a relatively large office with a big important desk next to a window covered in blinds. The blinds are classic components of a film noir PI office as the blinds cast a very gloomy look. The shadows they cast are horizontal lines over the good guy (PI) which are just twisted vertical lines which are commonly placed over bad guys (people in jail) which is almost a backwards motif used in film noir movies. The desk needs to be clean other than the pile of love letters to show how his work life’s tidy but his love life’s a bit of a mess.

Alley Way

A dark wet alleyway that can have lights rigged in it to create long, dark and contrasting shadows. It will have one door that the couple can walk through or look like they have walked through after exiting the restaurant.

Restaurant

Seating that is next to a dance floor so the couple can stand up and begin dancing. A door along the side of the wall that the couple can ‘exit’ through into the alleyway.

A Brief Account of Practical Details:

Time: Must be between 3 and 10 minutes however it will be closer to 10 due to the needed development of characters and their relationships.

Research: http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html

Personnel: Jodie and I will be directors, producers, cameramen etc. The only personnel that needed to be sourced are actors.

Equipment: Cameras can be borrowed from school. Lights will need to be sourced as lighting plays a major role in film noir.

Releases: Teacher will organise

Graphics and Special Effects: Special effects and graphics aren’t commonly used in film noir as the camera and more simplistic effects like lighting are used because when film noir was made popular special effects were not available. However I will be using fake rain as real rain is unpredictable and real water may damage camera or lighting equipment.

Problems

Rain - cannot wait for it to occur naturally and it may be hazardous to the equipment to use real water to imitate it. Computer generated rain will need to be used.

Sourcing Lighting - Possibly from a family friend who is a painter. If not there may be places willing to hire it out to us to use although this may get expensive. I do have some relatively bright lights of my own.

Cars - Do not have access to old-fashioned cars to keep the movie in theme.

Could possibly try and find an owner willing to lend us a car for an evening.

Filming - Most of the filming will need to be done at night which will have to be organised with all the actors and adult supervision will be needed for security reasons while filming in the alley.

Power Points - power points in the alleyway will be troublesome, however I may be able to rig up some form of battery powered light if extension cords will not work. Could also use car headlights.

Passers by - alleyways in town would work well however filming would have to be done Sunday to Wednesday nights to avoid drunken young adults.

Restaurant Patrons - may have to find a restaurant that does not get too many patrons and organise to film on the least busy night. Possibly film in a restaurant that has a secluded corner we could use or a dark restaurant where it would look like night but I could film during the day to avoid unwanted noises and people.

3. Justification

My film will be perfect for the festival as it meets all the requirements of the brief. The can opener will be incorporated while the detective makes his lunch in his office. Which will also show his dedication to his job, as he is at home enough to have half a kitchen in his office showing he is a workaholic. The striped sock will also be incorporated into this scene while the detective has his pants off. The pants off also backs up his workaholic nature as he is ‘at home’ enough to wander around his office in his underwear showing the line between his work life and home life is rather blurred. Incorporating the props in this way means they are not comical but instead work in with the story and help to explain the character.

The phrase “a man’s gotta do what a man’s gott do” will be said by Isabella, the femme fatale before the shot is fired in the alleyway. It will be incorporated into her speech about how she cannot understand why he (Ryan) would put her ‘good’ father in prison. This also prevents the line sounding gaudy like some kind of afterthought and instead places it right in the middle of the action. The target audience will be easily able to relate to the genre in my film because when film noir was first created was at the end of World War II, which took advantage of everyone feeling pessimistic etc. My film will affect people with the same kind of impact now because of the low spirits due to the recession. The film will also have an easily relatable storyline as almost everyone who has ever lived has been betrayed, lied to or lead or would have done something along those lines. The femme fatale is the antagonist in our film who is clearly setting about destroying the protagonist our detective; however it is her quest that is the storyline for the film. Her goal to get revenge on the detective for taking her father away from her as a little girl. She will to the audience represent everything they see wrong in their lives and everything wrong with the world so they will find her easy to hate. However just as the world and peoples lives have a redeeming feature so too does the femme fatale as the audience realises that what she does, no matter how crazy she does because she feels it is right, because she feels it is justified, because she loves her father. An audience will see this love and feel mixed emotions for her because somebody who feels love cannot be entirely bad. The films story is not a complex one as is common with film noir but this is because I don’t have enough time to confuse and ten un-confuse the audience by twisting the plot and throwing in multiple catalysts. So I will twist the storyline at the beginning, by starting with the end, which at the time will seem irrelevant to the audience and then use camera and film techniques to further disorientate the audience. Our ending will be in keeping with film noir style of not having a happy fairytale ending. In fact my film will not have a clear ending at all and the climax will be left unresolved. This will keep the audience thinking about my film even when it is over and allow the audience to question and come up with their own endings depending on which character they believed to be doing the right thing. In this respect the ending that each specific member of the audience wants is achieved, creating a satisfying yet still unhappy ending.

3.6 Concept

Here is some additional info. to support your concept work:

FILM

1. Concept:

Prepare a single paragraph statement that captures the essence of your film idea.

Write a plot outline for your film. This is a description of the action of your film in the third person present tense in paragraph form. It should give a clear idea of the important plot points and some idea of the ideas and style of the film. It should also make clear the setting(s) of the film (time and place).

Prepare a series of brief character biographies and location descriptions.

Give a brief account of how you will approach practical details – what does your film involve in terms of:

· time

· research

· personnel

· locations

· equipment

· releases

· graphics and special effects?

What problems might you encounter and how might you solve them?

2. Treatment

Plan in detail the style of your film.

You will need to discuss mood, structure, pace and film style.

You should make detailed reference to at least FIVE significant film conventions which you will use to tell your story/ communicate ideas.

How will you use film conventions to support your film’s story and communicate appropriate ideas?

Film conventions might include:

· shot type

· composition

· angle

· focus

· lighting

· camera movement

· props

· production design

· special effects

· other features of editing (juxtaposition, flashback or flashforward, parallel action, fast or slow motion, transitions, freeze frames, jump cuts, matched cuts) etc.

3. Justification:

Present detailed arguments as to why this film production is appropriate for the festival.

You will need to justify the concept and treatment with specific reference to:

· the brief

· target audience

· your film’s story

· ideas

· style

· practical details.