Inspiration for character persona

Two of our most significant inspirations came from misfits, a comedy-drama which included both the character traits we were looking for and a similar filming style (grey de-saturated). The character we chose from the series was a young talented track runner who aspired to be in the Olympics. In the episode it shows how because of him covering for a friend he is arrested and his life changes forever. This example is ideal for our film because many of the youth today make similar mistakes and ultimately face similar consequences. In the episode below he has a chance to change the past because of his time travelling powers .Of course this is fictional and in real life mistakes cannot be undone. This is one of the messages we hope to embed within our film , that opportunities like the Olympics should be captured and not missed or wasted.  This character will therefore be similar to ours because of his innocence, yet our character would differ because he would have avoided making similar mistakes in the first place.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/misfits/4od#3018430

Inspiration for Character costume

Sam, a prominent character in both kidulthood and Adulthood also influenced our characters persona and costume. His tribulations against police and other youth within the sequel of films inspired us to adapt the same shady, unpredictable feel to our character (as well as the stereotypical costume). We aimed to have our protagonist dress in a similar way; hoodie, hat, gloves, track-suit bottoms, however all these clothing would preferable be in dark colours. We want the character to be dressed similarly to the background however give the audience and the public a feeling that he stands out from the rest of the people; as if he was up to something.

Attack the block inspiration

Attack the block inspired us through its character construction and heart pounding storyline. In the urban sci-fi Moses the young black male protagonist (whos name has been chosen purposely to enhance the role he plays of saviour) battles against aliens. Throughout the film Moses is portrayed as a gang leader and his costume supports this judgement and as do his actions ; his friends follow him as seen in the image above. In the film this black male triumphs from block dealer to community hero and this film shows how youth can work positvly together (although it is fictional) as oppose to working negatively as shown in the riots and in the beggining when the strategicly planned mugging occurs led by moses. Aswell as showing that young people today can be helpful it also shows that their lifes on 'the streets' can lead them to carry out cariougous actions of good not only bad like our character who is heading for the olympics. Another motif present in the film is that of being misunderstood. Although they warn many people about the aliens they are laughed at and disbeilieved. This, we believe is a key barrier preventing society from understanding youth ... the ability to believe them and not always think the worst ; sterotype.

From this film we have decided that we will  lead the audience to misunderstand our character puposely throughout the film (sterotype him) and then cause them to feel guilty at the end when everything is revealed making the lesson they have learnt ever more effective and worthy.The 'gangster' posters on one side of the room and running posters on the other we will use in our protagonists bedroom will show that young people are two sided like Moses and that not everything is what you think it is.

USAIN BOLT INSPIRATION

This is a poster we have purchased , the quote is of huge significance and reminds not only our audience what stands in their way but youth in general and our protagonist ; themselves. We chose Usain bolt purposely firstly because of his race making him an admirational figure for black youth and secondly for his achievments ; being the fastest human on this planet.His achievements speak for themselves and tell our audience that anything can be achieved and "you dont have to listen" to the negativity in your head which prevents you from progression and prosperity. This posters size was purposely big to show that this is the protagonists most valued poster and the most important to him reflected by its size. The posture Usain bolt is pictured in this image also shows the joy and freedom one has when he overcomes the barriers before him. Less than fifty years ago this man could have been racially abused and not allowed to run and more than a hundred years ago he could have been a slave ; "look at him now!" is what our poster emits to our audience and to our protagonist.

Riots Inspiration

                                                            

Without doubt the greatest influence which affected both our film's direction and ambitions were the riots. Although this was partially because some of these riots happened locally and people in our areas were involved, it was also because the magnitude of these chaotic events was so large that this portrayal of youth would have been emprinted within the rest of the populations minds . At this time society saw a large number of youth unite ...  but not for the greater good ; for havoc. Dozens of burnt police cars and buildings lighted the dark streets as clashes occurred between police and outlaws. Because of the stereotypical aftermath caused by these events we decided to heal these .On one evening standard newspaper the situation within the city was derived as "LAWLESS LONDON". Although the youth seemed like an immediate scapegoat for authorities , statistics show that these crimes were in fact carried out by more experienced and organised criminals who nearly all had been convicted in the past. The evidence below shows the criminal histories of suspects involved in the public disorder between 6th August and 9th August 2011 and as we can see a great majority were adults and not juveniles.

Because of these statistics one could question whether we even have an agenda if the majority of youth are really innocent , well we do. This is because although they are innocent the actions of a minority now have backfired on all of them especially black males.

One woman who was questioned by a paper said:

"The post office, shops, news agents, mobile phone shops, council building that deal with customer complaints, smashed to pieces by mindless, mindless people last night - many of whom are not from Tottenham and had come from afar into this community intent on causing violence."

Poster inspiration - I Am Legend

This poster was inspirational because of its effective symmetry and the iconic setting which invades the background. We thought we too would use the centric placement of the protagonist to help the audience familiarise with what role he will be playing. In this case the placement and location also enhances the films main theme, being alone in abandoned world. Our short film will show that sometimes youth feel abandoned and the police tape and blue sirens will further express how they are restricted in society by stereotypes.

Audience Research- Interviews

Having done our questionnaire, we then figrued we had gather more informatioon about our audience. we asked a range of people around our school aged 16-50 about the films they liked and the portrayal of media institution. We ask questions as:

1. How do you think the media portrays young people today?
2. What kind of representation of young people would you like to see more of?
3. Do you like film's with twists at the end?
4. What do you like abotu twists?
5. Can you explain any examples of twists that you like & why?
6. Have you watched any urban drama films
7. What do you like about these films?