Introduction to A2 Coursework

My name is Amber Mota, candidate number 9114, and for my A2 Coursework I am in Group 1. I am working along side Shayam Utting (candidate number: 9164) and Alistair Price (candidate number: 9137) to create a music video. The links to my work are on the right-hand side and are entitled: A2 Research and Planning, A2 Construction and A2 Evaluation.


'Trip Switch' By Come What May



'Trip Switch' By Come What May

Front Digipak

Front Digipak
Front Digipak

Inside Digipak

Inside Digipak
Inside Digipak

Our Website - Please click the image to enter site

Saturday 24 January 2015

R+P Post 4: Representations of social groups in our opening sequence

Through the opening sequence we aim to represent British (particularly North London) teenagers from the ages 16-19 in their everyday school situation and they will be relatable characters to the primary target audience.

We decided that we would shoot a large percentage of our opening in a sixth-form school setting instead of a secondary school. This was primarily due to the fact that if we used a secondary school we would need uniform and felt that would restrict the representations of the different cliques.


The different cliques we have decided on are:
-The Hipster
-The Geeks
-The Athletes
-The Chavs
-The Emos


Our inspiration for this was both the canteen scene in "Mean Girl" and the car park scene in "21 Jump Street". These both depicted the establishment of different social cliques and highlighted the familiar stereotypes to the audience. We thought this was extremely effective as it immediately introduces the different characters, whilst also giving the audience information about the role in society they represent. As well as this, it further increases the audience's interest as they will be able to recognize the social setup, and therefore they will be able to understand and enjoy the comedic and stereotypical aspects of the different cliques.

Due to this, we aimed to accurately portray the different british sixth-form stereotypes in order to make the scene as relatable as possible, for the average teen. We also decided it would be important that social group segregation is show to emphasis and exaggerate the social restrictions and immobility of british school groups. This is because it will enable the audience to relate to and sympathize with our main character creating a further involvement in the story.

We we also use costumes, props, dialogue and movement to denote their social grouping. The Emos will wear black clothes and heavy make up, The Geeks will wear glasses and be playing a game of chess, The Athletes will wear sporty clothing and trainers and will be playing with a ball and running down the hallway and finally, The Chavs will wear hoop earrings and will speak using english slang.



R+P Post 3: Our production and distribution institutions

Our production company logo
Production Institution

Production company: E.G.A
Nationality: British
Location: London, England
Style of Institution: Independent

We have decided that we will operate under Zodiak Media, which "is a multi-national, independent group of companies and a leader in the global market for entertainment and has over 45 local brands operating in 15 countries. They create, produce and sell content across all key genres and broadcast platforms, Zodiak Media owns major properties such as Millennium, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Secret Millionaire and The Inbetweeners."

We found out about this company when researching the release strategy of "The Inbetweeners", which was produced by Bwark Productions. We discovered that Bwark is a independent company that works under the Zodiak Media and is financed by them.


We decided to adapt to this, as felt it would be a realistic and effective setup in which we could produce, but we decided that we would create our own production company. This was so that we would have the freedom to create the brand we desired; an Indie company with a speciality in comedy, much like 'Working Title', who has an extremely clear rom-com speciality. They have produced a huge number of films from this genre, such as, "Love Actually", "Valentine's Day" and "New Years Eve".


Distribution Institution

Distribution Company: Universal Pictures UK

We chose Universal Pictures UK for number of reasons, first of which was the location of the company. Being situated in Central London, means that it would be in extremely close proximity to our production company, making it a viable option for our distribution institution.

Also, Universal Pictures UK is one of the largest distributors in this country and are involved in the distribution of a huge range of films, from high concept blockbusters such as "Unbroken" and "The Theory of Everything", to small independent films (like ours) such as "The Knife That Killed Me" and "The Riot Club". This consideration for Independent cinema was the main reason for our choice, it enables us to get a significant release, whilst also giving us the potential global reach, due to the company being vertically and horizontally integrated.

R+P Post 2: Our Target Audience

Primary Audience:
     -Fans of the Teen Coming of Age Comedy genre
     -Fans of Indie Teen Drama's
     -Between the ages of 15-24

These were the three audience categories we decided that we would primarily aim to target. There are several different reasons for this choice; one of which was the influence of other films we used as referenced.


Firstly, we referred to "Superbad"and the choices that were made relating to their targeted audiences. After looking at the "BBFC" website, the "insight" comments and the films release strategy, we came to the conclusion that primary age group for the film would be roughly 15-24 olds, and as we felt this film portrayed similar themes to ours, we adjusted our                                                      
target audience accordingly.      

However,  we felt that our film also had a strong 'Indie Teen Drama' selling point. Therefore, we decided to refer to "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"; another film that had been sold as part of this genre. Whilst trying to learn about the main audience members that were interested and bought into this franchise. What I saw anchored our belief that the core audience had to be fans of the genre.


Secondary audience:
     -Fans of British films
     -Fans of British Comedy
     -Fans of School Situated films

We decided to continue looking at "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" to help us decide upon our secondary audience. I found quite a few websites such as Geekadelphia which attempted to explain the average individual within the films audience. This was just one of the descriptions:



The common factor through all of these descriptions was that the audience was alike to the characters; outsiders. This was a huge inspiration in choosing our whole TA; they all had to be able to relate to our main characters, which directly relates to the choice of 'Fans of School Situated films", as we felt that an experience of the modern school setup would be needed to understand the humor and challenges that are faced by our protagonist.

On top of this, we decided that our film would be enlisted underneath British Comedy, along side films such as "The World's End" and "The Inbetweeners", which after research we decided also had relating primary audiences. Therefore, it made sense that it would be of interest to fans of this wide category, and even appeal to fans of the wider umbrella of British TV and Film (together with other Indie drama's such as "Skins").

Tertiary Audience:
     -Fans of Comedy
     -24+
     -Families

Although we had recognized before that it is important to understand the modern school system, we began to realize that Secondary school is a common experience that nearly all British people have been a part of, at one time or another, and therefore it is relevant to film fans of all ages, hence the 24+ tertiary audience. We also see that it is important to broaden the TA as wide as possible
and therefore we have stressed the relevance of comedy in order to open the door to another group of possibly interested cinema-goers.

Monday 19 January 2015

R+P Post 1: How We Intend To Work As A Group

After a discussion as a group, all three of us decided on a few working principles that will help us to work efficiently and effectively throughout the entirety of our coursework project.

Group Photo

1) We decided that we would meet up for at least 2 hours a week, outside of lesson time, so that we could work closely alongside each other to maximise our productivity and ensure that our project is coherent. In Week 1 our sessions will be: Monday from 4pm to 5pm, Tuesday 12.30pm to 1pm and Friday 1pm to 1.30 pm. In Week 2 our sessions will be: Monday from 4pm to 5pm and Friday from 12pm to 1pm.


2) To insure that our idea's are shared as much as possible and that all of the different aspects of the project are in sync we have decided to create both a Facebook page and a Whatsapp group. On this we will regularly update each other and discuss all aspects of the film; from research to the evaluation. We will also use these social networking groups to decided the agenda for each meeting.


3) Finally, we have agreed that we are all responsible for the work and it is in our best interest to be organised about the meetings and to catch up on any thing that was missed as well as making sure we complete everything asked of us.