Pre - Production Treatment

Our target audience are British people between the ages of 16 to 19 year olds. Our synopsis mainly focuses on females however can also relate to males as well.

"Abusive father? Sure, I can relate to that."

The themes that will occur and stand out for our target audience is the fact that these themes, relate to teenagers as there are people being females or males that abuse has become part of their lives.

Films such as 'Kidulthood' and 'Adulthood' are films which enables teenagers to response and look at the way they live and the way they react.  

Our targeted audience told us when using the method of vox pops that by watching British social realism films it lets them open up and relate their own personalities and lives with the story lines and/ or the characters within the film. 

By creating a film using our synposis will allow them to understand the right and wrong things in live and how even though these problems may not be happening to them in their lives other teenagers are and will be going throught them. 

By having our targeted audience between the ages of 16 to 19 year olds it educates them for the future if these problems were to be placed in their lives or people they may know. 

The technology we are using to make our opening sequences is a HD camera and an editing programme on an apple mac. But it is mainly about the way we film the footage and edit it, to make the best. Our opening sequence has to represent British Social Realism, so we need to use the technology to represent this. With the camera we could include, for example shaky cam. Also with the mac, the editing, we need to make sure that we do not edit too much. We need to use good unique editing techniques, so that our film can stand out. 

This is what a camera looks like

Since we are making a British Social Realism, we do not need too much technology. Independent films these days do not use much and are on low budgets. So the technology is very suitable, it also helps us to concentrate on the story line, because if you look at Hollywood films, most of them do not try hard on the story line, they worry too much on the action. The main point of a British Social Realism film is its theme and concept, so I think that the technology that we are using is good for us.
The main limitations are that we do not have enough money to make an amazing film. We will not be able to have explosions and amazing action. However, we do not need any of this, because we are making a British Social Realism opening. Also I think the time is definitely a limitation, because we do not have that much time to make it perfect.


The narrative of the film will be strongly driven by the central character, Molly, following her journey in the film:
Summer holidays, Molly wants to go to a party. She covers her scars and she runs away to her friend's party where ends up sleeping with a boy named Ricky. When she gets home it leads to an argument, which results in Molly getting beaten up badly. She then isolates herself in her room for the weekend, doing her best to avoid Dad and the world, and cleans herself up. The days pass and Molly still stays home and does what she can to avoid confrontation with her father. Because Dad works night shifts, Molly goes out late one night to find peace. She then goes back home to find a Dad there when he shouldn't be - he's been made redundant; he's suspicious so they begin another argument that results in Dad raping Molly. She doesn't phone the police or tell anyone. Later on Molly's friend Shannon comes to visit and Shannon is also with Ricky. Ricky tells her to get a pregnancy test after they leave because he wasn't protected the other night. Suddenly realising, Molly runs to buy one and takes it home, uses it and finds out it's positive. She leaves it on the dining room table and pack a few bare essentials and leaves the house.

The opening sequence will begin with an immediate image of her scars being detailed on by one, and then her covering them up with make-up and clothing. All without showing her face. We soon her full body and realise he's dressed for a party and that she's quite young. She slowly walks down the stairs and as she nears the door, her father, who was a sleep, is heard upstairs screaming about how he knows she's sneaking out and shouts profanity and threats. In a panicked move, Molly just runs out the door. She runs and runs and runs, until she stops and realises what she's just done and cries as she walks into her friend's house. She only lives down the road.
The conventions that we'll try and incorporate are those of minimal dialogue, character introduction, theme introduction and titles. Obviously it is just the opening and so we can't chuck everything in, otherwise it would be a bit cluttered but, hopefully, we get in the conventions that will create a foundation for the film, i.e. characters and themes. Because it's gritty social realism, we'll be minimalist about it and try to keep it simple; and because the theme of the film is quite bad we'll try to make it a cold and bitter opening. Hopelessness and doom and all that lovely stuff.

The characters are limited which makes for a more of a eerie atmosphere of loneliness and deprivation. Molly, the central character is a 15 year old middle-working class school girl living in a suburban house in London. She is quite normal really. However, she isn't the strongest mentally and isn't able to put up the best fight against anyone; and will become introvert if ever she is harmed. She has to deal with the unexplained absence of her mother which affects her deeply and so is only left in the care of her father, Joseph, who looked after her strongly during the years. He, too, is affected by his wife's absence, and he is a working class man who is doing his best to get along with the odd jobs that can. Mainly night shift, decent pay jobs and he has never seemed to have recovered from his wife, and so drink and drugs proved a nice substitute. He hates his daughter, because he sees her as a burden but he sticks with her because she is his wife's daughter.
The film will most probably support the stereotypes of public opinions of the people involved in domestic abuse. Especially to women, because Molly is more helpless and on the receiving end of a more dominant male. The reluctance to report the abuse is a common thing in the world too; and so, just like in real life, if Molly doesn't say then anything can happen and no-one will ever know.

When it comes to the general look and feel of the film, we will go for handheld, so we get a bit of the gritty, unglamorous look that that style carries - in the vein of Fish Tank and This Is England. However, while being quite stylish and arty, handheld is a bit stale these days as it seems the first choice way for all films; so a mixture of handheld and tripods might be the option. Also, intrusive shots are a must, i.e. close-ups, so we get every bit of nasty detail. When we're done shooting and are editing, maybe some creative ways of cutting may be a way forward, for example some fast/slow dynamics, where we have quick cuts of her scars and then the long take of her dealing with them. Of course the aim is to not make it look hideous, but for sure some creativity is needed. Then what's actually on screen has to be quite chavy, cheap-looking and tatty (it being social realism). 


In terms of institutions, since we are making this opening sequence for Film 4, it definitely has to be British Social Realism that is the main impact on the type of film we are making. 
Film 4 mainly advertise on their own TV channels and websites, because it is cheaper for them. It is also for their target audience, so they can focus on them directly
Our film would probably be exhibited in home releases and maybe independent film festivals. Also it may be exhibited on websites such as Film Four and Lovefilm.