PRE-PRODUCTION: 2nd February Group Discussion:Ideas Development

On the 2nd February our group decided to meet up to try and finalise our ideas more as we felt that we needed more focus. Firstly we decided we wanted to tackle struggles in general for young people not just mental health issues. We decided to brainstorm our ideas down on paper:



This has result in us creating a short storyline which will undoubtedly change a little more but this is our rough idea so far.

Storyline:

• We will have 3 characters, each with their own different struggle/issue.
• One character will have an eating disorder, another OCD, and another being a transgender.
• They will all begin in their rooms waking up. Each room will have a carefully planned and thought out set design to reflect them and their struggles.
• We are considering using a 3 way split screen to show them all getting up at the same time.
• We would like to use props such as alarm clocks.
• Then we will have a sequences of each character representing their struggle.
• For example OCD, will be tidying and obsessively washing and cleaning etc.
• Eating disorder, we could show their body and what state they are in, show their obsession with looking in a mirror or looking at models in magazines.
• Transgender- show them trying to break free of gender stereotypes, such as removing make up or flattening their chest.
• We will use different props, Non verbal language and lighting to create an emotional sequence.
• We will need to do more research into each characters struggle to create an accurate representation. 
• You will then see the characters each leave there rooms
• They will then come together and all help eachother out in someway
• For example they will meet in a lecture theatre, the character with OCD will drop maybe there pencils or pens and another character will help them organise their items.
• We want to represent that they are all people and they are no different to someone that has a different issue or struggle.
• Throughout the film we would like to include statistics to do with their struggles which will appear on screen.
• Also we would like to have quotes from people about their struggles so that they can be voice overs during the film to evoke emotion from the audience.

We are also playing with an idea about the saying "glass half empty or half full " by including a half empty glass of water by the alarm clock when they wake up, and maybe at the end of the film you see it is full, as they are all fulfilled people.

Genre and Audience

Our genre will be psychological and I think our target audience will be the core 16-24 year olds. As they will be able to relate to the characters and what they are going through due to similar ages.

Problems:

• We would need to find an actor/ actress comfortable enough to show their body if we portray an eating disorder.
• This is also a problem when showing someone who is transgender.
• Using a bedroom could be difficult to create good lighting
• May be difficult to manoeuvre camera
• If we use someone's bedroom as our location we would have to move all of their belongings and decoration.
• Portraying issues correctly is essential and we don't want to send out an offensive or insensitive message to people who may be in similar positions as our characters.

How to overcome this:

• Run through with any actors/actresses what they feel comfortable doing, and if they aren't adjust our ideas.
• Use movable lighting to create the looks we want
• We are going to use many close up shots to make the film seem personal, so this means we wouldn't have to do a huge amount of movement in the room/bathroom. In the lecture theatre room wouldn't be a problem.
• We know of an unused room in one of the accommodations we live in which would be a blank canvas and make set design a lot easier and faster. Also beginning with a blank canvas will allow our ideas to flow better rather than trying to picture a cluttered room differently.
• We need to make sure we research into these issues the characters have an ensure we have a good understanding before trying to portray them.