Final Narrative

This narrative is the combined ideas of Myself, Chris George and James Scott as we have found the most similar aspects of our narratives and added them to the main narrative to involve all our ideas in the production. Also by studying the narratives we were able to decide which ideas were unachievable due to equipment and budget therefore we wouldn't have problems when we come to those points in filming.  I like our finished narrative as it is designed to be hard hitting and realistic because in reality things are rarely an ideal or happy ending but everything has a message. The death of the main character is sad but the final part of the film would show his potential and what could have been, therefore sending a clear message that making the wrong life decisions will ruin what potential you had, therefore you should remain on task no matter what life throws at you.

The main character is a 17 year old male who attends his local high school to study for A levels. However he leads a troubled life as early in his teenage life his mum died, driving his dad to alcoholism and an abusive relationship between father and son. They would constantly argue and bicker over the drinking and most issues that faced them, the petty arguments eventually led to physical confrontations that would ensue whenever the main characters father would drink heavily and as the months passed on this became every night.

Originally Shaun was an A grade, punctual and attentive student at school. He had a large group of close fiends with similar but also different interests to himself which complimented his ability to communicate with anyone no matter what background they had and this made him a very likeable character. It was unlike Shaun to get into trouble for anything with anyone, always did what he was told and finished classwork and homework on time with the occasional late hand in. He and three of his friends were very active together going to the GYM most of the days of the week and playing football on the weekends which kept him healthy and got him away from problems at home.

The characteristics that his father has past on only become prevalent later in the plot of the film. Before this the character starts hanging around with a friend he has met through his other close friends and he soon realises that this persons has different pass times than he and his normal group of friends do. This person introduces the main character to smoking cigarettes at first ,which is unhealthy but not too bad but as the weeks go by this escalates to harder drugs and getting up to criminal activities such as theft. He does these things to get money to purchase the harder drugs as he cannot hold down a part time job with the constant absences and going in late he gets fired from most of them.

Because of his regular drug use our character developed a working relationship with the dealer and began to sell drugs for him at school discretely as a way of making money to pay for necessities at home and personal items as his dad was still absorbed in alcoholism and spending the majority of money on himself. Despite the characters lifestyle he still managed to get 7 A-C grades at GCSE securing himself a place at his schools sixth form. Unlike the other students his priority wasn't to get the grades he needs for a better life but to keep him self close to his regular customers. By now he had developed enough trust to start selling harder drugs to his customers and was entrusted with introducing them to cocaine. This brought him an increased income, but his "mates" from high school who failed their GCSE's were stuck as runners, delivering drugs to houses that had ordered from the the dealer. They become jealous and begin to harass the character questioning him why he was abandoning them when they were the ones that made his "success" possible. This leads to a fist fight between the main character and his best mate that would also have a strong narrative within the early film to establish him as a character, but the main character ends up winning the fight and the mates split up with a sour taste lingering in their mouth.

As the weeks progress the main character becomes friendly with a girl who is new to the sixth form and doesn't know about his life and so as they begin to talk after sitting next to each other in a class, they begin to fall for each other. As they begin to date the main character opens up about his life and instead of her abandoning him like he expected she stays and helps him to turn his life around. Our main character begins to study for his subjects and gradually starts to move away from the life of a drug dealer eventually cutting ties with the dealer and his associates to go straight. He even begins to try and reconnect with his dad despite him still being a drunk, but years had passed since his mother death and their physical fights had decreased once the protagonist could fight back. they began to talk and slowly rebuild the relationship they had lost.

Around two months pass without the dealer having any contact with the main character and so he sends one of his enforcers to check out the situation by sending him to his house to ensure that he doesn't tell anyone about what he knows. The enforcer finds the house and knocks on the door. The protagonist opens it and immediately recognises the enforcer as one of the dealers people and tells him he is no longer under his employment as he can better himself through lawful means. The enforcer reacts by threatening the protagonist in order to ensure his silence, threatening him and his dad. Although the protagonist had been clean for two months and no longer associated himself with his criminal contacts he still had the mentality that had been drilled into in recent years. To not take threats and respond with violence. He grabs an empty beer bottle his dad had left by the door and glasses the enforcer over the head cutting him deeply. Surprised the enforcer recoils back in pain and the protagonist puts the broken bottle against his throat and tells him if any of his men come back he will do permanent damage to them. Clutching his head the enforcer runs off to inform the dealer of the confrontation and the protagonists words.

After hearing about the confrontation at the protagonists house the dealer decides that the protagonists knows too much about his operation and needs to be silenced. He orders a hit on the protagonist and tells his old friend to do it to make it more personal for the protagonist glassing his enforcer.

The friend knew where the protagonist lived and the route he took to and from school. He gets two of his other mates to help him ambush the protagonist on his way to sixth form and decides that the side street by the river is the best place to do so. They make there way to the spot the next day and he orders his two mates to sit on a wall and chill for a a bit whilst he took position in a hiding spot. When the protagonist arrived he would spring his ambush.


Unaware the protagonist walks down the passage holding his folders when he spots the two the two teenagers sitting talking by the wall and recognises them as the enforcers runners. He decides to walk past them to show them he isn't afraid of the dealer or his threats when both of them stand up and block his path. Before the protagonist can react his old fiend jumps out from hiding holding a knife and hearing him come up behind him the protagonist turns around to see his attacker as he plunges the knife into his stomach. The two lock eyes and pause for seconds that feel like hours before the attacker twists the knife and pulls it out and the group run off in multiple directions. The protagonist falls against the wall and holds onto his wound. His breathing raspy and his body cold he looks down at his wound and sees nothing but bright red. Looking up at the sky the thinks of the past few months and how he was changing his life around for the better and the girl who made it possible. He smiles as he thinks of her and looks once more at his wound. Despite what has happened, he wouldn't have changed  his decision to go straight he thought as he looked up once more. They were the best two months he had had in years and he was happy that he had tried his hardest to fix his his life. He smiles an even wider smile. Then he's gone. 

Production Company

For our film we think it is most suitable to use Film4 Productions as our production company seeing as they have regularly worked on low budget British Drama films, including:

• 12 years a slave
• East is East
• Fever Pitch
• Mr Turner
• London Kills Me
• Nowhere Boy
• Once upon a time in the Midlands
• Suffragette
• Iron Lady

It has produced both successful and unsuccessful films, that have been popular or barely heard of which makes it suitable for our production because our film is low budget and targeting a niche audience in the British public which Film4 caters towards with the majority of its films.

Decision on Film Narrative

Today we had a discussion about which narrative to use for our trailer and so we had a discussion on the pros and cons of each and how we would film it. We came to the conclusion that we shall use aspects of both Chris's and my own narrative because we felt they were the most in depth and because they are similar we can incorporate each others ideas into the trailer.

Left: Sam Warren    Centre: James Scott   Right: Chris George

Narrative Mood Board

Font Ideas

Using the website "www.dafont.com", I have identified a handful of unique fonts that could be acceptable to use in both the ancillary products and trailer of the film, based on their aesthetics and how it relates to the films setting.

This first font style is based off of graffiti art styles found on city streets and is representative of the gang culture that is seen in the narratives we have established so I feel that it suits the setting and narrative the trailer is trying to show. The thick, bold, upper case lettering also make it easily legible making it applicable for use on the posters and magazines as people can immediately identify the name of the film.

This is my least favourite of the fonts I have looked at as it just seems a bit boring and plain. The only thing that is unique about it is the cracks in parts of the letters. This may be representative of the main characters life being fractured in my narrative however the overall aesthetic of the font is boring because it doesn't look too unique and could just be a standard font if it didn't have the cracks.

I like this font because it looks like faded graffiti as if it was made with intent and purpose but over the years was forgotten about. This could be seen as the reason why the character in my narrative joined his gang. He had is reason, to have some sort of escape from the life he was living, but over time this reason faded and gave way to new reasons such as addiction and money. The downside to the font is that it might be hard to read on a poster or magazine so, although interesting, it may not be the best choice of font.


                                                                                                 

I find this font the most eye catching due to the contrast between the black/white backgrounds and the colour of the letters making each letter stand out. The randomness instead of a pattern also makes it seem slightly chaotic which is representative of the main characters life. I feel that this would be best suited to the trailer instead of the ancillary products as this would be good with effects added to it, however I think on a poster or magazine it would look a bit too out of place.

The final font I have looked at I think would look good on a poster or magazine due to its bold, block style and upper case lettering making it stand out. The scratches at the bottom look like scars, which many of the characters would carry both physically and mentally, making it suitable for the narrative.

Font Research

Font is extremely important for all aspects of the course. It has to be unique and eye-catching but also fit in with the theme of the film. The same font can be used across all the media platforms we will be using; poster, magazine and trailer, as a recognisable brand that an audience can identify with.

Examples:

 This font is from the film " Adulthood". It is the follow up to kidulthood and has many of the same characters from the first problems dealing with the events of the previous film. The font is big and bold helping it to stand out on the poster but the one lower case "d" helps the audience to understand that the characters are not fully grown adults as some act the exact same way as they did in the previous film. 

Greenstreet's font is designed to look like a common street sign that you see on the pavements across Britain and helps to convey the idea that the group in the film is a small community in one area. The wear and tear on the sign is also representative of the violence of the film, which is one of the key aspects and draws of the film considering the subject is football hooliganism. 

This Is England also has a font that fits in with the theme of the film as it uses the Union Jack colour scheme for the font and so represents the themes of nationalism in the film.

Starred Up has quite a basic font style but has a metallic apparel to it signifying being locked up behind bars, identifying the setting as being a prison. 

Legend has multiple fonts for the different magazines and posters that it has been featured on. They all match with the colour scheme and try to stand out by using contrasting pairs of colours such as blue and white, red and black and orange and black. I feel that using the same style of font throughout our course work will help to give our film an identity but using different colour schemes for the different products will allow for more diversity and creativity.

BBFC Rating

BBFC rating inform the audience of a film the minimum age legally required to buy the film or view it at the cinema. The reason given by the BBFC for their rating system is that it is there to protect the younger audience from content that is unsuitable for their age, or content that may be damaging to them. For each film they will review the language looking for references to violence, drugs, sex, discrimination and more in order to judge the most suitable age rating for the film.

The ratings are:

• Universal
• Parental Guidance
• 12a
• 12
• 15
• 18
• R18

We have decided that our film will be rated 15 because of the strong violence and drug references throughout the film that are not suitable for younger audiences. If we were to censor aspects of the film in order to show it to a wider audience in the terms of age, then the realism of the film will be dumbed down and so it will not have the same impact as we initially intended.

However it isn't appropriate to create a trailer with high levels of violence and foul language, therefore it would be better to make a greenband trailer, which informs people of the narrative for the film through the trailer but cuts out aspects that would have it either band from airing on television or restricted to later television hours or just for online viewing. Redband trailers are trailers that are restricted due to containing scenes which aren't suitable for all audiences.

Magazine Comparison

Magazine Analysis- Total Film

Magazine Analysis- Empire

Magazine Analysis-This Is England

Updated Narrative Idea- Young Breed

I have decided to change my narrative idea as I don't like the story I created for the first idea as I feel that some concepts of the film are too unbelievable for the narrative to have the desired effect of being dramatic and inspiring sympathy towards the character. I want to keep some of the outlining plot points such as the character being a sixth former and a strong drug present in the film.

The main character is a 17 year old male who attends his local high school to study for A levels. However he leads a troubled life as early in his teenage life his mum died, driving his dad to alcoholism and an abusive relationship between father and son. They would constantly argue and bicker over the drinking and most issues that faced them, the petty arguments eventually led to physical confrontations that would ensue whenever the main characters father would drink heavily and as the months passed on this became every night.

With a non existent relationship with his father and no comfort at home, the character fell into a bad crowd at school around halfway through his upper school life, just before his GCSE's. They lead him down a path of no return as they introduced him to small times drugs and the local supplier in the town. After a year of recreational use and hanging out with the group of lads the character had been excluded from school several times for fighting and being caught in possession of cannabis leading to confrontations with the police.

Because of his regular drug use our character developed a working relationship with the dealer and began to sell drugs for him at school discretely as a way of making money to pay for necessities at home and personal items as his dad was still absorbed in alcoholism and spending the majority of money on himself. Despite the characters lifestyle he still managed to get 7 A-C grades at GCSE securing himself a place at his schools sixth form. Unlike the other students his priority wasn't to get the grades he needs for a better life but to keep him self close to his regular customers. By now he had developed enough trust to start selling harder drugs to his customers and was entrusted with introducing them to cocaine. This brought him an increased income, but his "mates" from high school who failed their GCSE's were stuck as runners, delivering drugs to houses that had ordered from the the dealer. They become jealous and begin to harass the character questioning him why he was abandoning them when they were the ones that made his "success" possible. This leads to a fist fight between the main character and his best mate that would also have a strong narrative within the early film to establish him as a character, but the main character ends up winning the fight and the mates split up with a sour taste lingering in their mouth.

As the weeks progress the main character becomes friendly with a girl who is new to the sixth form and doesn't know about his life and so as they begin to talk after sitting next to each other in a class, they begin to fall for each other. As they begin to date the main character opens up about his life and instead of her abandoning him like he expected she stays and helps him to turn his life around. Our main character begins to study for his subjects and gradually starts to move away from the life of a drug dealer eventually cutting ties with the dealer and his associates to go straight. He even begins to try and reconnect with his dad despite him still being a drunk, but years had passed since his mother death and their physical fights had decreased once the protagonist could fight back. they began to talk and slowly rebuild the relationship they had lossed.

Around two months pass without the dealer having any contact with the main character and so he sends one of his enforcers to check out the situation by sending him to his house to ensure that he doesn't tell anyone about what he knows. The enforcer finds the house and knocks on the door. The protagonist opens it and immediately recognises the enforcer as one of the dealers people and tells him he is no longer under his employment as he can better himself through lawful means. The enforcer reacts by threatening the protagonist in order to ensure his silence, threatening him and his dad. Although the protagonist had been clean for two months and no longer associated himself with his criminal contacts he still had the mentality that had been drilled into in recent years. To not take threats and respond with violence. He grabs an empty beer bottle his dad had left by the door and glasses the enforcer over the head cutting him deeply. Surprised the enforcer recoils back in pain and the protagonist puts the broken bottle against his throat and tells him if any of his men come back he will do permanent damage to them. Clutching his head the enforcer runs off to inform the dealer of the confrontation and the protagonists words.

After hearing about the confrontation at the protagonists house the dealer decides that the protagonists knows too much about his operation and needs to be silenced. He orders a hit on the protagonist and tells his old friend to do it to make it more personal for the protagonist glassing his enforcer.

The friend knew where the protagonist lived and the route he took to and from school. He gets two of his other mates to help him ambush the protagonist on his way to sixth form and decides that the side street by the river is the best place to do so. They make there way to the spot the next day and he orders his two mates to sit on a wall and chill for a a bit whilst he took position in a hiding spot. When the protagonist arrived he would spring his ambush.

Unaware the protagonist walks down the passage holding his folders when he spots the two the two teenagers sitting talking by the wall and recognises them as the enforcers runners. He decides to walk past them to show them he isn't afraid of the dealer or his threats when both of them stand up and block his path. Before the protagonist can react his old fiend jumps out from hiding holding a knife and hearing him come up behind him the protagonist turns around to see his attacker as he plunges the knife into his stomach. The two lock eyes and pause for seconds that feel like hours before the attacker twists the knife and pulls it out and the group run off in multiple directions. The protagonist falls against the wall and holds onto his wound. His breathing raspy and his body cold he looks down at his wound and sees nothing but bright red. Looking up at the sky the thinks of the past few months and how he was changing his life around for the better and the girl who made it possible. He smiles as he thinks of her and looks once more at his wound. Despite what has happened, he wouldn't have changed  his decision to go straight he thought as he looked up once more. They were the best two months he had had in years and he was happy that he had tried his hardest to fix his his life. He smiles an even wider smile. Then he's gone.


I feel that this is an improvement on the last narrative I wrote because it focuses on less characters allowing for the audience to become more attached which is the purpose of a drama. I also feel it has the potential to be more hard hitting and gritty which helps conform to the conventions more of a British drama.

Consent Form

This letter was used to agree that all the people shown in the focus group gave there consent to be on the video and have it posted on our blogs. All those involved have signed it.

Parent Letter

We made this letter for parents sign if any of the people we used in the focus group needed permission to have themselves posted in a video on the blog.