Production Company Research

A production company can be in-house or independent. For example, television companies such as the BBC will have their own production companies to make continuing dramas such as EastEnders. However, they will also commission independent companies to make programmes and short films for them. 

My production company is a small, independent company and will be distributing the short film online, therefore this is not a commission. 

Examples of production company logos:

I also did some research into different production roles within film to see how many people I think I will need for my crew. I did this research on a website called Creative Skillset, as they have a page dedicated to all the jobs within the film industry. 

Character Identity

The characters in my short film will adhere to stereotypes in terms of costume to make them identifiable and relatable to the audience because there isn’t a big enough time frame for character development to take place. All three characters will wear quite casual/everyday clothes to create verisimilitude with the audience. To save time and money, I will share my ideas with the cast members and get them to wear their own clothes which are most similar to the ideas I had. If they do not have the appropriate clothing, then I will borrow it from people that do have it or go to charity shops to try and save as much money as possible. 

Examples of these kinds of costumes existing in the drama genre:

'DON'T YOU FORGET' (2015) 

Two teenagers are wearing quite casual, everyday clothes. Stereotypically, the girl is a bit more stylist than the boy e.g. her coat is a lot nicer. 

The old man has grey hair, is wearing smart trousers and a shirt and jumper. This adheres to sterotypes and makes the character easily recognisable as an elderly person. 

'LIAR' (2017)

The children are all wearing school uniform, which shows they have a shared identity. The teacher in the background is wearing a suit to show that he is more important and has more authority. One of the characters in my film is going to wear a school uniform to show how old she is because sometimes with teenagers it is difficult to tell how old they are so this uniform will instantly give the audience an idea of their age range. 

The protagonist is at work and is therefore wearing smart clothes to reflect this. This creates verisimilitude with the audience because they will wear smart clothes at work too.

NORTH (2015)

The film is set in the countryside in Ireland and the clothing the male character is wearing reflects the rural setting e.g. jumper, jeans which look a bit dirty. 

Location Research

Location Two 

The second location I went to was another elderly relative's house. This is the house that I had originally planned to film when I came up with my initial ideas. I decided that this house definitely looked a lot more like an elderly person's house then the first one, for example it has patterned carpets and lots of ornaments. Also this house only has one floor which will make my one-shot sequence at the end of the film run more smoothly. 

I have decided that I am going to shoot my film in location 2.  

Treatment

Outline of Ideas

For my short film I want to show the effect that dementia has on the sufferer and their family through an unconventional narrative structure and detailed mise-en-scene. The film will start at the end, and then cut back to the start, where a narrative about a dementia patient and their family (mainly his teenager granddaughter) and the film will end at the end, which is the scene which we saw at the start.

A man has just been moved into a care home and his daughter and granddaughters have the job of clearing out the house. The teenager would then walk through the house from room to room and in each room there would be a memory/story of her Grandad, and the further she got through the house the worse his dementia would get. For example, in the first room (kitchen) there would only be slight early signs that something was wrong, e.g. walking into the room and forgetting why he was there, however by the time they get to the final room the memory will display more obvious signs of dementia, for example he forgets who someone is or he becomes agitated and delirious. The scene will then cut to the start of the house and there will be a one shot of the granddaughter running through the house to find the house to find her Grandad has fallen in the garden due to his condition having worsened. 

What resources will you need?

Characters

Old man 
Middle-aged woman
Teenage girl 

Props

War medals
Mobile phone
Household appliances (to create verisimilitude with the audience) 

Settings

A house stereotypical of an older person - perhaps a bungalow, old-fashioned decor etc 

Crew

Camera operator 1
Camera operator 2 
Sound assistant 
Production assistant 
Driver 
Onset photographer 

Equipment

DSLR Camera (x2) 
Tripod 
Microphone 
Slider 
Stabiliser/shoulder rig 

Justifacation

The reason I want to create a short film showing the effects of dementia is because it is an illness which is personal to many people and therefore a relatable storyline. It is conventional of the drama genre to raise awareness of real life issues (social realism) in media texts so therefore this subject would be conventional of my film. 

Synopsis (200 words max.)

For my short film I want to show the effect that dementia has on the sufferer and their family through an unconventional narrative structure and detailed mise-en-scene. The film will start at the end, and then cut back to the start, where a narrative about a dementia patient and their family (mainly his teenager granddaughter) and the film will end at the end, which is the scene which we saw at the start.

A man has just been moved into a care home and his daughter and granddaughters have the job of clearing out the house. The teenager would then walk through the house from room to room and in each room there would be a memory/story of her Grandad, and the further she got through the house the worse his dementia would get. For example, in the first room (kitchen) there would only be slight early signs that something was wrong, e.g. walking into the room and forgetting why he was there, however by the time they get to the final room the memory will display more obvious signs of dementia, for example he forgets who someone is or he becomes agitated and delirious. 

Defining My Audience

DEMOGRAPHICS AND PSYCHOGRAPHICS

 


AUDIENCE RESEARCH SURVEY

I conducted a survey using Google Forms from the general public to get some feedback about short films and in particular what they would expect from the drama genre. It was only a brief survey, however I distributed it online so that people of a variety of ages and backgrounds could take part so that my results were not biased or one-sided. 

Results:

Problems with my survey:
It didn't define what a short film was, so therefore people may have answered thinking about how many feature films, TV programmes or short stories on Facebook they watch, making the results inaccurate. 

AUDIENCE MOOD BOARD 

In terms of demographics, it is hard to define my audience to one specific category as dementia is a illness that doesn't discriminate and can affect anyone, regardless of class or occupation. However, I have managed to pinpoint some specific aspects of my audience.