BSR Treatment

Narrative

The narrative for the story is based on a local news story, about a group of young males breaking in to a house in broad daylight. The actual robbery is the only piece of information that was detailed in the article.(Seen here) The general story to the entire film is, a large gang in the Romford area were controlled by 2 brothers (David and George) who had lost their mother at a young age and were dragged into the gang by members of it who they befriended. Due to Davids girlfriend cheating on him with George, a separation between the members occurs due to both brothers fighting.. Eventually David decides enough is enough, and targets the girl who tore them apart while he is not home.

The plot to the film is, David and his side of the gang are about to break in to Georges house, and kill his girlfriend to get revenge for what she did to him with George.  Just as the enter the house, it will fade out to white, where it will pan down from the sky to reveal the brothers together. The main part of the film will focus on the struggle they have keeping the gang up and running, while dealing with personal issues them self. Such as relationships with other family members and friends. Once David finds out what George has done, the brothers lose respect for each other and split. In the final part of the film, David decides he needs revenge and so plans an attack on George. This is where the break in happens. But it goes wrong as George was expecting it and is waiting for him. It will end with Davids death, after George kills him. A new equilibrium is set, as George now lives with what he has done on his conscience. So overall are story has a non-linear start but the rest of the story is in a linear fashion.

The main themes in our film are family and violence. The family theme comes from the fact the 2 main characters are brothers, and the conflict is between them. The violence is shown through this conflict they have, we each side of the gang targeting each other in attacks. These themes will really appeal to our target audience, which is 16-25 year olds, because they can relate to them. The family aspect to the film is easily relatable to the teens especially, as when growing up with siblings you often argue and fight with them, but at the end of the day you still see them as family. So the feud between them will be really engaging to the audience and it may make them think about the arguments they've had with their siblings. The violence will be appealing because it adds action and grittiness to the film. Teens/ young adults will enjoy watching this because it is almost a form of escapism. Sometimes they had bottled up anger or feelings, and just watching someone burst out in violence can be relief. This can be linked to the target audience for games like 'GTA'. People play games to escape and the games targeted at teen audiences are often violent and gory, this can be seen in an article about teenagers and gaming. ''32% of gaming teens report that at least one of their three favorite games is rated Mature or Adults Only'' The results show that teens enjoy games that have more violence in them. So linking this research back to our film, including violence will appeal to our teenager audience.

The style of opening sequence we are going for is a smash mouth opening and will start with the final scenes to the film being shown. It will start with David and his most trusted members of his side of the gang, talking through the plan at their safe house. The music will be fast paced grime music to fit the scene and theme of the film well. They will be gearing up, putting balaclavas and hoodies on. The lighting will be low key as to slightly hide their faces, so the audience isn't exactly sure who the characters are. We will then cut to them making they're way to Georges house. The opening sequence will end with them just having got into the house, as it will then cut back to when the brothers were in the same gang. Showing the events that led up to the opening. An extremely good opening that we got the idea from is American ultra. It starts with the ending to the film, and flashbacks extremely fast using jerky cuts and rewinds all the way back to the beginning. Although we wont use the rewinding, just a few fast cuts with flashes of scenes all the way to the start of the story.

We plan to use a smash mouth opening because it puts the audience right into the action, drawing them in. It also creates enigma and gets the audience asking what is happening, why its happening and who the characters on screen are. This means the story is non-linear which makes it interesting to watch. A good example of a smash mouth opening can be seen in Trainspotting. This opening starts with 2 men running from police,with no clues as to why this is happening. The only narrative clues we get are the names of the characters. We will look to implement this into our film, by having very little idea of who's house the group is breaking into. Although there will be clues as to the reason they are doing it.

                     

Representations

Since our film is aimed at a target audience of British people aged 16-25, we will be using characters that are around that age. With that comes the prejudice that most teenagers are moody thugs. We will be portraying the young characters as members of gang and so are using the stereotype to build our characters. The 2 main characters have had a terrible up bringing which is the reason for them getting involved in gang crime This is due to their mother dying at a young age and their Dad really not caring about them as they grew up. This is what the general population think of these people and sometimes blame the parents for their up bringing being the reason they turn to a life of crime. The protagonists of the story are the two brothers. Both start out in the same gang, and the story begins by revolving around their life as gang leaders. But as the story progresses and the brothers split apart, George becomes the antagonist while David, the protagonist. Both characters fit the lost boy archetype, their parents neglected them which resulted in them going into care. So both boys grew up without any real aspiration or role model. This resulting in them looking for someone to follow and this ended up being members of a gang, who then introduced them into their group. The other key individuals are mainly the brothers closest friends and relationships. The girl who is seeing both of them behind their backs is a huge role in the film as she is the reason they argue and split up, becoming rival gangs. The representation of our characters can also be seen in the way they dress and act. Since our film is about gangs, most of the characters will be wearing tracksuits and hoodies that conceal there faces when needed. This shows that they see them selves as outcasts of society, as they do not want everyone knowing their face. So it shows a separation between the characters and society. Their attitudes will also show a huge part of who they are. The characters will be cocky and not afraid to speak up against something (rebellious attitude). Again showing they are not worried about what society thinks of them.

Our film is not challenging the representation of youths, instead we are using the view of them in our film. As teenagers nowadays do get involved in crime, we feel this gives our film realism as it sticks to real life situations. Especially since the basis was from a real news story in our local area. Kidadulthood is a good example to look at to see the same representations of youths. They are dressed in tracksuits and hoodies, and in the film they get on the wrong side of someone in their area. This can be seen in our film as all the characters are members of gangs and our rivals to each other.

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Institution

The main company involved in the production of our film will be Film4 productions. Film4 is perfect for our BSR film because of the companies ethos, location and reputation. Their ethos is very set on helping new and young directors get noticed. This is helpful for us because they aim to fund new ideas by unknown directors, so will provide the funding that we need for our film.Since joining back with Channel 4 they have gone back to their low budget style of films. Meaning they are heavily interested in investing into new low budget BSR films, like ours. They are a British based company that have been behind some of the most significant BSR films in the last 3 decades. Because they are British based they look especially to fund new British made films that are unique and interesting. Finally they are at the top of the British film industry in terms of companies so have a good reputation as a film production company. This will make sure our film gets scene by fans of film4's previous films, of which are mainly BSR films and so the correct audience will see our film. In terms of distribution and exhibition of our film, Film4 productions show all their films on there sister channel Film4 and Channel 4. So our film will get a good amount of viewership and attention. It can also be shown on popular streaming platforms such as Netflix, and Amazon prime. These are popular among teenagers as it provides easy access to 1000's of titles from films to tv shows. So having our film exhibited on Netflix will allow it to be shown to our specific target audience. Also teenagers at this age tend to have barely any free time and these streaming platform are a great way to watch films for free and anytime they want, so another plus of it being on Netflix. 

TITLE - RIVALS

"Rivals" is the name of the title, since it connotes the rivalry between the two gangs, and later on find out how they became rivals. This is conventional to BSR (British Social Realism) since it is short and simple as well as memorable. This makes it easier for the audience to identify it. It also portrays gang violence, which is a very popular theme used in BSR films. The target audience for the film will be toward young adults around the ages 15– 25. This type of film is suitable for this target audience, because young adults can relate to this, since it is about the lives of two young brothers that later on have conflict between each other and separate.


TARGET AUDIENCE

The target audience will be aimed towards young adults / teenagers between the ages 15 - 25. The reason i chosen this age group is becuase young people can then relate to the film, since its about gangs as well as family, they can put them selfs in the character shoes. This makes the audience more engaged with the film, making them more likey to enjoy it.

My Brother The Devil

"My Brother The Devil" is a BSR film about two teenage brothers that must face their own prejudices head on if they are to survive the perils of being British Arabs growing up on the streets of gangland London.

The reason I have chosen this movie is because it shows some similar themes to the film that we are going to do. It displays common themes of BSR such as gang violence. This is also a movie that it mostly viewed by teenagers, which means that we need to be focusing on a similar target audience.


STYLE & ICONOGRAPHY

Camera techniques can be a powerful tool in a BSR, if used correctly it can help give the audience a rough idea of what the story will be about. It can also be used to reveal the location that it is shot in. For example, we can use a pan for our establishing shot, which would present the entire location that is shot in, signifying the regional identity. This is often shown at the beginning of a film or mid-way if there is a change in location. For example, in many of the James bond films you will find that he travels to many different countries a lot, which is normally shown using establishing shots. Other camera techniques we may plan to use, such as hand held track. We plan to use this in our opening sequence as the character is trying to break into someone’s house. The reason we have done this is because, although we are getting the audience engaged with the smash mouth opening, we want the them to be emerged into the story, almost like they are there with them, as if the camera is their pair of eyes. Other important camera techniques like shot reverse shot, which is a conversation between two characters showing both character reactions shot by shot. This will be used throughout the movie, showing the character point of view and their emotions, again making the audience understand the character more, as well as make them feel empathy or hatred for some of the characters at some points. During our production we will also have to stand by some important rules while filming, such as the rule of thirds, which is when the characters eyes are a third of the way down, in line with the camera, as well as the 180 degree rule. The 180 degree rule is when the actors are shot on the same side. This is very important when doing shot reverse shot because it could cause sense of confusion to the audience, with the placement of the characters. The only way you can break this rule is if the camera is showing that it has moved place by showing the camera pan to the other side.

When it comes to editing, we will mainly use normal cuts and transitions since it is a BSR, we need to try and keep it as realistic as possible. Also BSR are normally low budget films, opposited to hollywood, which are normally very high budget movies. Since we are going to create a smash mouth opening we may use quick cuts to try and keep it fast paced. We may also add some colour design to the film in order to give it a more realistic look and create an impression that this is set in a urban area, using dark colours or greys. During violent scenes we may use colour design to add tension, such as colours that connote danger. We will also use dark / dull colours palette to show how the characters are feeling during depressing scenes to show thier emotions.

Costumes and props will be important when making our film. The reason for this is because it reveals the personality of the characters. Most BSR films uses ordinary people in their films in order to make it realistic as possible. So when filming our BSR opening we want our characters to come off as realistic as possible by wear normal everyday clothing that people in the particular location we are setting it in would wear. This is typically clothing that isn’t fancy or expensive. They would be wearing clothes like jogging bottoms, hoodies, body warmers and trainers.

The type of music we are going to use will probably be rap / RmB since that is what these characters would typically listen to. This then makes the audience more interested since the viewer (who are mainly 15 - 25 year olds) would listen to this type of music so they can relate thus making them more engaged. The music will also be played as non - diegetic sound as gang is breaking into the house. The rest of the film will mainly be diegetic sounds as well as scenes where music would be playing through the radio. 

Conventions:

The conventions that will be used in our BSR film, mise en scene is going to be; using natural lighting, dull/low key color palette, set on real locations, especially working class locations, typical production design (costumes, props and etc.) and also the use of inexperienced actors, all these aspects add to the effect of realism. The use of natural lighting creates a realistic atmosphere and effect for the audience, as it adds to the viewers understanding that what they are viewing is based on the hard ships of everyday British working class living.

Colour Palette:

Using dull/low key colour palette is a cue that will get our audience to see what we want them to see and feel what we want them to feel, and to do what we want them to do. In this case we want our target audience to feel the themes portrayed such as violence, and we want them to understand the struggles of everyday life. The colour palette for our film will be something around blue/grey to show the negative energy that exists in the opening sequence and throughout the whole film.



Locations:

Using  real working class locations is an archetype used a lot in BSR films, as it keeps the feeling of realism, and doesn't make the film feel as if it is a Hollywood production. The locations we have in mind, our general council estates and flats, that relate back to theme of working class characters, and also connotes the theme of poverty. The use of real locations ensures that the viewers acknowledge that the BSR film, is a real representative of everyday working class life. The restriction of costs also doesn't allow use to have a whole set up production just for our film, but this isn't much of a problem, as regardless we would still film on location, to keep the effect of realism.



Actors:

The use of actors in our film, are all going to be untrained/ inexperienced actors, as yet again we do not have the sufficient costs to hire any professional trained actors for our film.  Also if we were to hire real professional actors it will give a Hollywood like effect, and make it seem that everything is perfectly produced to match fictional stories that don't exist, however in this case we want our audience to understand that everything they are viewing is real. Using untrained actors will achieve this as it yet again expresses the realism through the characters unpolished acting.

Production Design:

Production design consists of various aspects such as; sets, props and costumes. When referring to costumes that will be used in our BSR film, this will mainly consist of tracksuits ,hoodies, hats and etc. the reason for this is, that these specific costumes relate back to the fact the film is based on the working class society and also our film revolves around gangs, this is the typical archetype of what gang members would wear and also depicts poverty, as they can not afford higher classed brands. The props that may be used in our film will consist of violent weapons for e.g. knifes, guns , crowbars etc. that connote violence within our film.



 Semi improvised scripts:

Semi-improvised scripts are sometimes used in British Social Realism in order to achieve ‘realistic’ dialogue and true to life-like conversations. For example, Ken Loach used semi-improvised scripts in his British Social Realism film – Kes. We may implicate this in our own production, to add that realistic effect to the dialogue, to again further engage with the viewers, to make them feel as if the film isn't fake.

Camera conventions:

When referring to camera conventions, this will consist of; medium/close up shots on characters,slow pans, tracking shots, unvarnished camera movements and loose framing. The slow pans will be used in our opening sequence initially as establishing shots, to capture the urban area. These wide shots are vital as it sets up the regional identity for the audience and allows the audience to see where the opening sequence takes place. Also the slow pan can be used throughout the film to reveal something slowly to the audience as the slow pan connotes something is about to happen and overall this creates enigma, and gets the audience to ask questions, this increases the thrill. The tracking shots that will be used are imperative as they will engage into the characters privacy and enable the audience to feel as if they are there witnessing what is actually happening and allow them to fell more involved in the film. In terms of tracking shots relating to the BSR genre, it makes the scene look more realistic and practical as the viewers get to travel everywhere the characters go. In terms of medium and close up shots, the allow the audience to see the characters reactions and facial expressions this will connote how the characters feel and what they are going through at that specific moment. Using extreme close ups will be very suitable as it will show the main characters emotions mainly consisting of; anger and upset, this correlates back to the theme of violence. The mid shots that will be used, will show the characters clothing and body expressions. Also mid shots may allow the viewers to see the groups/gangs within the film. Using unvarnished camera movements will allow us to capture that perfect edgy filming that will add intensity to the film, and this also adds to the intensity of the film. Using loose framing in our production will contribute to the BSR genre effect, and not completely observing to the rule of thirds, yet again this creates that effect of realism, which is vital when creating a BSR film, as realism is all social realism films represent, not using Hollywood like effects opposing to the BSR genre.





Editing conventions:

The editing that we will use in our post production will be very simple and straightforward, as we do not want to create an UN realistic production such as Hollywood does and also because of the budget, we cant afford all of the special effects equipment and CGI etc. Also the other editing conventions will be; long takes, background music and slow pace. Long takes are takes of an unusually long length, i.e more than a few seconds. This is commonly used in dramatic and narrative effects in films. These long takes will allow us to capture the full narrative and dramatic scenes. The use of background music will always relate to theme of the film revolving around London gang culture, however some aspects of the background music may oppose the BSR genre, and include some american rap artists that also relate to gangs and violence. We will have to ensure when including the background music that it is not too loud and overpowers the dialogue, some BSR opening sequences fail to do this, and overall ruins the film. Using slow pace editing adds to the realism of the film, as if we include fast paced editing it will make the film feel as if it is and action adventure film, which is not what we are trying to achieve.









Technology:

The technology we will be given is standard modern camera, tripod, and also editing software. The camera is obviously what we will be using dominantly to film our opening sequence. The tripod will enable us to get steady still camera shots, that will allow us to create establishing shots, to show and represent the area. For example we will show the area of which our story is taking place. Also the tripod will allow us to gain accurate close up shots, to show facial expressions and reactions. Tripods are commonly used in British Social Realism films, as it allows the technique of panning/tracking, to enhance the effect on the viewer to make the film that they are actually there with the characters, in this case we want to make the audience feel as if they are there at the scene of the robbery, witnessing what is happening. However when using the standard camera we are given, we don't want to make the production seem to perfect as this is what Hollywood films do not BSR films. We want to create the effect of realism, so shaky camera movements will achieve this, and create that Social Realism effect that films such as 'The Selfish Giant' have. The general restriction and limitation of not being able to use other technology such as lighting, mic blips , etc. is not always a negative when making a BSR film, as yet again the realistic atmosphere will be hindered if these other technologies are used, for example if artificial lighting is used instead of natural lighting, it will give a Hollywood feel effect, that will not relate back to the genre being British Social Realism. The editing software is going to be used in post production to ensure we achieve the perfect scenes and shots, and also for the sequence of clips to make sense, and relate back to the BSR genre.