Tuesday 19 February 2013

New Treatment

Title: Deception
Duration: 5 minutes
Genre: Romantic Drama
BBFC rating: 12A
What does the 12A symbol mean?

12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for 'accompanied' and 'advisory'. Children younger than 12 may see the film if they are accompanied by an adult (eg someone over the age of 18), who must watch the film with them. 

What's the difference between 12 and 12A?

The 12 certificate is just for videos, DVDs and Blu-rays. 12A is for films at the cinema only.

Is there a lower age limit for a 12A film?

No. However, the BBFC considers the content of 12A rated films to be suitable for children aged 12 and over, and we would not recommend taking very young children to see them. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. To help adults make this decision, we provide BBFCinsight for all films.

How important is the tone of a film at 12 or 12A?

The overall tone of a film or DVD, and the way it makes the audience feel may affect the classification. For example, a work which has a very dark or unsettling tone which could disturb the audience would be less likely to be passed 12A even if the individual issues in the film were considered acceptable under the BBFC guidelines. Similarly, if a work is particularly positive or reassuring this may stop it being pushed up a category from 12A to 15.
Will there be uses of strong language in a 12 or 12A work?
The BBFC's Guidelines state that there may be strong language (eg 'f***') at 12 or 12A, but it must be infrequent. The context of the strong language is important. Aggressive uses of strong language may result in a film or DVD being placed at the 15 category. There is some allowance for puns on strong language at this category.
There may be moderate language (eg uses of terms such as ‘bitch’ and ‘twat’ at 12 or 12A).
Any discriminatory language will not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language (for example homophobic or racist terms) is unlikely to be passed at 12 or 12A unless it is clearly condemned.

Do 12A films contain sex?

Sex may be briefly and discreetly portrayed at 12 or 12A. Verbal sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Comedy may lessen the impact of some moderate sex references or innuendo but frequent crude sex references are unlikely to be accepted at this category. There may be nudity in 12A films but sexual nudity should only be brief and discreet.
Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same.

What sort of violence can I expect in a 12 or 12A ?

At 12A, moderate violence is allowed but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if they can be justified by their context (for example brief sight of bloody injury in a medical drama).
Action sequences and weapons may be present at 12 or 12A, and there may be long fight scenes or similar. Weapons which might be easily accessible to 12 year olds should not be glamorised in 12A and 12 works.
Sexual violence, such as scenes of rape or assault, may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated at 12A. Such scenes must also have a strong contextual justification.

Can horror films be passed 12 or 12A?

Yes, some horror films are passed at this category. Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12 or 12A as long as disturbing sequences are not too frequent or sustained.
Dangerous behaviour (for example hanging, suicide and self-harming) may be present in 12 or 12A works but will not dwell on detail which could be copied or present those activities as pain or harm free.

What about other issues like imitable behaviour or drugs at 12 or 12A?

Discriminatory behaviour should not be endorsed by the film as a whole.
There may be infrequent sight of drugs misuse in a 12 or a 12A but the portrayal should not be glamorised or provide instructional details.
Synopsis: A girl, 18, named Sally is walking to her friends house to talk to her about her problem relating to a house party she held a month previous. It flashes back to the party where it shows Sally with her friends, becoming progressively drunk. Before the party Sally had an argument with her boyfriend, James, therefore she is under the impression he is not going to attend. As a result her and a boy name George end up sleeping together and afterwards James shows up and discovers what has happened. It cuts back to the conversation between Sally and Lizzie, where she tells her she is pregnant and she is pretty sure that George is the father. However, at the end she tells James the baby is his as they are now back together. 



Certificate change

We previously had our film at a PG, but because of the narrative change we now have decided at a
12A.
I did some research because there was debate about a couple of aspects in the content for example, there is just one instance of strong language "fuck" and sex is only implied. Therefore, a decision had to be made about whether it was a 12A, 12 or 15.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/12a-and-12


The official BBFC website was useful because it gives in specifics the guidelines for each certificate. I initially looked at a 15 but it said there could be 'frequent use of strong language' and 'sexual activity can be portrayed, as long as there is no strong or graphic detail.' However, our film doesn't have such content therefore I decided to look at younger certificates. The 12A decision was made as opposed to a 12 because then the adult can decide whether or not they will allow their child to watch it.

Monday 18 February 2013

Character profiles

We kept the James and Sally character profiles the same but put in additional characters to fit our new storyline.

Name: Lizzy Smith played by Lizzie Werboweckjy
Age: 18
College: Barnsley college
Studying: Media studies, Biology, History, Psychology





Family: Parents, Bill (father), Jill (mother), only child


Occupation: Sales assistant at All Saints



Favourite Music: You Me At Six, Paramore, Greenday



Favourite films: Her favourite are romantic comedies for example, Ps, i love you, When Harry met Sally.











Favourite books: Harry Potter, The perks of being a wallflower.











Hobbies: Bike riding, play guitar, dancing
Character traits: Friendly, trustworthy, outgoing, intelligent
Role in the film: She is the best friend of Sally herman as they have grown up and gone through education together therefore, in the film, she is the one Sally approaches when she has a problem. Sally goes to her house because she has discovered she is pregnant and needs to tell her best friend for support. As they are having a conversation, flashbacks are included to tell the story of what happened better as Lizzie couldn't attend the party.

Character profile 2.

Name: Laura Cooper played by Bethany Raynes
Age: 18
College: Barnsley college
Studying: English language, Chemistry, Media studies and psychology
Family: Jack (father), Juliette (mother), Laura (sister)
Occupation: Sales assistant at WHSmiths
Favourite music: You me at six, Deaf havana, All time low
Favourite films: Mainly romantic comedies but also enjoys action films for example, 500 days of summer, Perks of being a wallflower, Taken









Favourite books: The fault in our stars, Curious incident of the dog in the night time









Hobbies: Shopping, playing keyboard and guitar
Character traits: Trustworthy, ambitious, good
Role in the film: She is a friend of Sally's and attends the party that is in the film. Beth is shown with Sally having drinks.


Character profile 3

Name: George Holson played by George Rowe
Age: 18
College: Barnsley college
Studying: Maths, Physics, Biology and History
Family: Dave (father), Laura (mother), Jim (brother)
Occupation: Works behind a bar
Favourite music: Foo fighters, The Libertines, Kasabian









Favourite films: Actions films for example, The Dark Knight Rises, Die Hard.











Favourite books: He doesn't enjoy reading
Hobbies: going to the cinema, playing football and cricket
Character traits: Flirty, confident, friendly, outgoing
Role in the film: He is the boy that Sally cheats on her boyfriend with.

Character Profile 4

Name: Sarah Johnson (played by Reanne Smith)
Age: 20
College: Sheffield University
Studying: History degree
Family:Andy (Father), Alice (mother), Sally (step sister)
Occupation: Student/waitress
Favourite music: Any kind of rock music
Favourite films: Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, The Avengers 
Favourite books: Doesn't like reading very much
Hobbies: Painting and drawing
Character traits: Outgoing, fun, friendly
Role in the film: She is Sally Herman's step sister and she tries to persuade her to have another party in the film because their parents are going away. However, she is a confident of Sally as she tells her she is pregnant in the film as a result of the last party they had.

Party Sounds - Copyright Free Music

We needed extra music in the background to make the party scene seem more like an actual party. To do this we needed to find a website that offered free downloadable and copyright free music and sounds. I used google search.


I tested out several of the websites that came up on the search until I found that provided suitable music for our short film. The website I decided to use was http://www.sounddogs.com/results.asp?CategoryID=1019&SubcategoryID=60&Type=1 


The website had a long list of lots of sounds that I was able to test out.


We needed music that was coming from another room, there should be light music and a lot of people talking and laughing. The sounds where very descriptive in what they where which made it much easier to choose the one we needed. It had sounds such as 'crowd, indoor - medium crowd: party ambience' and 'Party, busy, adult walla mixed with rock music, from next room.' 

Under the circumstances...

... We made the decision to change a few aspects of our short film. The train company failed to email us back with permission to film on the train therefore, we changed the whole narrative and locations.
However, we tried to keep some aspects the same as before so it wasn't a drastic change. This includes the same party scene, title sequence, split screen and original characters. However, we changed the perspective of the film to the girl, Sally because people who we got to film outside the group wasn't reliable and we thought it would be a better idea to appeal more to the target audience. Also, the plot twist at the end was changed because we couldn't film at the train/platform anymore so we based it around the potential consequences of excessive drinking, unplanned teenage pregnancy in which Sally has cheated on her boyfriend.