Location used

Violent flashback location:

The location we used for the violent flashback was my kitchen. This is because it is a wide space with easy access to the glasses in which were going to be smashed. There is also the ability for many different angles because of the wideness and length of the kitchen, and also has a homely feel to it. However the only problem with using this kitchen, which we realised once we started filming it, was the lighting. The lighting in the room was extremely yellow, which was emphasised by the reflection off the cupboards, meaning we had to be careful which angle to use, because some angles made the lighting look worse and the quality of the film look worse.

Counselling scene:

This is a shot of Louisa's living room which we used for the counselling scene.This room has a definite look and atmosphere of comfort which radiates from it, which is why we thought it would be perfect for this scene. It also looks like it would be a counselling house because of the educational books in the background and close promixty.

Sounds for our opening

Filming schedule

Audience feedback

Audience expectations

History of social realism

Inspiration from other films

Social realism directors

• Trainspotting- Trainspotting is one the most famous social realism films and the producer for this film was a man named Danny Boyle. Danny Boyle is an english film director, producer and screenwriter of some of the most successful films in the world, not only including trainspotting, but other social realist films such as 'Slumdog millionaire.' He is well known for his extremely accurate portrayals of hardships, including drug use and portrayals of social class. 

• Fish tank- The director of the well known social realism film is Andrea Arnolds. Andrea Arnolds is a British director and former actor who won many awards for 'Fish Tank.' She shot this film entirely in the UK, and was adamant that she would shoot the film in chronological order, so that the journey of the film was in chronological order, and would make sense to the main but inexperienced actor, Katie Jarvis. Andrea would only give her a day's worth of script to study so that she could take it day by day, and this in turn, created an extremely realistic and accurate representation of South London.

Social realism inspiration

         

The main focus of our film opening is domestic violence, but with a socially realistic portray of it. This documentary 'Murdered by my boyfriend', is an extremely moving a realistic portrayal of a true story between a couple, and the abuse in the relationship. The way its filmed created a emotional and empathic feel towards the characters, which we would want to re-create in our film opening; which is why we took this documentary as an inspiration.

Social realism research

Moodboard

Click here to access moodboard

Title name ideas

For the film title we wanted to hint at the themes involved in the film. Basing our ideas around this, we came up with these titles:

• Exhale
• Exposed
• No way back
• Blackout

However after discussing which one would suit our film the best, we decided to go with:

Exposed

A definition of the word exposed is 'to deprive of shelter or protection, lay open to danger or harm' which fits well to our film opening because its highlights her vulnerability, and also foreshadows danger and harm.

The 'Ex' in the title indicates that Jessie and her boyfriend are no longer together, and hints to the idea of a broken and damaged relationship.

The word exposed also links to the idea of sexual references, and sexual violence references are hinted to in the film.

Revised scripts

The rest of our film

• After our opening, the film will go on to tell the story of the relationship between Jessie and Jack from the start to the end.

• Taking inspiration from '500 Days Of Summer' (2009) the elements of their relationship will be shown in a non-chronological order, broken up to show the contrast from when they were happy at the start, to when Jessie became victimised in a passionate yet dangerous relationship.

• To comply with the Social Realism Genre, the actors will continue to act in a naturalistic way, in a variety of locations such as their homes and the local places they would have gone, to make it as realistic as possible.

500 days of Summer Trailer

Film opening changes

Once conferring and showing our animation to Miss Paige, we discussed that the narrative idea didn't really flow  as well as we originally thought it was, because it would of been hard for the audience to depict that the ex-boyfriend was the stalker, and why the attack actually happened. Following Miss Paige's advice, we decided to change our genre to social realism, but the dark realm of it, focussing on aspects of domestic violence. We decided to make the main flashback a scene of Jessie and her boyfriend before they broke up, where he is manipulating her and is subtly hinting towards the idea of domestic abuse. However, we are keeping the counsellor scene and the ending the same, but we are changing the script in order to show her despair and true fear of her ex-boyfriend. These changes in the script will also make the narrative a lot clearer.

Casting changes

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to change our main actress. However, we did have a reserve who would also fit the role just as well; Tilly Hale. Tilly is not only a member of a group and so would be available a lot of the time, but she also has a lot of previous acting experience and so would be just as good for the role.

BBFC film ratings

15 Rating
We have decided, after looking at the film ratings in depth, that our film and opening is going to be a 15 rating. This is because it contains:

-Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

-Strong violence/hints of violence

-Portrayals of sexual activity 

-Strong language
-Discreet sexual violence which is justified by context

The reason why we didn't use a rating higher than a 15, is because our film/opening does not include:
-Frequent and consistently strong language
-Does not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour
-Strong or crude sexual references
-Sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threats
-Strong horror
-Strong blood and gore

Some of the themes and context of our film opening are quite disturbing for young audiences, and the focus on domestic violence and stalking means that it cannot be below a 15 rating.

Costume