BSR Treatment
Narrative
In our BSR film is based on real life stories and events that have happened which is all revolves around Slavery and racism within the Uk. In our depiction of Slavery we will be focusing on one man who has many problems dealing with the society of the UK and how he tries to adapt but can’t. The man protagonist of the film who is called Jumaani, is a refugee who has left his country for the intentions of having a better life and hopes to aspire and get an education and live and help integrate into the Society of the UK. Since our main character has troubled upbringing being that he has suffered from poverty and many other problems he is an easy target making him become a Prime target by Two Slave owners who notice him by his foreign use of Clothes and speaking making him a victim. In the opening sequence of the film, there will be a scene of Jumaani Eventually planning his escape from the Slave owners after years of punishment and labor, while he is making his dramatic escape he is hunted down and caught by the slave owners and is beaten till be is unconscious, During most of the opening sequence it is a linear Omniscient narrative as the audience can see where the slave owners are while Jumaani is hiding and he can’t see them, I specifically choose this scene to give a intense and suspenseful feel as the audience are waiting for Jumaani to be caught and worry for him giving a sense of connection to the characters which is a huge investment that we will make to our story. During the main course of the film Jumaani will go through many encounters and brutal punishments/labor tasks set by the slave owners in poor working environments and he plans his final attempt at an escape plan which takes place a majority of the whole film until he does escape but the slave owners were awaiting his escape at the escape location where they batter him so much but it mostly happens off screen to give an effect of tension, scared and terrified imagery for the audience as they won’t see the final results and it’s all up to the audience to create that image, but I will incorporate as much of the conventions that are listed above in the main film into the opening sequence as much as I can, but also not too much that it ruins the story or reveals too much.
In our opening sequence of the film, it will revolve around Jumaani running and escaping from the slave owners and this is a smash mouth opening which will help engage the audience into a dramatic and terrifying setting, which helps set up the genres and feel of the movie. Jumaani would be running down alley ways and underpasses such as the Brewery in Romford and it would be set during dusk so its not too dark but not to light as it helps give a gloomy atmosphere and sets up the genre and themes even more, during this the slave owners will be on a direct pursuit with him trying to chase him and track him down as they claim to own him and make him do all the work they want him to do. While all of this is going on a news reporter or radio will make an appearance with diegetic sound as everything is real-time and the reporter will be mentioning about the current status of Brexit and many other controversial articles which all relate to the racism and discrimination theme of the film. There will be tracking shots and very quick shots edited together to give a dramatic pace to the opening sequence and gives an insight of the dramatic horror and the courage Jumaani will take to leave and escape the terror of Slavery. During this whole chase lots of enigmas will be created as the audience won’t know Jumaani is or why he is being chased and who. This will establish the main characters of our film and depict and image of how they interact with other members of the community helps flesh out their background. Eventually Jumaani will get to hide from the Slave owners and a tension suspenseful event takes place as they are looking for him and Jumaani doesn’t know where they are and this all supports the linear omniscient narrative as I’ve already mentioned. Then he is beaten and the theme of violence is denoted and this helps flesh out the brutal but also realistic nature of a BSR film and this is directly denoted in the Selfish Giant when Arbor is about to get his hand cut off but Kitten.
Technology
For our BSR film we will use standard equipment that has
been given to use by the school such as the standard camera, which comes with a
tripod and a 8gb SD card. The camera allows us to record the particular scenes
and shots we want which is all saved onto the SD Card which can be accessed
later on during the post-production. On the camera there is a play back feature
allowing us to watch back on the footage that we have just recorded allowing us
to evaluate on it and decide to either reshoot that particular scene over again.
The tripod allows us to have smooth consistent shots such as pans and tilts
which is better than handheld. It would be a benefit if we could use other
equipment during our production of our film such as a mic boom or a DSLR camera
as it would increase sound and visual quality of our film. The mic boom would
also allow for more dynamic effect as the microphone would be attached on top
of it allowing for more concentrated and focused sounds such as footsteps
instead of it being built inside the camera. A filter for the microphone would
also be very useful as it can filter out any unnecessary sounds such as
background noise traffic and maybe even ambient doors in the background.
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| The DSLR cameras that we would like to use |
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| The Microphone filter to help clear up any unnecessary sounds |
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| The Microphone boom to help stabilize the microphone and provide better quality sounds as there are less vibrations |
Conventions
During our film we will have many conventions that will
relate and help build up a specific theme and genre for our film. For instance
we will follow the typical conventions in a BSR film such as the lighting and
colour Platte that they use such as the Selfish Giant use a dull grey colour
Platte which helps set up and build that dark gloomy atmosphere that the film
is situated around. Another thing is that we will use natural lightning
throughout our film to give a sense of realism and Verisimilitude for the
audience. This is because in most big Hollywood films they use artificial
lighting in rooms which help enhance the lighting and feel of the setting which
isn’t realistic, that’s why we are going for this style and also because we
don’t have the required equipment to do so. Another convention to help us link
to our chosen genre that is the BSR is that the locations deeply affect a way
the film is portrayed and how characters and themes are presented and depicted
for instance we will film in an underpass that is denoted below instead of a
fancy skyscraper such as the shard as it will not fit with the theme of
depression/slavery and deprived while an alleyway or an underpass can easily
fit into this theme as it is a dark creepy area where gangs and aggressive
people are known to hangout around which is also a sterotype.one reason why we chose
to film in this location is that we have access to film there instead of a
higher status building as the Shard and it is easier to film there too. You just
wouldn’t see a person held as a slave be in a pristine build modern skyscraper
as it would be unrealistic and it can immediately eradicate the verisimilitude
of the audience.
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| Typical flat blocks that are used in BSR films |
Next we will include empty but simple sets and props for our
characters to use and interact with. This will help simulate that basic but
desperate feel of the people savaging for items or things to help them survive
the harsh reality of life, We will do this by our protagonist scavenge for
items that he will need to help him escape from his slave owners. Another
convention that we will use to include into our opening sequence is the use of
untrained actors that have no experience or little to any experience at all.
This is because one we don’t have the budget to do a film with highly trained
actors and we it also gives a feel and sense of realism and a gives a better
depiction or emotional and even more natural. Another convention that we would use to enhance
our BSR opening would be the use of editing, we would use basic editing
techniques and fairly quick but also long duration of shots that would take
place usually around 5 seconds long which would show the street and local area
that is being denoted. The reason why we would use slow shots is that it helps give the audience an understanding of what is going on and its not to fast like Hollywood films so that the audience has no clue what is going on and it also gives a more realistic sense while sci-fi films have very fast crazy camera angles where we really wouldn't see that in normal life making it very unrealistic and even fantasy as its so unreal. We would use a decent amount of mid shots and close ups
to help depict the characters facial expressions that are denoted and it helps
link the audience to the character and understand the situation that they are
going through.
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| The alley way we are planning to film at |
We would also include the use of SFX to help give the dynamic use of sound throughout the opening sequence such as the running and chase scene that we are planning to depict as our main protagonist who suffers from slavery is being hunted down by two horrific slave owners the sounds could be breathing and even a non diegetic music playing in the background to help solidify the tension that were are trying to portray in the opening sequence. This can be created by the use of Foley sounds or even on scene sounds, if the sounds are recorded on the set the better it is as it is true and the most realistic as the sound is literally coming from the object that you see on screen but this cant always be achieved and there are alternate ways of solving this issue. Using non diegetic sounds such as maybe a sounds track wouldn't be used that much at all apart from maybe the opening sequence as the film is trying its best to be as realistic as possible then soundtrack wouldn't play in real life so we are also addressing this as well.
Style & Iconography
For our BSR film opening we would use the best appropriate
shots to help reveal and create establishing shots to set up the themes and
genre of our film and it would help set up the whole setting of the film
aswell. With the panning shots and tracking shots of characters and the
environment it would denote basic housing and buildings that look the same and
it would get repetitive as everything would look the same and this would signify
the typical life of the characters and the typical life’s of people in real
life, such as they work and struggle for a long time for most of their lives
trying to scavenge resources to try and help themselves survive. For the
tracking it, would show over the should shots and follow the main characters
around and this would show their relevance in the film but also denote their
daily lives as they go around walking around their local area and this could
reveal all other things that are related to them.
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| Adulthood |
In our opening sequence there will be non-diegetic music
playing out throughout the segment, there will also be diegetic noises such as
ambience that will give that realistic sound to the film and there may be some
Foley sound effects added to help boost up or add sounds that cannot be heard
by noise cancellation or disruption by other sounds, but these sounds need to
be realistic sounding and not cartoony as it would ruin the whole atmosphere of
the film. The song that would be used would have no lyrics as it doesn’t fit
the whole genre of the film. This would also help improve the verisimilitude of
the whole film.
The costumes of our characters of our film would also help build up and create the style of our film, for instance the characters would have worn and dirty used clothes to signify the poverty between the characters and this can denote how desperate they are and how much they want to get out of it. Another way is from the accessories the characters would carry around for instance the slave owners would carry bats to denote violence and aggression and even the superiority and dominance of the characters. Even their names can signify their role and status in society such as shortened names which sounds very slang and this would fit with their dialect as most deprived people would have poor education and would suffer with poor language skills and their names can suggest this.
This can be denoted in our opening sequence by the protagonist
having poor communication to speak to other people and also his clothes would
be all worn out and used and the slave owners would beat him up with bats and
other props that would help represent the style of our film. We would also use colour to help enhance the
visuals of our film such as a dull grey and even browns as well to help
sterilise the gritty gloomy nature of a BSR film, this will help denote themes
and the typical working life of characters within the film. In the film Adulthood
and even many other BSR films they use a wide range of techniques that
distinguish their films but they all have the same sort of colour mood within
them, that dull grey brown colour Platte and the typical dark orange street
lights at night give that feel of a normal urban neighborhood where nothing
special happens and everything is predictable
Title
This title also connotes that the movie may be over a dwelling of the past from the words backwards something often connoted is the past, the past being the beginning of the movie could be what is dwelled upon from the beginning of the movie right to the end of it. It could also denote its ending being unsatisfactory for the viewer and the Protagonist being so dark with mainly bad things happening. The title is also very simplistic as it has the simple meaning of little progress especially backwards as all the progress that is made for the slave to escape in the beginning is thwarted and later on in the movie he escapes again but this time he loses his main beliefs and becomes morally ambiguous to the audience like they are meeting a new person after all the progress to good that is made throughout the film which like the title suggests is the Protagonist moving backwards similarly especially the part where the protagonist comes out the worst from the ordeal.
Institution
The production company in our brief is Film 4 Productions, this has had little impact on out film as we were even before researching our production company were going for this gritty British social realism film, being a subsidiary of the much bigger Channel 4 with many other major divisions including their own,
"The parent company Channel Four owns many other television channels for exhibiting television shows and movies (including ones from Film Four Productions), these include most notably, the main channel, Channel 4, 4seven, Film4, E4, More4 and many others including the most popular music television channels such as 4Music, The Box and Kiss through acquisition of The Box Plus Network. The company also owns a few internet services including the ones to accompany their own television channels and in the past have owned a radio service that was eventually closed down to focus more effort onto their existing television services.
There are advantages for the success of Film Four Productions films by being owned by Channel 4 as it is much easier for the company to do all three of producing, distributing and exhibiting films as all three can be done through the parent company as all three are owned by Channel 4 this makes it much easier and faster for Film Four Productions to produce one of their 20 films a year. Most importantly, however, as all companies owned by Channel 4 are working towards one similar universal goal it is much easier for the production company to reach its own goal with the combined help of other companies under the same parent company of Channel 4."
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| Film Four Productions |
The above is a quote from my Film Four Productions research where I went into much more detail and research about the larger scale of the relationship between Channel 4 and Film Four Productions where in short I had found out that most of the subsidiaries of Channel 4 ticked all according boxes for Production, Distribution and Exhibiting, its many channels being for Exhibiting and our production company that we are working under, Film Four Productions being a Production company such as in the title and distribution being its own distribution company Film Four distribution, this is where physical copies of the movies are made.
However, the production company itself has not restricted any of our creative decisions for our movies as Film Four itself goes for these creative ‘artistic’ movies and our movie alone was also very small scale based upon this hidden underground world explained further in the narrative section.
The distribution of our film may also be done online through streaming and various other larger scale paid movie sites which pay to keep the movie on their own streaming service than others, in other words there is a lot of competition, between the streaming sites therefore as there is no monopoly on these sites it would be a good decision to put up the movie there, another similar option is to let the movie stay with Channel 4 to let it stay on 4OD to stay on their own streaming site, as the movie was made through the parent company a good deal may be also made for the movie.
Before exhibiting it through these streaming sites, it should first be given to cinemas for viewing on, ‘the big screen’ so that the film is much more appreciated, the movie may not even go to a major cinema such as VUE or Cineworld as the movie may turn out to be too small to be exhibited there or other bigger films may be chosen over it, in that case we may be able to show it in a smaller movie theatre or only show it at film festivals for people who really like the art of films, we could exhibit such a movie in a festival such as the BFI film festival where the film, ‘The Selfish Giant’ was exhibited at first and as it is on a similar scale and theme to our own film we could use this as a template to follow for our own film.
Representation
The key characters in my film are the Protagonist and the Antagonist notably throughout the film we should get this omniscient view of both characters almost as if the movie is exploring two different lives. One of the main themes in the film being social class clashes, evidently in our two main characters they are the forefront of this social class clash which subverts to the themes of the higher class being in control of the lower, in this case on a much greater scale through the theme of slavery, and that the lower class are easily taken advantage of.The antagonist in our film is nicknamed ‘the master’ getting this nickname by being the slave master of so many underground and secret slaves, although he does have a real name which is not mentioned in the film his relentless sadistic nature which is explored from outset of the film helps him establish this nickname not only to the characters within the diegetic world but to the audience of the film as well, the outset of the film shows him killing a person showing what a dangerous person he is, also if further analysis is done by the viewer they may start to understand that his operation is so big, it would make no sense to come out and potentially risk some security over one escaped slave. This could be to set an example or because he genuinely enjoys fatally hurting people but this is left up to the interpretation of the viewer. Many themes can be shown of this character from the smash mouth opening alone, including, this sense of violence and the enjoyment and disregard the antagonist has of it, a possible mental health issue due to this sadistic tone he has and the sarcastic outlook he has on it.
The protagonist of our film is named, 'Jummani' this is only revealed a quarter of the way into the film, making him seem very morally ambiguous and just in general a hard to understand person as so little is known about him moving through the film until a certain point, however, these uncertainties help the build up to the climax of the ending of the film.
Target Audience
The target audience of our movie is 16-24 year olds similarly our movie consists mainly of the same target audiences age as slaves are more productive and useful to the antagonist of the film being younger and also the antagonist has this young evil mastermind feel towards his character to suit him towards this role as typically a stereotype is that these sorts of people are much younger
Our target is very broad as although the audience includes older school children it may also include much more experienced and working young adults around the 24 year old range as if leaving school at 16 that gives the audience at least 8 years in the real world e.g. looking for work and such, what this may mean for some is that they may want to find an escape which is not commonly found in these movies although these movies are darker and sad this could be to lift the viewer above the darker world of the movie, also the age group usually are more active and less easily entertained and more often than not look for this fast paced action, to appeal to this need from the offset of the movie there is this fast paced feel especially through this smash mouth opening.My target audience should be quite 'technology savvy' as commonly perceived by older people the younger generation are quite skilled with technology being a bigger and bigger part of modern day life in this newer generation, linking to the exhibiting of the movie itself it would be safe to exhibit on streaming sites as this younger generation usually has experience with such sites and it should be fine to exhibit the movie here, my target audience looks through many movies on this site and to preview a movie usually watches the first two minutes, the smash mouth opening could much more easily draw them into this movie targeting this group in particular, instead of them skipping the movie in boredom.
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