Valeo Video - Development

Final Storyboard

Costumes

 For the character of Megan:

We decided the costume should consist of jeans and a hoodie, so it would be practical and make her look like a strong, powerful and atypical female character. This presents more of a masculine role, which the Converse and colour of clothing add to. We chose the top because it was simple and not revealing, again showing her lack of femininity. 
For the character Charlie:

We decided to have Charlie as a feminine character, wearing a skirt and brighter colours to show the contrast in characters between Megan and Charlie. Her femininity is also shown by her long blonde hair. This costume indicates that she is more susceptible to being controlled as the more feminine are often thought to be weaker.

The shoes of Charlie represent her strength and the military style is a reference to her conformity to the anti-government party.

Reason for the name 'VALEO'

The name of the opposing organisation needed to appropriately reflect its strength and control.

We therefore chose the name 'Valeo' (Latin for power, strength and influence) to portray these qualities.

Trailer Final Cut

This is the final cut of our trailer.

Hype for VALEO

To promote the release of the film 'VALEO' a Facebook page and Twitter have been created to make people think that VALEO is a real organisation.

Twitter:

 Facebook Page: 

For these pages we created variations on the image of the leader with the text 'VALEO':

Third Draft of 'VALEO'

This is our most recent cut of the trailer. This includes 'COMING SOON' and our Billing Block. 

The New VALEO Video

This was our original VALEO video: 

Our audience feedback told us that the leader of the group 'VALEO' in this video was too young to be convincing and his voice wasn't forceful and strident enough to lead a revolution. 

We need the leader of the group to be convincing because in the film he would be taking over the whole country and if he couldn't convince the viewers of the trailer then there is no way that it'd be believable that he could control the minds of a country. 

We chose a new leader who was sterner looking and more mature but kept the same music (land of hope and glory). 

Certification of VALEO

We have chosen to classify our trailer as a 15.
Reasons for this are the following:

The theme
The theme of the film will be complex and dark, thus unsuitable for those under the age of 15.

Strong violence 
In the film there would be scenes of strong violence from protesters and conflict between characters

Frequent strong language 
The film would contain strong language due to the age of the characters (18 years old) and the nature of their arguments.

'VALEO' would not be an 18 because it will not 'dwell on the infliction of pain or injury' and then will not be 'continued or aggressive use' of the 'strongest terms'.

BBFC Film Certification

This is the information from the BBFC website concerning certificate 15 films: 

What does the 15 symbol mean?
No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age.

Are there any limits on what sort of theme a work can have at 15?
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Is 15 really stronger than 12A?
Yes. 15 works are stronger than 12 or 12A rated works and could include any of the following:

• strong violence
• frequent strong language (eg 'f***').
• portrayals of sexual activity
• strong verbal references to sex
• sexual nudity
• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
• discriminatory language or behaviour
• drug taking

How much strong language is there in a 15?
There could potentially be a great deal. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language (eg f***).
Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (eg 'c***'), although continued or aggressive use will not normally be passed 15.

What about discriminatory or offensive terms?
There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, and the work could explore themes relating to this.
However, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 15?
At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, as long as there is no strong or graphic detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category and may involve some nudity and movement. Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there should be no strong detail.
There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
There can be strong references to sex and sexual behaviour, but especially strong or crude references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context.
Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same.

Can there be strong violence?
Yes, at 15 violence may be strong. It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, however, and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.
Easily accessible weapons may not be glamorised.

What about sexual violence?
There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence (for example descriptions of rape or sexual assault in a courtroom scene or in victim testimony) but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

What about horror works?
Many horror films are rated 15. At 15 there can be strong threat and menace (as long as it is not sadistic or sexualised), although the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Can you see drugs in a 15 rated film or video?
At 15 drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances like aerosols or solvents is unlikely to be acceptable at 15.

What about dangerous behaviour or things teens might copy?
We consider the risk of potential harm to impressionable teenagers. For example, dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied.

Screen Shots from the Trailer

Fonts for Website, Poster and Trailer Anchorage

For our trailer we need to carefully select a suitable font to use for the anchorage, it is also important that this can be transferred effectively onto our poster and website and still accurately portray the tone and theme of the film we are promoting. 

We have chosen the fonts below because we feel they would all fit appropriately into our promotional package. 

squared display

We chose this font because of the futuristic and technological appearance. We considered that the thin lines may not show the power that we intended, however after deconstructing the film poster for 'Strange Days' we realised that the thin font stands out and create intrigue. 

induction

Tag-Line Ideas

'In Cyber-Space no one can hear you scream'
- Too corny


'Internet control is only a click away'
- Too long
- Aim of trailer is made clear

'Complete control is a click away'
- More ambiguous

'One click'
- Snappy
- Too abstract and vague

'One click to total control'
- Could mislead

'The Time Is Now'
- Ambiguous & mysterious 
- Link to the trailer
- Link to the YouTube video titled 'The Time Is Now'

Initial Shooting Script & Storyboard

White noise for a split second

Long shot of young man, smartly dressed and standing in front of a large Union Jack flag 

Cut to a medium shot of his face and shoulders as he stares directly into the camera lens 

The words spoken by the man ('the time is now') are followed by a smile and the shot zooms out to reveal that it is a YouTube video 

The shot continues to zoom out to the back of a young girl's head who is sitting in a dark room, illuminated by the light of the computer screen and stops at a medium shot of the back of the girl's head.
The words 'WHAT HAPPENS WHEN...' come on the screen.
The words typed into 'Google' 'INTERNET FREEDOM'
The words 'BECOMES' comes on the screen.
The word 'FREEDOM' is deleted from Google and the word 'CONTROL' is typed in.

Cut to a high angle shot of a train station in a rural area, where the protagonist (Megan) is walking with Ali. The words 'so you don't think that 'Valeo' video is weird or anything?' are heard as the shot cuts to a close up of Megan's face as she is walking.

The conversation creates a soundbridge, the words 'i don't know - i just don't like what's happening, it's like it's got some kind of hold on everyone at the moment' over a rapid series of close up shots of fingers on keyboards, people watching the video, violent and abusive YouTube comments against the government, Facebook pages etc.
Cut back to the scene of the two girls at the station, close up shot of Ali's face as she says 'it's just a video'. (If possible, the drop in the music will happen here)

Suddenly, the viewer is bombarded with shots of violence and mayhem including:
- Stock footage of riots and a compilation of news reports showing violence
- A medium shot of Jess, Charlie and Ali watching the video
- Quick shot of the part of the video where the man smiles into the camera
- A long shot of the same man in the video giving a passionate speech, with references to bringing down the government to an audience
- A pan across the faces of the audience - showing their excited, equally passionate expressions
- A low angle shot of several marching feet
- Quick extreme close up shots of the word 'Valeo' being typed into various social networking sites
(THROUGHOUT THIS THERE ARE FACEBOOK COMMENTS ETC ACTING AS REVIEWS FROM NEWSPAPERS ETC)
(ALSO THROUGHOUT THERE ARE TWEETS SHOWN INTERLINKED BETWEEN SHOTS WHICH ONE WORD AT A TIME REVEAL THE PHRASE 'THE TIME IS NOW')
This ends with another sound bridge of Megan shouting 'why do you think everyone's gone mental, it's the video'
We see Megan shouting the last half of the dialogue using a long shot where we can see Megan and Charlie in a rural landscape, Charlie is on top of a hill, and staring down at Megan.
For a second there is an uncomfortable silence (possibly with the high-pitched noise) before a close up on Charlie's face as she says 'but the time is now'
The scene cuts to white noise, then the name of the film and its release date.

This is the kind of thing we were thinking of using for music - have it building up throughout the first part of the trailer apart from when the youtube video is being seen - and then see how it looks.
We have e-mailed the user who made it asking if we can use this particular one so we are just waiting to hear back from him.

Initial Location Ideas - Rural Station Location

Stations

Because the characters in our trailer live in a remote location, they will need to commute into cities, we've decided to show this with a shot of the characters running along a deserted station's platform and then over a bridge. These are the stations we have considered:

Dunton Green Station: 

Dunton Green Station from the main entrance

This station is a good location because it looks quite run-down so it would enforce the hopeless tone of the trailer. The bridge here look quite old fashioned. The buildings here are minimal and therefore make the station look more empty and desolate.

Bat and Ball Station:

A view of Bat and Ball station from the  entrance

Bat and ball station is an ideal location because it's usually quiet, or empty (as shown in this photo). The bridge is in the perfect place and as the station isn't manned by South-Eastern employees it would be easy to make this location look like it's not in use because trains are no longer running in the dystopia. Also as it's not too run-down it could look like the country's only just got into trouble. The buildings, however, make the scene look quite busy and therefore it looks like there's more hope for them.

We have decided to use a remote location to show the universality of the issues created by the internet and the power of viral information. Anyone can be affected, and everyone is. Typically, we have found that in many films the location is a fast-paced city, however we wanted to show that even those not in city centres are affected by the power of the internet.

Target Audience

As the characters in our trailer will  be teenage, our target audience is teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25. Portraying the internet and new technology as powerful is something that would appeal to this age group, if we were aiming it at an older audience, such as parents, then we would explore the dangers of the internet for children. The inclusion of the government control aspect would also appeal to this group as politics have just become important in their lives, deciding which party they will vote for (when they can vote) is something that young people think very deeply about. The decisions made by the government also highly effect them, especially as they start to go into employment and pay university fees and tax. This means that this will be a topic of interest to this age group. All four of our characters are so different that there will be one character that each individual audience member will be able to identify with.

Character Costumes Initial Ideas

Megan (protagonist)

• Tight top showing off arms muscles but not chest
• Jeans for function
• Warm jumper for function
• Converse/trainers

Jess (flakey)

• Ugly (indie) jumper
• Nail design
• Heels
• Hair flower
• Thin fabric

Charlie (aggressive)

• Bright red top
• Grey waist-high pleated skirt
• Grey/black tights
• Thick belt around waist
• Military style boots which look superficially strong

Ali (intermediary)

• Child-like jumper
• 'Normal' clothes, block colours
• Pigtails

Explanation

Megan's clothing has to show that she is strong in both body and mind, thus why she is not effected by the mind control of the website. The t-shirt she wears will be functional, as will the jeans and jumper. This will show that she dresses in clothes for their functional not superficial reasons. 

Jess' clothing will be almost the polar opposite of Megan's because rather than being functional it will be clear that what Jess wears is chosen more for aesthetic reasons. She'll be wearing heels as they will make her look more fragile and ethereal, thin fabrics will add a floaty sense to her character. We will also have nail art and accessories to show the extent she cares about her appearance.

Charlie's costume will show that she wants to be a strong, in-control, character but that the strength that comes through from her clothing is more superficial than real. This will be shown through the military style boots that she'll wear, which appear to be strong themselves and give the appearance that the wearer is strong, when actually neither are as strong as they seem.
Ali's clothing will be block colours, a t-shirt, chinos and jumper. Her clothing will be typical to a teenager but she will be wearing pigtails will will show her childlike, vulnerable side. This will be important to her character because she'll be the character who doesn't know where her allegiances lie and will need help,  protection and emotional support from the other characters due to her emotional immaturity.  

Initial Shot Ideas

In our trailer it is important that the shots which we use are perfect for the impact which we want the trailer to have. These are some ideas for shots that we plan to use:

- Long shots of action e.g. running
- Mid / close up shots of people using computers / on the website
- Facebook comments as reviews
- Anchorage shown as typing into Google
- Screen recording of YouTube video of extremist party leader
- Mid-shots of the characters talking in a small, quiet cafe